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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN
MARKETING, ORGANIZATIONS AND
SOCIETY

Marketing
Effectiveness and
Accountability
in SMEs
A Multimethodological Approach

Trevor A. Smith
Palgrave Studies in Marketing, Organizations
and Society

Series Editor
David W. Stewart, College of Business Administration, Loyola
Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, USA
This book series will focus on the broader contributions of marketing to
the firm and to society at large. It takes a focus more consistent with
the original reasons the marketing discipline was founded, the creation of
efficient systems through with societies provision themselves and match
supply with the needs of a diverse market. First, it looks at the contri-
bution of marketing to the firm, or more broadly, to the organization
(recognizing that marketing plays a role in not-for-profit organizations,
governments, and other organization, in addition to for-profit commer-
cial businesses). Marketing plays a pivotal and unique role in the creation
and management of intangible assets such as brands, customer lists and
customer loyalty, trademarks, copyrights, patents, and specialized knowl-
edge. Second, the series explores the broader contributions of marketing
to the larger society of which it is a part. The societal effect of the
modern firm, largely through the development of markets, can be seen
in the per capita growth of GDP in Western Europe between 1350 and
1950. During this period, per capita GDP increased by almost 600%,
while remaining virtually unchanged in China and India during the same.
Marketing has played an important role in the improvement of the quality
of life through increasing the number, nature and variety products and
services, the improvement of the quality and convenience of these product
and services, and by making these products and services more readily
accessible to larger numbers of persons. The series will examine ways in
which marketing has been employed in the service of social welfare—
to promote healthy behaviors, family planning, environmentally friendly
behavior, responsible behavior, and economic development.
 Trevor A. Smith

Marketing
Effectiveness
and Accountability
in SMEs
A Multimethodological Approach
Trevor A. Smith
University of the West Indies
Kingston, Jamaica

ISSN 2661-8613 ISSN 2661-8621 (electronic)

Palgrave Studies in Marketing, Organizations and Society
ISBN 978-3-031-09860-4 ISBN 978-3-031-09861-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09861-1

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc.
in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such
names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa-
tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither
the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with
respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been
made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps
and institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 To mama, music, marketing, methodology and mathematics—5Ms
For mama, it’s unconditional love
For the music, it’s the songs that soothe my soul & keep me going
For marketing, it’s the inspiration to fix the problems of the SMEs
For methodology, it’s the approach afforded to address the questions and
solve the problem
For mathematics, it’s the ability to analyze and pull disparate parts into a
coherent whole
 Preface

This book was driven by my innate passion for wanting to be my best

self. I just completed my fifteenth year at the University of the West
Indies teaching courses across the spectrum of bachelor’s, master’s, and
doctorate degrees in marketing and research methods and wanted to
express all that was left inside of me in another book. You see, my first
book was on compulsive buying which I dedicated to the consumer. On
balance, therefore, I decided to write this book on marketing with the
dedication to the firm.
Having a love affair with both marketing and methodology, I gave
in to my impulse for marrying the two. Here comes marketing and
methodology. In my research in marketing, I studied Phil Kotler who
did a Harvard Business Review piece on marketing effectiveness. Kotler
believed marketing effectiveness was the answer to the problem of the
firm, yet, according to him in a follow-up study, so few firms are effective
at marketing.
I then learnt about the stream of work done by Dave Stewart and
his colleagues in marketing accountability where it was argued that many
marketers were unaccountable for their marketing activities and their firms
were ineffective in marketing as they were not able to link the marketing
activities to the financial outcomes. That said, this was not surprising to
me as many marketing practitioners I know would tell of the large sales
volume that they moved in a given period but were not able to make the

vii
viii PREFACE

connection between the marketing spend on the activities and the Return
On Marketing Investment (ROMI).
I have recognized, from my interaction with marketing practitioners,
that very few have formal training in marketing, yet many claim to be
experts in the principles and practices. And, while I will not take on this
controversy, I’d say the discipline of marketing needs to be looked into
on this very important issue.
I then found a bit of balance in the work of Rossiter who said that the
knowledge in marketing is still fledgling and borrowed from economics,
psychology and other disciplines and needed the meeting of the minds of
the academics and practitioners if marketing is to deliver as it should for
the firm.
The SME side of the work came to me later as in all my reviews of
the literature on everything related to this stream, little or nothing was
mentioned about the SME business form. While marketing in large firms
is not expected to be fundamentally different from small firms, I’d say
somebody needs to do the research and say something about marketing
effectiveness and accountability in SMEs. This group is expected to deliver
on economic growth and job creation. Yet so little is known about
marketing among SMEs—a key ingredient for driving firm performance
and concomitant performance of the economy.
I decided to be the SMEs’ advocate by bringing this work to main-
stream with the hope that the SME owner/managers and researchers will
find a path to effective marketing through this book. Through the models
developed for driving marketing efficiency and SME performance and the
metrics designed to account for marketing performance, it is my hope
that this modest contribution will shed light on this very important area
of marketing performance management.
Again, I must underscore that this book is the union of my two loves—
marketing and methodology. Not to be outdone, though, are the other
3Ms of my life that have given me the inspiration to write this book—
mama, music, and mathematics. Yes, mathematics as I am first a math
major which afforded me the scholarly prowess to write on complex
matters in simple and analytic terms. On this count, I decided to write
this book, which has occupied my mind for some time now. Hopefully it
 PREFACE ix

has filled an important gap in marketing research and will pave the way
for marketing effectiveness among SMEs.

Kingston, Jamaica Trevor A. Smith

 Acknowledgements

A book is never complete without a support system of people who helped

along the journey and this is the place for the author to give thanks to
these people. However, there is a divine intervention that I must acknowl-
edge for making things happen. And, I’d also say that prayers have been
the spiritual force that kept me steadfast throughout this journey.
To the people, I would first like to express my sincere gratitude to
Javette Nixon for making his company available for the case study and for
the selfless act of sharing the story of Point Global Marketing Limited. To
Henry Lewis, my friend and colleague, who read all the chapters despite
his busy schedule, and was always forthright in critique of the work. I
know Henry would say that’s what friends are for but I’d like to publicly
express my thanks for this support. To Tricia-Anne Morris, my doctoral
student, now Dr. Morris, for helping with data collection, running the
models, and for being my right hand on the journey of writing this
book. To Maxine McDonnough, my editor, who provided me with a
quality eye and quick turnaround on my last minute efforts. To Suzette
Haughton, Prof. Sue, for insightful comments and thoughts of encour-
agement during periods of doubt. I’d like also like to acknowledge the
editors and reviewers at Palgrave Macmillan for their inputs to the work
which have certainly helped to improve my scholarship in marketing effec-
tiveness and accountability. Not to be outdone is my family which I’ve
kept for last to give my special thanks and love. To my wife Sheila Smith
for putting up with my laziness around the house while encouraging me

xi
xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

to write and providing me with kind words of motivation. To Trevaughn

Smith, my son, an electrical engineer, who engineered every figure in this
book and did all graphic art in all my work for over five years now. To
my other son, Travis Smith, a computer scientist, who helped with the
technical glitches in preparing the manuscript and has been my wingman
for everything computer and software related for some time now. And to
my readers, thank you for taking the time out to read this book. I hope
you will find it useful for bringing marketing to life in the SME business
form.
 Contents

1 Introduction 1
2 Marketing Accountability with Applications
and Implications for SMEs 21
3 Knowledge in Marketing Effectiveness
with Applications and Implications
for SMEs 49
4 A Qualitative Inquiry into Marketing Effectiveness
of SMEs 81
5 Marketing Capabilities, Efficiency and the Digital Link
to SME Performance 107
6 Marketing Effectiveness in a Successful SME: The Case
of Point Global Marketing Limited 141
7 Synthesis, Lessons Learnt, and Practice on Marketing
Effectiveness and Accountability in SMEs 167
8 Conclusion and Way Forward 189

Index 199

xiii
 About the Author

Dr. Trevor A. Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Research

Methods at Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM), Univer-
sity of the West Indies, Mona Campus. He has published in several rated
international journals in research streams including marketing, consumer
psychology, and business.
Dr. Smith is a multiple research methodologist who utilizes struc-
tural equations modelling (SEM) in most of his work. He has served
in management and board directorship capacities in a number of private
and public sector organizations in Jamaica and recently demitted office as
Chairman of the National Conservation Trust Fund of Jamaica (NCTFJ).
He is the holder of a Doctorate in Business Administration (Nova South-
eastern University, USA), a Master’s in Business Administration (Barry
University, USA), and a Bachelor of Science honours degree with double
majors in Mathematics and Computer Science (University of the West
Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica).

xv
 List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Conceptual overview of manuscript 11

Fig. 3.1 Basic conceptual model for linking customer knowledge
to marketing effectiveness 73
Fig. 3.2 Extended conceptual model for linking customer
knowledge to marketing effectiveness 75
Fig. 4.1 Themes and codes on customer philosophy in SMEs 86
Fig. 4.2 Themes and codes on marketing information in SMEs 90
Fig. 4.3 Themes and codes on strategic orientation in SMEs 92
Fig. 4.4 Themes and codes on marketing efficiency in SMEs 96
Fig. 4.5 Themes and codes on integrated marketing organization
in SMEs 98
Fig. 4.6 Themes and codes on digital marketing and data analytics
in SMEs 100
Fig. 5.1 Conceptual model 114
Fig. 5.2 Relationship model 131

xvii
 List of Tables

Table 4.1 Guided questions for semi-structured interviews 83

Table 4.2 Six dimensions of marketing effectiveness 84
Table 5.1 Marketing effectiveness and firm performance constructs
N = 40 123
Table 5.2 Normality test, N = 40 124
Table 5.3 Means, standard deviations, and pearson correlation
coefficients N = 40 125
Table 5.4 Pilot test for indicative association between paths, N = 40 126
Table 5.5 Sample description 127
Table 5.6 Item loadings for resulting outer model 129
Table 5.7 Descriptive statistics, CR, α, and AVE 130
Table 5.8 Inter-construct correlations and discriminant validity 130
Table 6.1 Service offering 145
Table 6.2 Marketing effectiveness scores 163
Table 7.1 Performance assessment on customer philosophy 176
Table 7.2 Performance assessment on market intelligence 177
Table 7.3 Performance assessment on strategic orientation 178
Table 7.4 Performance assessment on marketing efficiency 179
Table 7.5 Performance assessment on integrated marketing
organization 180
Table 7.6 Performance assessment on digital marketing and data
analytics 181
Table 7.7 Other metrics of marketing effectiveness 184

xix
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Introduction
The main objective of the firm is to make money. Marketing is the
engine that drives the sale of products and services towards this end.
Peter Drucker, who is popularly known for his contribution to manage-
ment, underscores the pre-eminence of marketing in the firm by declaring
that the business enterprise has two basic functions—marketing and
innovation (Drucker, 1995).
Marketing is the business function that strategizes the firm’s marketing
mix of product, price, distribution, and promotion to satisfy the needs
and wants of the consumer. This business of marketing is grounded in
human psychology as the marketer seeks to understand, learn more about,
and satisfy customers. Innovation represents the business function that
fosters the development of novel ideas, methods, products, and services
to outdo the competition thus gaining competitive advantage. The act of
innovation has been advanced by Michael Porter as the driving force for
the development of strategy.
The concept of marketing is seen as both a philosophical approach
in delivering value and is the name of a functional area within the firm.
According to da Gama:

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2022
T. A. Smith, Marketing Effectiveness and Accountability in SMEs,
Palgrave Studies in Marketing, Organizations and Society,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09861-1_1
2 T. A. SMITH

On the one hand, [marketing] is considered as a management philosophy

that seeks to express the why and how a company should adapt to and
influence its market. On the other hand, [marketing] embodies the corpo-
rate subsystems, often the name of the department, which develops a set
of tasks regarding marketing implementation. (da Gama, 2011, p. 643)

Blick (2011), after 26 years of practising marketing, stated that the

best definition of marketing that she had encountered came from Peter
Doyle’s book on Marketing Management & Strategy which states that
“Marketing is a philosophy of business that places the customer at the
center of the universe”. She explained further:

Most small business owners are in business because they have seen the
potential in striking out on their own with a winning product or service.
However, once their initial excitement has subsided, they will only be
successful in growing their fledgling idea into a sustainable and profitable
business if they are fully customer-focused…By inference therefore each
element of a small business should have the needs of the customer at its
core and all decisions should be taken with the customer firmly in mind.
(Blick, 2011, p. 19)

Simpson and Taylor (2002, p. 374) provided a checklist of marketing

activities that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should pursue.

