Do Marketers Matter for Entrepreneurs? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Uganda
Abstract
Promoting growth by differentiating products is a core tenet of marketing. However, establishing and quantifying marketing’s causal impact on firm growth, while critical, can be difficult. This article examines the effects of a business support intervention in which international professionals from different functional backgrounds (e.g., marketing, consulting) volunteered time to help Ugandan entrepreneurs improve growth. Findings from a multiyear field experiment show that entrepreneurs who were randomly matched with volunteer marketers significantly increased firm growth: on average, monthly sales grew by 51.7%, monthly profits improved by 35.8%, total assets increased by 31.0%, and number of paid employees rose by 23.8%. A linguistic analysis of interactions between volunteers and entrepreneurs indicates that the marketers spent more time on product-related topics than other volunteers. Further mechanism analyses indicate that the marketers helped the entrepreneurs focus on premium products to differentiate in the marketplace. In line with the study’s process evidence, firms with greater market knowledge or resource availability benefited significantly more than their peers when matched with volunteer marketers. As small-scale businesses form the commercial backbone of most emerging markets, their performance and development are critically important. Marketers’ positive impact on these businesses highlights the need for the field’s increased presence in emerging markets.
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Participants in entrepreneurship training programs often fail to translate the skills and capabilities they acquire into entrepreneurial action.
“Although entrepreneurship training programs are designed to help necessity entrepreneurs acquire skills and capabilities to take entrepreneurial action, participants in these programs often fail to do so.”
From The impact of growth mindset training on entrepreneurial action among necessity entrepreneurs: Evidence from a randomized control trial (2023) · cites this paper as Anderson et al., 2021
Entrepreneurs in Uganda were more likely to benefit from learning from international business professionals who focused on helping them experiment with new product differentiations.
“In Uganda, Anderson et al. (2021) found that entrepreneurs were more likely to benefit from learning from international business professionals who focused on helping them experiment with new product differentiations.”
From The impact of growth mindset training on entrepreneurial action among necessity entrepreneurs: Evidence from a randomized control trial (2023) · cites this paper as Anderson et al., 2021
The effects of learning from international business professionals in Uganda tended to be strongest for entrepreneurs with greater experience.
“They also found that these effects tended to be strongest for entrepreneurs with greater experience, suggesting that training programs designed for opportunity entrepreneurs may not always translate effectively to necessity entrepreneurs.”
From The impact of growth mindset training on entrepreneurial action among necessity entrepreneurs: Evidence from a randomized control trial (2023) · cites this paper as Anderson et al., 2021
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- Authors
- Anderson, S. J., Chintagunta, P., Germann, F., & Vilcassim, N.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- London School of Economics and Political Science (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Anderson, Stephen J.
- Venue
- Journal of Marketing
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-03-16
- Volume
- 85
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 78-96
- ISSN
- 0022-2429 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-7185
- OpenAlex
- W3124684146
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 6.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Marketing (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- London Business School
- university of notre dame
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- private enterprise development in low-income countries, centre for economic policy research
- department for international development, uk government
- economic and social research council
- Uganda office of Innovations for Poverty Action
- booth school of business, university of chicago
- John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Faculty Scholar award
- london school of economics and political science
- Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies
- Grow Movement
- Deloitte Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Stanford Center on Global Poverty and Development
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Business and International Management › Innovation and Socioeconomic Development
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Firm Innovation and Growth
- Keywords
- business growth, entrepreneurs, product differentiation, premium products, small business, emerging markets, market knowledge, resource availability, sales and profits
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