華人中小企業的行銷研究：以臺灣研究經驗評價三階段脈絡分析法

Research into Chinese Small Firm Marketing: Evaluating the Contextual Stepwise Approach in Taiwan

三階段的脈絡分析法整合定性與定量的方法與技術，深度地檢驗小型企業的行銷，這對於中小企業行銷實務的調查是有用的。但其過去研究中除了採用內容分析、郵寄問卷、及個人訪談方法之外，並未深入探討不同背景脈絡的影響、與結合其他量化與質化的方法，亦未探討質性分析的信度與效度。脈絡分析法未能適當地考量體制因素對於小型企業營運的影響，也未考慮研究者應如何改變與調整研究的方式來有效率地收集資料，無法對於其他國家小型企業所鑲嵌的背景系絡獲得有效地瞭解，僅提供對於華人小型企業行銷更「本位性(emic)」或文化特殊性的觀點。本研究以台灣研究經驗重新檢視脈絡分析法三階段的執行步驟，依循其結構檢視其限制，並針對每一階段提出改進的建議。

In order to appropriately evaluate Chinese small firm marketing, we propose using a three-stage contextual stepwise approach, which builds and advances small firm marketing theory by blending both qualitative and quantitative research approaches and techniques, to analyze small firms in Taiwan. This study also re-visits the contextual stepwise approach by following its three-stage structure and recommends changes for each stage. The three-stage contextual stepwise approach is useful to research on small firm marketing. However, the research methods listed in the contextual stepwise approach are content analysis, mail survey and personal interview only. Other qualitative and quantitative research methods, or specifically the reliability and validity of the qualitative approaches, are not examined. Also, the contextual stepwise approach does not consider adequately the impacts of institutional factors upon small firm operations, nor how should research approaches be changed in order to collect information effectively. The contextual stepwise approach only provides researchers with a more 'emic' or culture-specific insight into Chinese small firm marketing, but fails to acknowledge the importance of ‘contextual embeddedness’ of small firm research in other countries. Following the three-stage contextual stepwise approach, this study reviews the characteristics and limitations on each stage, and provides suggestion on undertaking contextual research into small firms in Taiwan. At Stage One of the exploration research, content analysis technique was used. Prior researches of small firms in Taiwan during 1984-1999 were examined and categorized into research objective, data collective method, and analytical instrument. The results of this stage provide a bird’s eye view on small firm research directions in Taiwan. Based on the outcome of Stage One, marketing issues and practices, which were valued by practitioners rather than by academic researchers, were tested empirically by mailing questionnaire and quantitative analysis at Stage Two. The results of Stage Two show that marketing practices in small firms in Taiwan are different from their Western counterparts. The results provide broader understanding on small firms in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and indicate the differences on marketing decisionmaking, product sales, and the degree of competitiveness on company performance. With interviewees’ permission from Stage Two, this study implements in-depth interview at Stage Three. This qualitative research method provides detailed understanding on the contextual background. The results show that government intervention, manufacturing system, and business model affect the marketing practices of Chinese small firms. Furthermore, this study advocates the importance of contextual analysis when researchers investigate cross-cultural small firm marketing in different social-cultural contexts. This study provides not only a research process blended with qualitative and quantitative techniques, but also an approach to have in-depth knowledge on small firm marketing.