• Production of business plans for the future

• Creation of marketing strategies and plans
• Development of new products or services
• Design of advertising campaigns
• Maintenance of the marketing information database
• Production of publicity and press releases
• Analysis of competitors’ offerings.
• Evaluation of the performance of marketing strategies and plans
• Tracking the performance of the various promotional and advertising
activities.

The marketer, therefore, has an awesome responsibility to deliver perfor-

mance on these activities. That said, many marketing practitioners have
promised to convert these activities into high sales volumes, large market
share, and greater customer loyalty without having any real way of quan-
tifying these outputs (Blair et al., 2016). More often, the marketer is not
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

able to tell if monies are efficiently spent and how the benefits accrued to
the firm are matched to the marketing spend. In this regard, marketing
as a discipline does itself a disservice when its contribution cannot be
effectively linked to financial outcomes (Stewart, 2009). Moreover, oper-
ational efficiencies in other areas of the firm are usually much better than
in the marketing arm (Stewart & Winsor, 2016). According to Blair:

A central problem is that marketing lacks the kind of accountability and

metrics that are common along the value chain of the rest of the corpora-
tion… [and] remains a corporate dark science, where its practitioners can
generate desirable results but cannot tell how they achieve them. (Blair
et al., 2016, p. 3)

Marketing effectiveness is a management control mechanism for

measuring and verifying that the delivery of value to the customer is trans-
lated to an improvement in the bottom-line of the firm. This effectiveness
is a desired end state of the marketing function and can be broadly char-
acterized as a firm-level outcome that is realized when the firm attains
its marketing goals and objectives. These goals and objectives are often
related to sales and revenue targets (financial) and customer satisfaction
and loyalty (non-financial). Indeed, marketing is that organizational func-
tion that drives sales and revenues through the delivery of customer
value.
Effective marketing means conducting the marketing activities required
to satisfy the needs of the customer while making a profit and a return on
marketing spend. For effective marketing to take place, the firm must
ensure that its strategies and activities are executed in an accountable
manner. However, the extent to which a firm is effective is depen-
dent on its governance (board and management), as this is the place
where strategy is crafted and deployed—good strategies that are properly
executed are expected to drive corporate effectiveness. Corporate effec-
tiveness is motivated by the board’s ability to monitor top management
in the formulation and implementation of strategies for serving customers
and other stakeholders (Conheady et al., 2015).
Marketing accountability or accountability marketing, is akin to
marketing effectiveness, and is defined by the American Marketing Asso-
ciation (AMA) as:
4 T. A. SMITH

The responsibility for the systematic management of marketing resources

and processes to achieve measurable gains in return on marketing invest-
ment and increased marketing efficiency, while maintaining quality and
increasing the value of the corporation. (AMA, 2005, p. 1).

In simple terms, this is “the measuring and monitoring of the commit-

ment a person, group, or organization makes to deliver specific, defined
results” (VisionEdge Marketing).
Marketing effectiveness and accountability marketing are, therefore,
related concepts and can be viewed as two sides of the same coin. To
be marketing effective is to ensure that marketing activities are aligned
with the performance of the firm; while to be marketing accountable
is to measure the marketing activities to make sure that they translate
into firm performance, while being responsible, liable, and answerable
for the outcomes of the marketing action. For example, the marketer
sets a goal of 20% return on marketing spend and attaining this goal
within an acceptable range would be considered an act of marketing effec-
tiveness. Similarly, to attain efficiencies in the marketing activities is an
act of marketing effectiveness. On the other hand, to establish metrics
and measures to demonstrate the contribution of the marketing activi-
ties to the revenues generated by the firm, and to be responsible for the
outcome, would describe the act of marketing accountability. In essence,
marketing effectiveness is seen as a broader management approach while
marketing accountability is often viewed as a measurement approach using
scales such as marketing return on investment (MROI) and profit.
There may be nuanced differences between marketing effectiveness and
marketing accountability. However, these concepts are sometimes used
interchangeably (or used to mean the same thing) in a practical sense. In
this book, the concept of marketing effectiveness and marketing account-
ability will be used interchangeably for the most part, and the nuanced
differences will be pointed out as necessary.
Rossiter (2001), two decades ago, opined that marketing is a fledgling
discipline with lack of consensus in knowledge and suggested that this
problem has contributed to the accountability issues in the practice of
marketing. Indeed, much confusion exists in marketing on the issue of
accountability (McDonald, 2010). Marketing, therefore, needs a common
language (terminology and measures) to advance its accountability agenda
(Farris et al., 2016). That said, “marketing is by now a well-established
discipline” that has come a far way in spite of these challenges (Stewart,
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

2016, p. 18). However, the path to marketing effectiveness is still a work-

in-progress. As such:

Marketing is at a crossroad. Executives have begun to realize that without

scrutiny, they cannot determine if marketing is effective, nor can they figure
out how to improve. (Stewart, 2016, p. 18)

With this lack of accountability in marketing, one study found that a

mere six per cent of executives felt that their companies were effective
at marketing (Kotler & Keller, 2011). For these reasons, the Marketing
Accountability Standards Board (MASB), with worldwide reach, was
founded in 2007, with a group of marketing academics, financial profes-
sionals, and others, with a mandate to improve financial accountability of
the corporate marketing function (Gaski, 2021). This body has, predom-
inantly, focused on marketing in larger firms thereby leaving a gap for
addressing marketing effectiveness in smaller firms. Moreover, the prior
research in marketing effectiveness has generally treated this matter as a
large-firm phenomenon, and while some of the research findings may be
portable from large to small, research is needed for better insights into
marketing accountability in smaller firms.
Some of the work in this stream on marketing performance manage-
ment have focused frontally on marketing effectiveness (e.g., Bleier et al.,
2019; da Gama, 2011; Kayabasi & Mtetwa, 2016; Kotler, 1977), while
others have addressed performance from the perspective of accountability
marketing (e.g., Blair et al., 2016; Kuse & Stewart, 2021; Stewart, 2019).
Notably, the distinction between the concepts is nuanced.
Kotler (1977) conducted a pioneering study on marketing effectiveness
and found that firms which were effective in marketing were driven by
a customer philosophy, an integrated marketing organization, adequate
marketing information, a strategic orientation, and embraced operational
efficiencies. Building on Kotler (1977), Kayabasi and Mtetwa (2016)
found that marketing effectiveness was at the heart of export perfor-
mance. In addition, da Gama (2011), by way of a conceptual model,
suggested that marketing effectiveness was achieved through the linkage
of people, process, and output. People embody the marketing culture and
capabilities. The marketing culture linked to capabilities are precursory
to the marketing process ; and the process represents the input for driving
the marketing output . The marketing output, in turn, are drivers of the
financial output of the firm. More recently, Bleier et al. (2019) addressed
6 T. A. SMITH

the digital side of marketing effectiveness in the development of websites

and online marketing strategies for improved customer experience.
Blair et al. (2016), in delivering on the marketing accountability
mandate, pointed to problems of efficiency and effectiveness in marketing
and provided guidelines for addressing problematic issues such as finan-
cial accountability, measurement standards and metrics. Stewart (2019),
in a response to this mandate, presented the financial dimensions of the
marketing decision. He drew on the works of Margaret Henderson Blair,
the MASB, and others, and discussed some of the critical issues in this
area such as financial imperatives of marketing, how firms make money
and linking marketing outcomes to financial performance. In 2021, Kuse,
Stewart and contributors, presented a compilation of the multidimen-
sional work of Margaret Henderson Blair on marketing accountability
measurement and highlighted her contribution to the measurement of
marketing imperatives in areas such as persuasion and advertising.
The next section will provide a brief introduction to SMEs and will
set the stage for addressing marketing effectiveness and accountability in
SMEs.

SMEs and Effective Marketing

Small and medium-sized enterprises are considered the engine of growth
and job creation in the modern economy with estimates indicating that
they account for approximately 95% of global businesses and 40% of GDP
(Open Group). As such, the concept of entrepreneurial marketing, which
is the marketing of small firms and start-ups, has been lauded by govern-
ments, given the significant economic activities that are taking place in
these firms (Opute, 2020).
These SMEs are privately owned firms that are classified by national
authorities based on thresholds related to number of employees, assets
owned, and revenues generated. While different countries and regions
may adopt different classifications, the number of employees is often used
as a simple measure for comparing small, medium, and large firms. The
European Union definition, with an upper limit of 250 employees (small
< 50 and medium < 250), is the classification utilized for the primary
research in this book, similar to the Simpson et al. (2012) study of SMEs.
All SMEs share common characteristics regardless of country and
industry (Carpenter, 2017). In comparison with large firms, these SMEs
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

are characterized by less capital requirement, more labour-intensive tech-

niques, smaller number of employees, more likely to operate locally, and
owner-managed by a single individual or a small group of people (Verma,
2021).
Resnick et al. (2016) studied SMEs in the UK and concluded that
these firms should continue to use the relevant concepts of traditional
marketing, as do large firms, but should tailor their activities to align with
the customers and add their unique self-branding to the marketing mix.
The problem, though, is that marketing in small firms seems to rely on
personal contact networks and is often driven by owner-manager’s pecu-
liarities thereby creating an informal approach to the practice of marketing
in this business form (Simpson et al., 2020). That said, training and
models are needed in the SME sector to connect with the customer and
capitalize on the unique selling proposition. Indeed, Smith (2014) found
that customer service, managing the business for success and marketing
the business were the top three areas demanded by the smaller firms for
business support training.
The problem of marketing effectiveness and accountability takes on
renewed significance in SMEs which are firms that usually have limited
capacity for carrying out the marketing function. Moreover, the measure-
ment of performance in SMEs appears to be problematic as there is very
little objective data relating marketing activity to business performance in
this business form (Simpson et al., 2020).
These SMEs are under tight financial constraints with shoestring
budgets, and often, to their own peril, believe that spending money on
marketing is not essential in spite of their struggles with sales and revenue
targets. Given their razor thin operating margins, many SMEs do not
have the capacity to buy marketing help and are not able to ascertain if
the limited marketing spend is contributing to their bottom-line. Indeed,
SMEs, unlike larger firms, have limited funds for marketing but effective
and accountable marketing must be practised if these firms are to maxi-
mize on scarce resources. That said, the problem of scarce resources has
worsened with the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19 Pandemic and the SMEs

The COVID-19 Pandemic has affected all sectors of society and nega-
tively impacted the performance of firms, worldwide. The recession
caused by the COVID-19 crisis has led to buyer behavioural changes
8 T. A. SMITH

(Nikbin et al., 2021). These lockdowns, quarantining, and buying

restrictions have caused increased consumer demand for home delivery,
increased online shopping, and an associated increase in cashless payments
(Pantano et al., 2020; Sheth, 2020). Moreover, the recessionary climate
has led to decreased consumer income, increased job losses, and height-
ened competition among businesses for scarce disposable income.
In studying the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Malaysian
SMEs, Omar et al. (2020) identified operation disruption, supply chain
disruption, forecasting future business direction, cash flow imbalance, lack
of access to stimulus packages, and risk of bankruptcy as the main prob-
lems faced by the SMEs during the pandemic. Other significant problems
that are experienced by the SMEs during COVID-19 are “layoffs of
employees, financial crunch, health issues of employees, fall in sales and
turnover and fall in customer demands” (Kumar & Ayedee, 2021). These
problems are expected to be similar worldwide.
One of the distinctive features that has arisen with the COVID-19
Pandemic is the accelerated shift from offline to online behaviours among
consumers (Hoekstra & Leefang, 2020). Going forward, this shift will
create more opportunities for SMEs to use digital technologies since the
technology has created a platform for firms to reach their customers even
with limited marketing budgets. Moreover, the adoption of social media
and e-commerce technologies by SMEs can clarify customer demands,
increase automation, maintain physical distance, and increase sales and
turnover (Kumar & Ayedee, 2021). Indeed, being small is not a compet-
itive disadvantage in the digital space. With this opportunity, proper
marketing strategies must be put in place “to not only guarantee the
survival of the firms but also create a competitive advantage to shine in
the post-COVID-19 world” (Nikbin et al., 2021).

Rationale and Importance of Book

Very little work has been done in the area of marketing effectiveness
or accountability marketing among SMEs and academics have certainly
missed the mark to bring fulsome scholarship to this subject matter.
Notably, there are a few recent articles that have addressed SMEs on
marketing effectiveness (e.g., Brooks & Simkin, 2011; Gilmore & Carson,
2018), however, empirical work in book form is needed to facilitate the
description of SME issues in far greater detail than is possible in the
existing journal articles.
 1 INTRODUCTION 9

Marketing effectiveness and accountability are important to the SMEs

as these imperatives are associated with a number of positive organiza-
tional outcomes such as firm growth and competitive advantage (Kotler,
1977). This effectiveness is traditionally associated with setting goals and
measuring performance (Katz, 2021). In this book, the effectiveness–
accountability discourse is treated in a holistic manner and includes other
imperatives such as marketing capabilities, marketing efficiency, digital
marketing, data analytics, and SME performance.
The lessons learnt on marketing effectiveness and accountability of the
SMEs are focal to this book as they provide guidance to the marketing
practitioners in this area. Moreover, it is submitted that the book is
required at this crossroad since marketing effectiveness is necessary for
growth and sustainability of the firm, yet, so few managers see their firms
as effective in marketing (Kotler & Keller, 2011). In addition, the prior
research in this area has not gone far enough to provide in-depth and
workable solutions to marketing effectiveness and accountability in SMEs
thus requiring further research for better understanding. The book is,
therefore, designed to provide a rigorous treatment of the subject matter,
though written in simple language, to help the marketing managers in
SMEs to be more effective in their marketing investments and to make
wiser marketing decisions.

Approach Used to Develop the Manuscript

Simpson et al. (2012) identified two distinct strands of work for
measuring performance in the marketing literature. The first focuses on
the short- and long-term objectives of the firm that are assessed by finan-
cial measures using a set of metrics to quantify efficiency and effectiveness
in the marketing action and, the second is characterized by models with
the use of statistics to isolate success factors of organizational perfor-
mance. This multimethodological investigation into marketing effec-
tiveness and accountability of the SMEs utilizes both approaches and
includes a knowledge inquiry, utilizing frameworks from both marketing
knowledge and customer knowledge; a qualitative inquiry, utilizing semi-
structured interviews and thematic data analysis; a quantitative analysis,
utilizing survey and structural equations modelling; and a case study
that employs both narrative data analysis and a marketing audit utilizing
metrics of marketing effectiveness.
10 T. A. SMITH

Organization of the Manuscript

The book addresses marketing effectiveness and accountability in SMEs
vis-à-vis: reviewing the prior research on effectiveness and accountability;
looking at effectiveness and accountability through two knowledge lenses;
unearthing the qualitative dimensions of effectiveness; addressing capabil-
ities, efficiency, digital link, firm performance and utilizing a case study
to bring a practical and real-world example to marketing effectiveness.
The book is organized in eight chapters that are linked and logically
organized to provide integrative coverage on marketing effectiveness and
accountability in SMEs. See Fig. 1.1.
The manuscript is laid out as follows:

1. Introduction
2. Marketing accountability with applications and implications for
SMEs
3. Knowledge in marketing effectiveness with applications and implica-
tions for SMEs
4. A qualitative inquiry into marketing effectiveness of SMEs
5. Marketing capabilities, efficiency, and the digital link to SME perfor-
mance
6. Marketing effectiveness in a successful SME: The case of Point
Global Marketing Limited
7. Synthesis, lessons learnt and practice on marketing effectiveness and
accountability in SMEs
8. Conclusion and way forward

Each chapter is preceded by an abstract, presents the real-world context

that gave rise to the subject of the chapter, and utilizes the existing litera-
ture for a deeper explication of the issues. These chapters are populated by
examples and illustrations for easy reading and navigation of the material
and are concluded with closing thoughts of reflection.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is targeted at students who are pursuing programmes of study
in business schools and particularly those taking courses in marketing
and business studies. The book can be used as prescribed reading in
 1
INTRODUCTION
11

Fig. 1.1 Conceptual overview of manuscript

12 T. A. SMITH

business management programmes at both the undergraduate and grad-

uate levels—MBA and other graduate programmes. It is written for an
international audience and is not intended to be country specific in its
discourse.
This book is also written for researchers who are undertaking a stream
of work in marketing or business management. Researchers, in general,
could find the multi-method approach vis-à-vis knowledge frame, qual-
itative inquiry, quantitative analysis, and case study method useful as a
triangulated approach for dealing with marketing problems. Other audi-
ences such as SME marketing professionals and business leaders could
benefit from the discourse, specifically discussions on the practice of
undertaking effective marketing and accountability programmes. The
language is simple and easily understood, even while grounded in epis-
temological considerations, with the aim of satisfying the diverse and
wide-ranging groups of students, practitioners, and researchers.

Lessons Learnt
The lessons learnt in the pursuit of this project on marketing effectiveness
and accountability are encapsulated below.

1. Successful SMEs1 embrace a customer philosophy that addresses

customer satisfaction, customer value, customer service and
customer empowerment.
2. Successful SMEs are focused on both internal and external market
intelligence.
3. Successful SMEs undertake formal strategic planning and deploy
transformational strategies, image building strategies, value propo-
sitional strategies and Porter’s generic strategies.
4. Successful SMEs seek to improve marketing efficiency through
profit optimizing and quick reactions,
5. Successful SMEs are focused on marketing leadership and collabo-
ration for attaining an integrated marketing organization.
6. Successful SMEs are focused on digital channels and marketing
analytics in their digital strategy.

1 A successful SME is one that generates adequate return on investments and sustains
its profitability.
 1 INTRODUCTION 13

7. The capabilities of marketing information, strategic orientation

and integrated marketing organization are drivers of marketing
efficiency in successful SMEs.
8. Marketing efficiency is a key driver of SME performance and
further improvement in performance requires a digital strategy
enabled by digital marketing and data analytics.
9. SMEs can look to the knowledge in marketing emanating from
both scholarly and applied research for building and maintaining a
programme of marketing effectiveness and accountability in these
firms.
10. Monitoring the business on metrics developed on customer philos-
ophy, integrated marketing organization, marketing information,
strategic orientation and marketing efficiency can be done to
improve the marketing accountability of SMEs.
11. Marketing effectiveness of SMEs can be improved by enabling
and managing knowledge from the customer, knowledge for the
customer, and knowledge about the customer.
12. Marketing of the SMEs is not always about the 4Ps but can be built
on a model of value delivery and allowing the product to market
itself.

Synopsis on Book Chapters

The book consists of eight related chapters and a synopsis of each chapter
is presented below.

Chapter 1—Introduction
The chapter presents a brief overview of the manuscript and sets the
stage for the book project. The gap in the literature on need for work
in marketing effectiveness and accountability is highlighted. In addition,
the preeminent role that marketing plays in firm performance and the crit-
icisms levelled at the marketing practitioner on lack of accountability are
brought into sharp focus. Notably, the discourse in this book is sometimes
presented in general terms and contextualized for the case of the SMEs.
The multiple methodological approach used to develop the manuscript
and lessons learnt from the book project are highlighted. These lessons
learnt constitute the main contribution of this book.
14 T. A. SMITH

Chapter 2—Marketing Accountability with Applications

and Implications for SMEs
This chapter presents a general discussion on accountability marketing
as a backdrop to the discourse in this book. Marketing accountability
and marketing effectiveness are two sides of the same coin. The state of
affairs of the research and activities in this stream of work is presented.
The case is made for studying marketing accountability in the smaller-
type firms, given that the existing literature is focused on the larger firms.
More detailed criticisms of the marketing function are presented. One of
the key contributions made in this chapter is the practical illustration of
accountability marketing in the SME context.

Chapter 3—Knowledge in Marketing Effectiveness with Applications

and Implications for SMEs
The chapter addresses the state of affairs regarding the knowledge on
marketing effectiveness using the frameworks of marketing knowledge
and customer knowledge. Vignettes were developed to capture marketing
knowledge vis-à-vis marketing concepts, structural frameworks, strategic
principles, empirical generalizations, and research principles. An impor-
tant takeaway of the knowledge assessment is the unearthing of strategic
principles and empirical generalizations that can be operationalized and
practised by the SMEs. Another highlight of the chapter is the use of
the conceptual model developed for operationalizing the troika of knowl-
edge for customers, knowledge from customers and knowledge about
customers. This chapter focuses on the knowledge in marketing that is
essential for marketing effectiveness and highlights its implications and
applications for SMEs.

Chapter 4—A Qualitative Inquiry into Marketing Effectiveness

of SMEs
This chapter presents a qualitative inquiry into marketing effective-
ness of SMEs. Semi-structured interviews with marketing practitioners
and thematic data analysis were used in undertaking this inquiry. The
results uncovered that SMEs which were effective in marketing had: their
customer philosophy focused in four areas, focused on two dimensions
of marketing information, utilized five operational strategies, had two
 1 INTRODUCTION 15

areas of focus for improving marketing efficiency, focused on two areas

for attaining an integrated marketing organization, and pursued at least
two areas of focus in their digital strategy.

Chapter 5—Marketing Capabilities, Efficiency, and the Digital Link

to SME Performance
In this chapter, the author developed a model for predicting marketing
efficiency from the firm’s capabilities in relation to: customer philosophy,
strategic orientation, adequate marketing information, and integrated
marketing organization. The model also seeks to determine if a mediating
effect exists between marketing efficiency and SME performance through
the digital link of digital marketing and data analytics. This model is pred-
icated on the theoretical precepts of the Resource Based View (RBV) of
the Firm which suggests that the firm exploits resources and capabilities
for driving performance and competitive advantage. The data provided
a good fit of the model, and the findings indicated that marketing effi-
ciency in the SMEs is driven by all the theorized marketing capabilities
except for customer philosophy. Nonetheless, customer philosophy was
found to be a key driver for SME performance but was not aligned with
marketing efficiency. The results from the mediating effect uncovered a
partial mediation which suggests that performance of the SMEs will be
further enhanced through digital marketing and data analytics.

Chapter 6—Marketing Effectiveness in a Successful SME: The Case

of Point Global Marketing Limited
This chapter chronicles a case study of a successful techno marketing
SME using the narrative data method—a storytelling technique for
interviewees to tell their story. The case also involves a small budget
marketing assessment and marketing audit on marketing effectiveness
using a set of metrics with weighted scores for measuring customer philos-
ophy, adequate marketing information, strategic orientation, integrated
marketing organization, marketing efficiency, digital marketing, and data
analytics. Taken together, the case provides a real-world example of a firm
in pursuit of marketing effectiveness. Small and medium-sized enterprises
could capitalize on the best practices in digital marketing and analytics
that are presented in this case study, even with their limited marketing
budgets.
16 T. A. SMITH

Chapter 7—Synthesis, Lessons Learnt, and Practice of Marketing

Effectiveness and Accountability in SMEs
This chapter presents an integrative summary, lessons learnt in under-
taking this project, and applications in the practice of marketing effec-
tiveness and accountability in the context of SMEs. The salient issues in
the general marketing literature on effectiveness and accountability that
bedevil the marketing function were highlighted. In addition, the chapter
captures the application of marketing knowledge and customer knowl-
edge to marketing effectiveness, the discourse on the qualitative inquiry
among SME managers and provides a summary of the quantitative model
developed in this project on the marketing capability drivers of efficiency
and digital links to SME performance. The synthesis also captures the
salient issues in the techno marketing case, lessons learnt throughout the
undertaking, and applications for practice in the SME sector.

Chapter 8—Conclusion and Way Forward

This chapter presents the conclusions from the research conducted on
marketing effectiveness and accountability and recommends the way
forward for SMEs. The conclusion is presented through the inferences
drawn from the study. The way forward for marketing effectiveness and
accountability by SMEs will be shaped by marketing agility and the
digital technological landscape. Suffice it to say that digital technologies
have levelled the playing field thereby allowing SMEs to mount compe-
tition in the markets of large firms through the digital link of digital
marketing and data analytics. Small and medium-sized enterprises must
utilize technology if they are to capitalize on the merits of being smaller.

Closing Thoughts
This introductory chapter presented a background to the work on
marketing effectiveness and accountability marketing and contextualize
the discourse with applications to the SMEs. The stage is now set for
the upcoming chapters with the next chapter providing an in-depth and
well-reasoned analysis on accountability marketing with applications and
implications for the SMEs.
 1 INTRODUCTION 17

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 CHAPTER 2

Marketing Accountability with Applications

and Implications for SMEs

Introduction
In today’s competitive business climate, no organization is exempt
from budget scrutiny and positive performance outcomes. As the world
emerges from the COVID-19 Pandemic and the firm makes its move
to address the once familiar behaviour of consumers, the marketer now
contemplates new ways to engage the customer, provide memorable
experiences and build enduring relationships (Katz, 2021). Given the
turbulent economic times, marketing budgets are at the top of the hit
list and marketing practitioners are asked to show payback and results
for their spending (Miller & Cioffi, 2004, p. 237). In this environment,
marketing is not only demanded to demonstrate the art of creativity but
also to use the science of measurement for generating quantifiable results.
Indeed, “marketers are caught between demands for accountability and
the creative flexibility needed to be effective” (Morgan et al., 2021).
Driven by analytics, marketing is no longer considered a soft science
and the marketer no longer has the luxury to launch marketing campaigns
without projecting and thereafter validating the returns on marketing
spend. No doubt, marketing has the greatest influence on the firm when
there are clear measures of its performance and contribution (O’Sul-
livan & Butler, 2010). Besides, data is now the lifeblood of marketing,
and marketers are called upon to justify their keeps through the use of

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 21

Switzerland AG 2022
T. A. Smith, Marketing Effectiveness and Accountability in SMEs,
Palgrave Studies in Marketing, Organizations and Society,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09861-1_2
22 T. A. SMITH

data and adherence to measurement. Moreover, given the rapid techno-

logical changes and volatility that businesses are experiencing, the creation
of business value and business survival are dependent on the effectiveness
of the data gathering process and the analysis of this data (Silva et al.,
2021).
Over the last two decades there have been increasing calls for
marketing to demonstrate its contribution to the success of the firm (Blair
et al., 2016; Blair & Forbus, 2016; Stewart, 2019). Marketing is known
for its preeminent roles in connecting the business to the customer,
meeting the needs of the customer, and generating the revenues and
profits of the firm. As such:

The marketing function has long been recognized to be an important, if

not indispensable factor contributing to business success…[and] boards
and executives [have] begun to realize that truly functional marketing
departments must offer accountability for their actions and display a will-
ingness to align to company strategy. This realization stems from awareness
that marketing expenditures often make up as much as a quarter of a firm’s
total outlays. (Stewart & Winsor, 2016, p. 243)

Marketing is viewed as a mysterious black hole in many organizations

and though it is acknowledged that the firm must make the sale, build
the brand, and satisfy the customer, the way marketing does these
things to align with financial returns is poorly understood—even by the
marketers themselves (Stewart, 2014). In carrying out its function, there-
fore, the marketing unit must be effective or else the gains obtained from
marketing will be squandered and result in problems of accountability.
Marketing accountability commences with setting meaningful perfor-
mance indicators, taking a broad approach to return on investment,
forming durable relationships, and operating with authenticity (Katz,
2021).
Marketing accountability issues predominate in both large and small
firms. However, the literature in this stream is focused on large firms with
a few pieces such as Brooks and Simkin (2012) and Sorina-Diana et al.
(2013) providing coverage on SMEs. Notably, it is generally accepted
that marketing principles are not fundamentally different across large and
small firms (Reynolds, 2002; Siu & Kirby, 1998), and so, it is expected
that the accountability issues would be similar, if not worse, in the SMEs,
 2 MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY WITH APPLICATIONS … 23

since these smaller firms are constrained by a lack of human and phys-
ical marketing resources. Against this background, the discourse in this
chapter will address marketing accountability in general terms and will
highlight the applications and implications for SMEs.

Marketing Effectiveness
Marketing effectiveness and accountability marketing are two sides of
the same coin. Effectiveness is the attainment of marketing goals and
objectives of the firm, while accountability is taking responsibility for the
outcomes of the set goals and objectives. In short, marketing effectiveness
is the success the company receives for its marketing efforts. This is the
outcome of meeting the customers’ desires while simultaneously attaining
the goals of the firm. Marketing effectiveness is not to be confused
with marketing efficiency which is the prudent utilization of the firm’s
resources to meet the customers’ desires. Examples of marketing goals in
pursuit of marketing effectiveness include increasing sales, building brand
awareness, and improving product quality. While these goals may be laud-
able for attaining marketing effectiveness, they actually pose a dilemma for
the decision maker, particularly with limited resources, in selecting which
of the goals to pursue in the interest of effectiveness (Stewart, 2019).
The performance of the marketing unit is measured with the construct
of marketing effectiveness and so this construct is a sought-after outcome
by the firm. The measurement and evaluation of marketing effectiveness is
not a straightforward endeavour as marketing is “confronted with issues
about what to test, how to implement testing in a real-world environ-
ment and how to control for different external variables” (Hess, 2016,
p. 116). Besides, marketers are finding it difficult to identify effective
metrics to measure the financial outcome of their activities (Silva et al.,
2021). The marketer is, therefore, left to guess on questions such as what
does effectiveness really look like or what does it actually mean to be
accountable?

The Issue of Marketing Accountability

Marketing is often criticized about its promise to take not so small
budgets and bring back huge returns without having any objective way
of quantifying these returns (Blair et al., 2016). Marketing expenditure is
24 T. A. SMITH

linked to metrics such customer awareness and changes in customer atti-

tudes but efficiency in money spent and the association between money
spent and financial performance continue to be questions for marketing
(Blair et al., 2016). Marketing accountability is “the measuring and moni-
toring of the commitment a person, group, or organization makes to
deliver specific, defined results” (VisionEdge Marketing). This construct
is formally defined by the American Marketing Association (2005) as:

The responsibility for the systematic management of marketing resources

and processes to achieve measurable gains in ROMI and increased
marketing efficiency while maintaining quality and increasing the value of
the corporation. (p. 1)

Marketing is accountable to both the financial and strategic initiatives

of the firm (VisionEdge Marketing). Examples of financial initiatives
include profit and ROI, and strategic initiatives include market share
and customer value. However, many authorities continue to criticize the
lack of accountability in marketing practice. For example, the Deloitte
Report (2007) on “Marketing in 3D”, placed marketing at the bottom
of the business area on corporate reputation. Chief among the criti-
cisms emanating from the report were that the rift between marketing
and finance is due to marketing’s reluctance to be accountable and that
marketing and finance are “not at one” on marketing effectiveness as
marketing measures are based on the tactical activities of marketing which
are not easily mapped to the bottom-line. There is also the common crit-
icism that in too many companies, marketing is poorly linked to strategy
which is worsening this lack of accountability (McDonald & Mouncey,
2009). Moreover, marketing has been criticized for spending more energy
on intermediate measures such as attitudes and awareness at the expense
of measures such as profit and ROI.
Similar to marketing, the HR unit may not be able to easily peg some
of its outcomes to the financial performance of the firm. However, the
budget in HR, which consists of line items such as salaries and training,
can be more easily controlled by the firm and allow for more account-
ability. It is estimated that marketing expenditure could be between 20
and 25% in most firms (Stewart, 2009). However, operational efficien-
cies in other areas of the firm are generally much better than they are in
marketing thereby demanding more accountability within the marketing
function (Stewart & Winsor, 2016).
 2 MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY WITH APPLICATIONS … 25

One of the major problems of marketing expenditure is that it takes time

for the effects to manifest themselves in the market. This time lag often
transcends the annual fiscal profit and loss account measurement. The
reverse is true, of course, in that, without additional market-based data
in the boardroom, directors are often flying blind. When the financials tell
them there is a problem, they have already missed the optimal point for
taking appropriate corrective action. (McDonald & Mouncey, 2009, p. 11)

Brand-building provides a good example of the long-term effect on

marketing action (Hess, 2016). As a long-term activity, it involves
increasing brand awareness, increasing brand equity, improving customer
loyalty, and generating higher levels of price elasticity (Hess, 2016).
These activities can reasonably be measured in the business with popular
metrics. However, when management is driven by short-term gains,
brand-building becomes challenging due to unrealistic expectations, and
marketing is called upon in the short run to account for impact on
outcomes that are long term in nature.
There is also the issue with other marketing activities, such as adver-
tising, which is known to have both short- and long-term impact. Yet,
the marketer is accused of not attaining effectiveness when the measure
of effectiveness may take into consideration the complete expenditure of
the advertising and only a portion of the impact (Hanssens, 2016):

Measurement and analyses that consider only short-term impacts may

put advertising at an unrealistic disadvantage when allocating marketing
resources to maximize long-run profitability. (p. 96)

It is not surprising, therefore, that “advertising has historically been the

most challenging marketing variable to measure accurately” (Hess, 2016,
p. 116). This is still the case with advertising in the digital marketplace in
that marketers are losing credibility with CEOs and CFOs and are cited
for their inability to measure and manage the activities of the digital media
supply chain (Diorio, 2018). However, despite these accountability issues,
it is fair to say that advertising is a catalyst for driving firm performance.
As advanced by Hanssens (2016), the impact of advertising is far reaching
and includes:

i. immediate consumer response;

ii. carryover effects of delayed buyer response;
26 T. A. SMITH

iii. purchase reinforcement manifesting in repeat buying;

iv. feedback effect or influence of the initial sales lift on subsequent
advertising;
v. multiplier effect in influence on other parts of the marketing mix;
and
vi. competitive reactions manifesting in share stealing or category
expanding.

One recent study, Findley et al. (2020), concluded that:

Television remains one of the most effective platforms for advertising,

despite the rise of digital media and new technological developments (p. 1)
…It remains an extraordinarily efficient medium for reaching large audi-
ences at a time when other media are increasing in cost even as they reach
smaller audiences. (p. 8)

Despite the noted benefits of advertising for the firm, accountability of

the advertising function still begs the question on return of marketing
investments and efficiency in the utilization of marketing resource.
Marketing accountability has been hindered by several factors. Sexton
(2010) highlighted six factors that have slowed the progress of marketing
accountability in firms.

i. Lack of clarity on marketing ROI—no common accepted definition

of marketing ROI in most organizations
ii. Lack of time devoted to marketing ROI—time spent to understand
marketing ROI is a predictor of progress, yet many organizations
do not spend the time
iii. Lack of motivation for people to work on marketing ROI—very
few compensation or recognition systems to encourage work in this
area
iv. Lack of skills and resources—many organizations do not have the
required analytical skills or the appropriate data
v. Lack of cooperation between marketing and finance—marketing
and finance silos still existing in many firms
vi. Inertia—many managers are comfortable with the way things are
and are seemingly not feeling the pressure to change.
 2 MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY WITH APPLICATIONS … 27

These issues of measurement and accountability have led to debates

between marketing and finance on how to set marketing budgets, how
to allocate marketing resources and how common measures in marketing
such as awareness do not have a clear relationship with financial results
(Sexton, 2016).
From the finance perspective, marketing is seen as “being fraught with
subjectivity, murkiness, and fluffiness” (Meier, 2016, p. 152). From the
marketing perspective, finance and accounts are seen as being tunnelled,
lack imagination and creativity, and driven by numbers that do not tell
the other half of the story. Consequently, “there can easily be a broad
gulf between the ways the two functions understand the world” (Meier,
2016, p. 152). Nonetheless, collaboration must take place between the
two functions to capitalize on the benefits of the integrated marketing
organization.
There is even a bit of manipulation that will take place from time to
time to link marketing to the bottom-line:

For a period of time in the 1980s brands were on the balance sheet.
This was not because brands were identified as assets by the accountants
according to accounting standards, but because skilled financial opera-
tors were using them to raise capital and to boost company value. The
practice ended sharply in 1989 in the United Kingdom with the regula-
tory accounting body issuing a “cease and desist” order to its members.
(Sinclair, 2016, p. 168)

In recognition of the importance of intangible assets, such as brands, to

investors, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) revised its
rules on the treatment of intangible assets in financial reporting to bring
more accountability to this subjective matter (Fischer, 2016).
Marketing accountability issues are also present in the treatment of
marketing expenses for the purpose of taxation (Moore, 2016):

There has been significant concern by the marketing community regarding

recent proposals from Congress that advertising expenditures be changed
from a long-standing treatment of immediate deduction of these expen-
ditures to one that stretches these deductions out over a longer period
of time. Such expenditures, for the most part, have been immediately
deducted for taxation and financial accounting under the theory that there
are significant doubts that future economic benefits will be derived from
the expenditures and thus an asset is not created. On the other hand, it is
28 T. A. SMITH

difficult to argue that no future benefit is derived from marketing expendi-

tures since many companies have internally developed marketing assets such
as product brands and corporate brands that represent significant value for
an entity but are not on the balance sheet. (p. 218)

More criticism for the marketing community was highlighted by research

done at Cranfield University School of Management. The research found
that marketers were viewed as unaccountable, expensive, and slippery
by their non-marketing senior management colleagues (McDonald &
Mouncey, 2009, p. 2). Not surprisingly, therefore, most managers are
dissatisfied with the inability of marketers to evaluate returns on marketing
activities or even to forecast the revenue impact of cuts in marketing
budgets (Sexton et al., 2010, p. 40).
Research has shown that with marketing accountability the firm will
be able to hold on to, or add to, its marketing budget and become
more effective at using marketing to drive business results (VisionEdge).
Moreover, marketing enjoys a higher status in the boardroom when its
executives are perceived to be accountable (O’Sullivan & Butler, 2010).
The leadership of the firm needs to be committed to marketing account-
ability initiatives as the process takes time to bear fruit with marketing
ROI being a continuous improvement process.
Clark (2000) cautioned that marketing measures are developed and
successfully applied by researchers, but these same measures have often
proved to be impractical and not having the same impact in practice.
Stewart (2009) added that even when marketing data is available in this
area, it does not mean that it is valid and usefully producing good models.
Many of the studies in this stream have failed to measure what is truly
important. Nonetheless, a study with over 800 chief marketing officers
concluded that the measurement of marketing activities was associated
with both short- and long-term financial success in marketing investment
performance and growth outcomes (Forbes, 2017). In addition, the same
study found that marketers who invested over 10% of their media budget
on performance measurement and analytics were three times more likely
to beat their sales targets by 25% or more.

Common Marketing Language and the Bottom-Line

The ultimate bottom-line of the firm is to make a profit (Drucker, 1995),
and the marketer’s role is to satisfy the customer while being accountable
for this profit. Customer satisfaction is in no doubt one of the key tenets
 2 MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY WITH APPLICATIONS … 29

of the firm’s business model but must be pegged to the firm’s bottom-line
for effective marketing (Kumar, 2009).
Accountability and effectiveness in the discipline of marketing are,
however, hampered by lack of a common language of measure that
can easily be linked to financial outcomes (Farris et al., 2016). Unlike
accounting or finance that has established measures such as operating
income, current assets, profit margin and return on investments, and
marketing measures are not so standardized, and do not easily translate
to the firm’s bottom-line (Blair et al., 2016). With the lack of a common
marketing language, it is difficult to make objective comparisons within
and across firms on matters such as marketing effectiveness; how much
is marketing contributing to the firm’s profitability and how efficient is
marketing in marking its contribution?
In effect, the discipline of marketing has no shortage of measures, but
the problem lies with the linking of these measures to financial perfor-
mance (Stewart, 2014). Some of the common measures in marketing
include customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and brand equity—just to
name a few. These measures, however, do not have a common language.
Customer satisfaction, for example, means different things to different
firms. For some firms, such as the fast-food entity, customer satisfaction
could mean ensuring that the customer is promptly served, while for other
firms, such as the large retail outlet—a cost leader—customer satisfaction
could mean providing the best price to the customer.
Market share is another example of a popularly used measure in
marketing that has led to ambiguity because of a lack of commonality
in terminology:

When some people report their market share, they are reporting so on unit
volume, while others are reporting on value, yet it is not always specified.
Even when using the same variant, we have seen market shares across firms
that have added up to more than 100 percent. (Farris et al., 2016 p. 47)

Suffice it to say, these ambiguous measures are not easily matched-up with
the firm’s bottom-line on outcomes of return on marketing spend or firm
profitability—again, begging the question of accountability in marketing.
Stewart (2019) argued that marketing needs more quantifiable
measures that are better linked to financial outcomes since the firms must
report in financial terms. He noted that, “The expectations of marketing
vary from firm to firm and marketing is not defined by the same activities
30 T. A. SMITH

across firms”, exacerbating this problem (Stewart, 2014, p. 163). More-

over, finance is the language of the firm, and its metrics are the means
of comparison across products, markets, and customers (Stewart, 2019).
Indeed, “measurement standards are essential to the efficient functioning
of a marketing-driven company, because decisions about the allocation
of resources rely heavily on credible and understandable information”
(Stewart et al., 2016, p. 226).
The lack of standardization in the common marketing language and
measures is also evident in the digital era with the onset of digital
marketing, data analytics, and database marketing. Given the prolifer-
ation of big data analysis, this lack of common language continues to
result in ambiguities in analysis which further hampers accountability in
the practice of marketing.
The establishment of common marketing measures will also facilitate
accountability on teamwork in the integrated marketing organization. For
example, if marketing, production, and finance are not at one in the inter-
pretation of marketing outcomes such as increased customer awareness or
customer satisfaction, then marketing effectiveness becomes a nebulous
matter with varying interpretations of impact within the team.
Standardization in social media marketing measures is also essential
across the popular communication platforms of Facebook, Instagram,
and YouTube. And, as stated by Sirkin (2016, p. 113), “by identifying
[common] metrics for social media marketing, future investment in this
rapidly growing industry will yield much higher returns on investment”.

An Approach to Marketing Accountability

Implementing marketing accountability programmes is a challenging
endeavour with the demand that firms are now making for marketing
ROI. Some firms, particularly smaller-type firms are not committed to the
process and may merely be buzzing on social media impact such as ROI
on social media initiatives. One of the barriers to accountability marketing
is the fear of change, particularly in creative areas of marketing, such as
marketing communications, which is viewed as an art and not a science,
hence difficulty with accountability measurement (Blair & Forbus, 2016).
VisionEdge Marketing proposed five steps that the marketer should
pursue for effective execution of marketing accountability programmes.

i. Conduct an audit to identify alignment, data, and process gaps.

 2 MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY WITH APPLICATIONS … 31

– Use the audit to identify the right talent, systems, and tools
needed to automate the marketing processes.
– Assess the crucial data, analytical, and measurement skills
needed.
ii. Create and adopt a performance measurement system and manage-
ment strategy, and metrics and measurement framework that aligns
marketing with the business outcomes.
– Design and select metrics and clear standards of performance
that enable marketing to measure its impact, effectiveness,
efficiency, and value.
– Marketing metrics should be tied to three primary responsibil-
ities: acquiring, keeping, and growing the value of profitable
customers.
– The metrics to be selected should indicate the impact of
marketing on market share, customer value, and customer
equity
iii. Engage the leadership team and form strategic partnerships with an
extended team of Finance, IT, Sales, Service, etc.
– Marketing should focus on productivity, business value and
performance management and build bridges and alliances with
finance while engaging them and other key members in the
marketing performance management journey.
– Management in finance should play a role in developing stan-
dards and measurements that focus on leading indicators of
value creation.
– Management in IT should play a role in creating and main-
taining the infrastructure and data needed to support perfor-
mance management.
iv. Create and align processes, policies, and practices that ensure
the linkage between marketing objectives and programmes with
business results.
– Marketing needs to be strategically positioned and in sync with
the rest of the organization.
– Marketing is to achieve alignment between marketing projects,
programmes, and initiatives and the broader company
outcomes.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
guns were dismounted, their batteries injured, and many of their men
killed; general Borthwick the commandant of artillery was wounded
and the sap was entirely ruined. Even the riflemen in the pits were at
first overpowered with grape, yet towards evening they recovered
the upper hand, and the French could only fire from the more distant
embrasures. In the night the battery, intended for the lesser breach,
was armed, and that on the lower Teson raised so as to afford cover
in the day-time.
On the 18th the besiegers’ fire was resumed with great violence.
The turret was shaken at the small breach, the large breach became
practicable in the middle, and the enemy commenced retrenching it.
The sap however could make no progress, the superintending
engineer was badly wounded, and a twenty-four pounder having
bursted in the batteries, killed several men. In the night the battery
on the lower Teson was improved, and a field-piece and howitzer
being placed there, kept up a constant fire on the great breach to
destroy the French retrenchments.
On the 19th both breaches became practicable, major Sturgeon
closely examined the place, and a plan of attack was formed on his
report; the assault was then ordered, and the battering-guns were
turned against the artillery of the ramparts.

A S S A U LT O F C I U D A D R O D R I G O .

This operation which was confided to the third and light divisions,
and Pack’s Portuguese, was organized in four parts.
1º. The right attack. The light company of the eighty-third and the
second caçadores which were posted in the houses beyond the
bridge on the Agueda, were directed to cross that river and escalade
an outwork in front of the castle, where there was no ditch, but where
two guns commanded the junction of the counterscarp with the body
of the place. The fifth and ninety-fourth regiments posted behind the
convent of Santa Cruz and having the seventy-seventh in reserve,
were to enter the ditch at the extremity of the counterscarp; then to
escalade the “fausse braye,” and scour it on their left as far as the
great breach.
 2º. The centre attack or assault of the great breach. One hundred
and eighty men protected by the fire of the eighty-third regiment, and
carrying hay-bags to throw into the ditch, were to move out of the
second parallel and to be followed by a storming party, which was
again to be supported by general Mackinnon’s brigade of the third
division.
3º. Left attack. The light division, posted behind the convent of
Francisco, was to send three companies of the ninety-fifth to scour
the “fausse braye” to the right, and so connect the left and centre
attacks. At the same time a storming party preceded by the third
caçadores carrying hay-sacks, and followed by Vandeleur’s and
Andrew Barnard’s brigades, was to make for the small breach, and
when the “fausse braye” was carried to detach to their right, to assist
the main assault, and to the left to force a passage at the Salamanca
gate.
4º. The false attack. This was an escalade to be made by Pack’s
Portuguese on the St. Jago gate at the opposite side of the town.
The right attack was commanded by colonel O’Toole of the
caçadores.
Five hundred volunteers commanded by major Manners of the
seventy-fourth with a forlorn hope under Mr. Mackie of the eighty-
eighth, composed the storming party of the third division.
Three hundred volunteers led by major George Napier of the fifty-
second with a forlorn hope of twenty-five men under Mr. Gurwood, of
the same regiment, composed the storming party of the light division.
All the troops reached their different posts without seeming to
attract the attention of the enemy, but before the signal was given,
and while lord Wellington, who in person had been pointing out the
lesser breach to major Napier, was still at the convent Appendix, No. VII.
of Francisco, the attack on the right commenced, and Sect. 1.
was instantly taken up along the whole line. Then the space between
the army and the ditch was covered with soldiers and ravaged by a
tempest of grape from the ramparts. The storming parties of the third
division jumped out of the parallel when the first shout arose, but so
rapid had been the movements on their right, that before they could
reach the ditch, Ridge, Dunkin, and Campbell with the fifth, seventy-
seventh, and ninety-fourth regiments, had already scoured the
“fausse braye,” and were pushing up the great breach, amidst the
bursting of shells, the whistling of grape and muskets, and the shrill
cries of the French who were driven fighting behind the
retrenchments. There however they rallied, and aided by the
musketry from the houses, made hard battle for their post; none
would go back on either side, and yet the British could not get
forward, and men and officers, falling in heaps, choked up the
passage, which from minute to minute was raked with grape, from
two guns, flanking the top of the breach at the distance of a few
yards; thus striving and trampling alike upon the dead and the
wounded these brave men maintained the combat.
Meanwhile the stormers of the light division, who had three
hundred yards of ground to clear, would not wait for the hay-bags,
but with extraordinary swiftness running to the crest of the glacis,
jumped down the scarp, a depth of eleven feet, and rushed up the
“fausse braye” under a smashing discharge of grape and musketry.
The bottom of the ditch was dark and intricate, and the forlorn hope
took too much to their left; but the storming party went straight to the
breach, which was so contracted that a gun placed lengthwise
across the top nearly blocked up the opening. Here the forlorn hope
rejoined the stormers, but when two-thirds of the ascent were
gained, the leading men, crushed together by the narrowness of the
place, staggered under the weight of the enemy’s fire; and such is
the instinct of self-defence, that although no man had been allowed
to load, every musket in the crowd was snapped. The commander,
major Napier, was at this moment stricken to the earth by a grape-
shot which shattered his arm, but he called on his men to trust to
their bayonets, and all the officers simultaneously sprang to the front,
when the charge was renewed with a furious shout, and the entrance
was gained. The supporting regiments coming up in sections,
abreast, then reached the rampart, the fifty-second wheeled to the
left, the forty-third to the right, and the place was won. During this
contest which lasted only a few minutes, after the “fausse braye” was
passed, the fighting had continued at the great breach with unabated
violence, but when the forty-third, and the stormers of the light
division, came pouring down upon the right flank of the French, the
latter bent before the storm; at the same moment, the explosion of
three wall magazines destroyed many persons, and the third division
with a mighty effort broke through the retrenchments. The garrison
indeed still fought for a moment in the streets, but finally fled to the
castle, where Mr. Gurwood who though wounded, had been amongst
the foremost at the lesser breach, received the governor’s sword.
The allies now plunged into the streets from all quarters, for
O’Toole’s attack was also successful, and at the other side of the
town Pack’s Portuguese, meeting no resistance, had entered the
place, and the reserves also came in. Then throwing off the
restraints of discipline the troops committed frightful excesses. The
town was fired in three or four places, the soldiers menaced their
officers, and shot each other; many were killed in the market-place,
intoxication soon increased the tumult, disorder every where
prevailed, and at last, the fury rising to an absolute madness, a fire
was wilfully lighted in the middle of the great magazine, when the
town and all in it would have been blown to atoms, but for the
energetic courage of some officers and a few soldiers who still
preserved their senses.
Three hundred French had fallen, fifteen hundred were made
prisoners, and besides the immense stores of ammunition, above
one hundred and fifty pieces of artillery including the battering-train
of Marmont’s army, were captured in the place. The whole loss of the
allies was about twelve hundred soldiers and ninety officers, and of
these above six hundred and fifty men and sixty officers had been
slain or hurt at the breaches. General Crawfurd and general
Mackinnon, the former a man of great ability, were killed, and with
them died many gallant men, amongst others, a captain of the forty-
fifth, of whom it has been felicitously said, that “three Captain Cooke’s
generals and seventy other officers bad fallen, but the Memoirs, vol. i.
soldiers fresh from the strife only talked of Hardyman.” General
Vandaleur, colonel Colborne, and a crowd of inferior rank were
wounded, and unhappily the slaughter did not end with the battle, for
the next day as the prisoners and their escort were marching out by
the breach, an accidental explosion took place and numbers of both
were blown into the air.
Vol. 4. Plate 8.

Explanatory Sketch
OF THE
SIEGE of CIUDAD RODRIGO,
1812.
London. Published by T. & W. BOONE.

To recompense an exploit so boldly undertaken and so gloriously

finished, lord Wellington was created duke of Ciudad Rodrigo by the
Spaniards, earl of Wellington by the English, and marquis of Torres
Vedras by the Portuguese; but it is to be remarked, that the prince
regent of Portugal had previous to that period displayed great
ingratitude in the conferring of honours upon the British officers.

O B S E RVAT I O N S .

1º. The duration of this siege was twelve days, or half the time
originally calculated upon by the English general, and yet the
inexperience both of the engineer and soldier, and the very heavy
fire of the place, had caused the works to be more slowly executed
than might have been expected; the cold also had impeded the
labourers, and yet with a less severe frost the trenches would have
been overflowed, because in open weather the water rises every
where to within six inches of the surface. But the worst obstacle was
caused by the disgraceful badness of the cutting-tools furnished from
the storekeeper-general’s office in England, the profits of the
contractor seemed to be the only thing respected; the engineers
eagerly sought for French implements, because those provided by
England were useless.
2º. The audacious manner in which Wellington stormed the
redoubt of Francisco, and broke ground on the first night of the
investment; the more audacious manner in which he assaulted the
place before the fire of the defence had been in any manner
lessened, and before the counterscarp had been blown in; were the
true causes of the sudden fall of the place. Both the military and
political state of affairs warranted this neglect of rules. The final
success depended more upon the courage of the troops than the
skill of the engineer; and when the general terminated his order for
the assault, with this sentence, “Ciudad Rodrigo must be stormed
this evening,” he knew well that it would be nobly understood. Yet
the French fought bravely on the breach, and by their side many
British deserters, desperate men, were bayonetted.
3º. The great breach was cut off from the town by a perpendicular
descent of sixteen feet, and the bottom was planted with sharp
spikes, and strewn with live shells; the houses behind were all loop-
holed, and garnished with musketeers, and on the flanks there were
cuts, not indeed very deep or wide and the French had left the
temporary bridges over them, but behind were parapets so
powerfully defended that it was said the third division could never
have carried them, had not the light division taken the enemy in
flank: an assertion perhaps easier made than proved.
4º. The rapid progress of the allies on this occasion, has been
contrasted with the slow proceedings of Massena in 1810, and the
defence of Herrasti has been compared with that of Barrié. But
Massena was not pressed for time, and he would have been
blameable to have spared labour at the expense of blood; Herrasti
also had a garrison of six thousand men, whereas Barrié had less
than two thousand, of which only seventeen hundred were able to
bear arms, and he had additional works to guard. Nevertheless his
neglect of the lesser breach was a great error; it was so narrow and
high, that a very slight addition to its defences would have rendered
it quite impracticable; and as the deserters told him in the morning of
the 19th that the light division was come up, out of its turn, he must
have expected the assault and had time to prepare for it. Moreover
the small breach was flanked at a very short distance, by a demi-
bastion with a parapet, which, though little injured, was abandoned
when the head of the storming party had forced their way on to the
rampart. But the true way of defending Ciudad was by external
operations, and it was not until it fell, that the error of Marmont at
Elbodon could be judged in its full extent. Neither can that marshal
be in any manner justified for having left so few men in Ciudad
Rodrigo; it is certain that with a garrison of five thousand the place
would not have been taken, for when there are enough of men the
engineer’s art cannot be overcome by mere courage.
5º. The excesses committed by the allied troops were very
disgraceful. The Spanish people were allies and friends, unarmed
and helpless, and all these claims were disregarded. “The soldiers
were not to be controuled.” That excuse will however scarcely suffice
here, because colonel Macleod of the forty-third, a young man of a
most energetic spirit, placed guards at the breach and did constrain
his regiment to keep its ranks for a long time after the Captain Cooke’s
disorders commenced; but as no previous general Memoirs, 122.
vol. i. p.

measures had been taken, and no organized efforts

made by higher authorities, the men were finally carried away in the
increasing tumult.
 C H A P T E R I V.
In Ciudad Rodrigo, papers were found by which it 1812.
appeared, that many of the inhabitants were emissaries of the Januar
y.
enemy: all these people Carlos d’España slew without mercy,
but of the English deserters, who were taken, some were executed,
some pardoned, and the rigour of the Spanish generals was thought
to be overstrained.
When order had been restored workmen were set to repair the
breaches and to level the trenches, and arrangements were made to
provision the place quickly, for Marmont’s army was gathering at
Valladolid; that general was however still ignorant that Ciudad had
fallen. In the latter end of December, rumour, anticipating the fact
had indeed spoken of an English bridge on the Agueda, and the
expedition to Alicant was countermanded; yet the report died away,
and Montbrun recommenced his march. But though the bridge was
cast on the 1st and the siege commenced on the 8th, on the 12th
nothing was known at Salamanca.
On the 11th Marmont arrived at Valladolid; on the 15th he for the
first time heard of the siege. His army was immediately ordered to
concentrate at Salamanca, Bonnet quitted the Asturias, Montbrun
hastened back from Valencia, Dorsenne sent a detachment to aid,
and on the 25th six divisions of infantry and one of cavalry, being
about forty-five thousand in all, were assembled at Salamanca, from
whence to Ciudad, was four marches.
On the 23d Souham had advanced to Matilla to ascertain the fate
of the fortress, but meanwhile five thousand of Hill’s troops had
reached Castello Branco, and the allies were therefore strong
enough to fight beyond the Agueda. Hence if the siege had even
lasted twenty-four days, the place might still have been taken.
The 26th Marmont knew that the fortress was lost, and unable to
comprehend his adversary’s success, retired to Valladolid. His
divisions were thus harassed by ruinous marches in winter; for
Montbrun had already reached Arevalo on his return from Valencia,
and Bonnet in repassing the Asturian mountains, had suffered much
from cold and fatigue, and more from the attacks of Porlier who
harassed him without cessation. Sir Howard Douglas immediately
sent money and arms to the Asturians, on one flank, and on the
other flank, Morillo who had remained at Horcajo in great peril after
his flight from Almagro, took the opportunity to escape by Truxillo;
meanwhile Saornil’s band cut off a French detachment at Medina del
Campo, other losses were sustained from the Partidas on the Tietar,
and the operations of those in the Rioja, Navarre, and New Castile
were renewed. The regular Spanish troops were likewise put in
movement. Abadia and Cabrera, advancing from Gallicia, menaced
Astorga and La Baneza, but the arrival of Bonnet at Benevente, soon
obliged them to retire again to Puebla de Senabria and Villa Franca;
and Silveira who had marched across the frontier of Tras os Montes
to aid them, also fell back to Portugal.
Marmont’s operations were here again ill judged. He should have
taken post at Tamames, or St. Martin de Rio, and placed strong
advanced guards at Tenebron and St. Espiritus, in the hills
immediately above Ciudad. His troops could have been concentrated
at those places the 28th and on that day such a heavy rain set in,
that the trestle bridge at Marialva could not stand, and the river rose
two feet over the stone bridge at the town. The allies were then on
the left bank, the communication with the town was entirely cut off,
the repair of the breaches was scarcely complete, and Ciudad being
entirely exposed for several days might have been retaken. But the
greatest warriors are the very slaves of fortune!
The English general’s eyes were now turned towards 1812.
Badajos, which he was desirous to invest in the second week Februa
ry.
of March; because then the flooding of the rivers in Beira,
would enable him to carry nearly all his forces to the Alemtejo,
without risk, and the same rains would impede the junction of the
enemy’s force in Estremadura. Green forage was to be had in the
last province considerably earlier than on the Agueda, and the
success of the contemplated campaign in Andalusia depended upon
the operations taking place before the harvest upon the ground
should ripen, which was the enemy’s resource, and would happen
much earlier there than in Leon.
Preliminary measures were already in progress. In December a
pontoon bridge escorted by military artificers and some Portuguese
seamen, had been ordered from Lisbon to Abrantes, where draft
bullocks were collected to draw it to Elvas. After the fall of Ciudad
stores and tools were sent from Lisbon to Setuval, and thence in
boats to Alcacer do Sal; and a company of the military artificers, then
at Cadiz, were disembarked at Ayamonte to proceed to Elvas, where
an engineer officer secretly superintended the preparations for the
siege. Meanwhile the repairs of Ciudad went on, two new redoubts
were traced out upon the Tesons, the old one was enlarged, and the
suburbs were strengthened, but the heavy storms before mentioned,
impeded these works, and having entirely stopped all communication
by sea and land, delayed for many days the preparations for the
ulterior operations. When the weather cleared they were renewed,
yet other obstacles were not wanting.
The draft bullocks, sinking from want, were unable to drag the
whole battering train by the way of Vilha Velha, and only sixteen
twenty-four pounders, and twenty spare carriages could be moved
on that line. To supply the deficiency sixteen twenty-four pounders,
then in vessels in the Tagus, were ordered up to Abrantes, and
admiral Berkeley was applied to for twenty ship-guns. He had none
of that calibre and offered eighteen pounders, which were accepted;
but when major Dickson, who superintended the arrangements for
the artillery service, arrived at Lisbon, he found that these were
Russian pieces whose bore was too large for English shot, and the
admiral refused to give guns from his own ship the Barfleur, in their
place. This apparently capricious proceeding produced both difficulty
and delay, because the artillery-men were in consequence obliged to
cull the Portuguese shot in the arsenal to obtain a sufficient supply.
However the energy of major Dickson overcame every obstacle, and
in the beginning of March the battering guns fifty-two in number, the
pontoons from Abrantes, and most of the stores from Alcarçer do
Sal, were parked at Elvas, where also gabions and fascines were
piled in great numbers.
Marmont having lost his emissaries at Ciudad Rodrigo, and being
unable to measure his adversary’s talent and energy, had during
these transactions again spread his troops that he might the more
easily feed them. Three divisions of infantry and part of the cavalry
returned to Talavera and Toledo. Souham occupied the country from
Zamora and Toro, to the banks of the Tormes; and Bonnet after
driving the Gallicians back to Senabria and Villa Franca remained
about Benevente and Astorga. The army of Portugal appeared to
dread no further operations on the part of the allies, yet from some
secret misgiving, Marmont caused general Foy to march through the
Guadalupe, by the pass of St. Vincente to ascertain whether an army
could march by that line from the Tagus to the Guadiana.
This scattering of the French relieved lord Wellington from a
serious embarrassment. The constant difficulty of land transport, had
prevented him from bringing up the clothing of the army, and he was
now obliged to send the regiments to those points on the Mondego,
the Douro, and the Tagus, where the clothing had arrived by boats;
hence the march to the Alemtejo was necessarily long and
unmilitary, and would have been too dangerous to attempt, if
Marmont had kept his troops together on the Tormes, with advanced
posts pushed towards Ciudad Rodrigo. The weather was now
however extremely favourable to the allies, and the new Portuguese
commissariat supplied the troops on this march well, and without any
of those exactions and oppressions which had always before marked
the movements of the native troops; nevertheless the scarcity was
so great, that rations of cassava root were served to the Portuguese
instead of bread.
The talents of lord Wellington always rose with his difficulties, but
the want of specie crippled every operation. A movement into Spain,
such as that now intended against Andalusia, could not be effected
without magazines when there was no harvest on the ground, except
by paying ready money; because it was certain that the Spaniards,
however favourably disposed, would never diminish their own secret
resources for mere promises of payment. The English general and
Mr. Stuart, therefore, endeavoured to get British bank notes
accepted as cash, by the great merchants of Lisbon and Oporto; and
lord Wellington reflecting that, from the enormous sums spent in
Portugal, many persons must needs have secret hoards which they
would be glad to invest if they could do it safely, asked for English
exchequer-bills to negotiate in the same manner; intending to pay
the interest punctually and faithfully however inconvenient it might
prove at the moment. This plan could not be adopted with
Portuguese paper, because the finances were faithlessly managed
by the regency; but some futile arguments against the proposition
were advanced by lord Liverpool, and money became so scarce, that
we shall find, even in the midst of victory, the war was more than
once like to stop altogether from absolute inability to proceed.
On the 5th of March, the army being well on the way to the 1812.
Alemtejo, lord Wellington who had maintained his head- March.
quarters on the Coa to the last moment, that the enemy might not be
awakened to his real designs, gave up Ciudad Rodrigo to Castaños.
He also in person, and on the spot, explained to Vives, the governor,
the plan and intention of the new works; he supplied him with money
to complete them; furnished him with six weeks provision remaining
from the field stores of the British troops, and gave him the reserved
stores at St. Joa de Pesqueira on the Douro, from whence Carlos
d’España undertook to transport them to the fortress.
As Marmont was at this time in Salamanca, and still ignorant of the
allies’ march, general Victor Alten’s brigade of cavalry was posted on
the Yeltes, to screen the allies’ movement as long as possible, and
he was instructed if Marmont advanced to retire on Beira, and cover
the magazines at Castello Branco, by disputing all the rivers and
defiles with the enemy’s advanced parties. At the same time Silveira
was directed to fall back upon the Douro to cover Oporto; the militia,
under Trant and J. Wilson, were ordered to concentrate about
Guarda; and those of Beira to unite about Castello Branco under
colonel Lecor; the orders of all being the same, namely, to dispute
the passage of the rivers and defiles. Trant was to defend those of
the Estrella, and Lecor those of Castello Branco, on which town
Victor Alten’s cavalry was finally to retire if pressed. With these
forces, and the Spaniards under Sanchez and España, and with the
two fortresses, for Almeida was now capable of defence, Marmont’s
efforts were not much to be dreaded in that season, after he had lost
his battering train in Ciudad.
These things arranged, Wellington set off for Elvas which he
reached the 11th, and prepared to invest Badajos, although neither
the troops nor the stores were all arrived; but even this was ten days
later than he had designed, and threw his operations into the violent
equinoctial rains, by which the difficulties were augmented two-fold.
This was one of the evils produced by the incredibly vexatious
conduct of the Portuguese regency. There was no want of transport
in the country, but as the government would not oblige the
magistrates to do their duty, the latter either refused to procure carts
for the army, or obliged the poorer classes to supply them, from
which oppression the peasants naturally endeavoured to escape by
flight. Thus, all the arrangements for the investment of Badajos on
the 6th of March had been made, but the rich town of Evora, which
had not seen the face of an enemy for more than three years,
refused to supply any carriages at all, and the operation was
necessarily put off till the 17th.
But it was in vain that Wellington threatened and remonstrated, in
vain that he employed his time and wasted his mental powers in
devising new laws, or remedies for bad ones; it was in vain that Mr.
Stuart exerted himself, with equal vigour, to give energy to this
extraordinary government; for whether in matters of small or vital
importance, insolent anger and falsehood, disgraceful subterfuges
and stolid indifference, upon the part of all civil functionaries, from
the highest to the lowest, met them at every turn. The responsibility
even in small matters became too great for subordinate officers; and
the English general was forced to arrange the most trifling details of
the service himself; thus the iron-strength of his body and mind was
strained, until all men wondered how they held, and in truth he did
fall sick, but recovered after a few days. The critical nature of the war
may be here judged of, for no man could have taken his place at
such a moment, no man, however daring or skilful, would have
voluntarily plunged into difficulties which were like to drive Wellington
from the contest.
 C H A P T E R V.
The 15th the pontoons were laid over the Guadiana, about 1812.
four miles from Elvas, at a place where the current was dull, March.
two large Spanish boats were arranged as flying bridges; and the
16th, Beresford, who had again joined the army, crossed the river,
drove in the enemy’s posts, and invested Badajos with the third,
fourth, and light divisions, and a brigade of Hamilton’s Portuguese; in
all fifteen thousand men.
Soult was then before the Isla, Drouet’s division, of five thousand
men, was at Villafranca, and Darricau with a like force was at
Zalamea de Serena near Medellin; wherefore general Graham
passing the Guadiana with the first, sixth, and seventh divisions of
infantry, and two brigades of cavalry, directed his march by Valverde,
and Santa Martha, upon Llerena, while Hill moved from Albuquerque
by Merida upon Almendralejos. These covering corps were together
thirty thousand strong, nearly five thousand including the heavy
Germans who were at Estremos being cavalry; and as the fifth
division was now on the march from Beira, the whole Appendix, No. IX.
army presented about fifty-one thousand sabres and Section 1.
bayonets, of which twenty thousand were Portuguese. Castaños had
repaired to Gallicia, but the fifth Spanish army under Morillo and
Penne Villemur, being about four thousand strong, passed down the
Portuguese frontier to the Lower Guadiana, intending to fall on
Seville when Soult should advance to the succour of Badajos.
As the allies advanced, Drouet marched by his right to Hornaches,
in the direction of La Serena and Medellin, with a view to keep open
the communication with Marmont by Truxillo. Hill then halted at
Almendralejos, and Graham took post at Zafra, placing Slade’s
cavalry at Villafranca; but Marmont had moved his sixth division from
Talavera towards Castile, through the Puerto de Pico, on the 9th,
and the four divisions and cavalry quartered at Toledo had recrossed
the Tagus and marched over the Guadarama, the whole pointing for
Valladolid. Thus it was already manifest that the army of Portugal
would not act in conjunction with that of the south.

THIRD ENGLISH SIEGE OF BADAJOS.

This fortress has before been described. The Vol. III. Appendix,
garrison composed of French, Hessian, and Spanish No. IX.
troops, was now near five thousand strong including sick. Phillipon
had since the last siege made himself felt in all directions, for he had
continually scoured the vicinity of the place, destroyed many small
bands, carried off cattle, almost from under the guns of Elvas and
Campo Mayor, and his spies extended their researches from Ciudad
Rodrigo to Lisbon, and from Lisbon to Ayamonte.
He had also greatly improved the defences of the place. An
interior retrenchment was made in the castle, and many more guns
were there mounted; the rear of fort Cristoval was also better
secured, and a covered communication from the fort itself, to the
work at the bridge-head, was nearly completed. Two ravelins had
been constructed on the south side of the town, and a third was
commenced, together with counterguards for the bastions; but the
eastern front next the castle, which was in other respects the
weakest point, was without any outward protection save the stream
of the Rivillas. A “cunette” or second ditch had been dug at the
bottom of the great ditch, which was also in some parts filled with
water; the gorge of the Pardaleras was enclosed, and that outwork
was connected with the body of the place, from whence powerful
batteries looked into it. The three western fronts were mined, and on
the east, the arch of the bridge behind the San Roque, was built up
to form an inundation, two hundred yards wide, which greatly
contracted the space by which the place could be approached with
troops. All the inhabitants had been obliged, on pain of being
expelled, to lay up food for three months, and two convoys with
provisions and ammunition had entered the place on the 10th and
16th of February, but Phillipon’s stores of powder were still
inadequate to his wants, and he was very scantily supplied with
shells.
 As the former system of attack against Cristoval and the castle,
was now impracticable, lord Wellington desired to assail one of the
western fronts which would have been a scientific operation; but the
engineer represented that he had neither mortars nor miners, nor
enough of guns, nor the means of bringing up sufficient stores for
such an attack. Indeed the want of transport had again obliged the
allies to draw the stores from Elvas, to the manifest hazard of that
fortress, and hence, here, as at Ciudad Rodrigo, time was
necessarily paid for, by the loss of life; or rather the crimes of
politicians were atoned for by the blood of the soldiers.
The plan finally fixed upon, was to attack the bastion of Trinidad,
because, the counter-guard there being unfinished, that bastion
could be battered from the hill on which the Picurina stood. The first
parallel was therefore to embrace the Picurina, the San Roque, and
the eastern front, in such a manner that the counter-batteries there
erected, might rake and destroy all the defences of the southern
fronts which bore against the Picurina hill. The Picurina itself was to
be battered and stormed, and from thence the Trinidad and Santa
Maria bastions, were to be breached; after this all the guns were to
be turned against the connecting curtain, which was known to be of
weak masonry, that a third breach might be made, and a storming
party employed to turn any retrenchments behind the breaches in
the bastions. In this way the inundation could be avoided, and
although a French deserter declared, and truly, that the ditch was
there eighteen feet deep, such was the general’s confidence in his
troops, and in his own resources for aiding their efforts, that he
resolved to storm the place without blowing in the counterscarp.
The battering train, directed by major Dickson, consisted of fifty-
two pieces. This included sixteen twenty-four-pound howitzers, for
throwing Shrapnel shells, but this species of missile, much talked of
in the army at the time, was little prized by lord Wellington, who had
early detected its insufficiency, save as a common shell; and partly to
avoid expense, partly from a dislike to injure the inhabitants, neither
in this, nor in any former siege, did he use mortars. Here indeed he
could not have brought them up, for besides the neglect of the
Portuguese government, the peasantry and even the ordenança
employed to move the battering train from Alcacer do Sal, although
well paid, deserted.
Of nine hundred gunners present, three hundred were British, the
rest Portuguese, and there were one hundred and fifty sappers
volunteers from the third division, who were indeed rather unskilful,
but of signal bravery. The engineer’s parc was established behind
the heights of St. Michael, and the direction of the siege was given to
general Picton. General Kempt, general Colville, and general Bowes
alternately commanded in the trenches.
In the night of the 17th, eighteen hundred men, protected by a
guard of two thousand, broke ground one hundred and sixty yards
from the Picurina. A tempest stifled the sound of their pickaxes, and
though the work was commenced late, a communication, four
thousand feet in length, was formed, and a parallel of six hundred
yards three feet deep, and three feet six inches wide, was opened.
However, when the day broke the Picurina was reinforced, and a
sharp musketry interspersed with discharges from some field-pieces,
aided by heavy guns from the body of the place, was directed on the
trenches.
In the night of the 18th two batteries were traced out, the parallel
was prolonged both on the right and left, and the previous works
were improved. On the other hand the garrison raised the parapets
of the Picurina, and having lined the top of the covered way with
sand-bags, planted musketeers there, to gall the men in the
trenches, who replied in a like manner.
The 19th lord Wellington having secret intelligence that a sally was
intended, ordered the guards to be reinforced. Nevertheless, at one
o’clock some cavalry came out by the Talavera gate, and thirteen
hundred infantry under general Vielland, the second in command,
filed unobserved into the communication between the Picurina and
the San Roque; a hundred men were prepared to sally from the
Picurina itself, and all these troops jumping out at once, drove the
workmen before them, and began to demolish the parallel. Previous
to this outbreak, the French cavalry forming two parties had
commenced a sham fight on the right of the parallel, and the smaller
party pretending to fly, and answering Portuguese, to the challenge
of the picquets, were allowed to pass. Elated by the success of their
stratagem, they then galloped to the engineer’s parc, which was a
thousand yards in rear of the trenches, and there cut down some
men, not many, for succour soon came, and meanwhile the troops at
the parallel having rallied upon the relief which had just arrived, beat
the enemy’s infantry back even to the castle.
In this hot fight the besieged lost above three hundred men and
officers, the besiegers only one hundred and fifty; but colonel
Fletcher, the chief engineer, was badly wounded, and several
hundred entrenching tools were carried off, for Phillipon had
promised a high price for each; yet this turned out ill, because the
soldiers, instead of pursuing briskly, dispersed to gather the tools.
After the action a squadron of dragoons and six field-pieces were
placed as a reserve-guard behind St. Michael, and a signal post was
established on the Sierra de Venta to give notice of the enemy’s
motions.
The weather continued wet and boisterous, and the labour of the
works was very harassing, but in the night of the 19th the parallel
was opened in its whole length, and the 20th it was enlarged; yet a
local obstacle and the flooding of the trenches, rendered the
progress slow.
In the night of the 20th the parallel was extended to the left, across
the Seville road, and three counter-batteries were commenced; but
they were traced, in rear of the parallel, partly because the ground
was too soft in front to admit of the guns moving; partly for safety,
because the batteries were within three hundred yards of the San
Roque, and as the parallel, eighteen hundred yards long, was only
guarded by fourteen hundred men, a few bold soldiers might by a
sudden rush have succeeded in spiking the guns if they had been
placed in front of the trench. A slight sally was this day repulsed, and
a shoulder was given to the right of the parallel to cover that flank.
The 21st the enemy placed two field-pieces on the right bank of
the Guadiana, designing to rake the trenches, but the shoulder,
made the night before, baffled the design, and the riflemen’s fire