Major factors contributing to marketing success in the Australian corporate finance market

This thesis investigated the major factors contributing to marketing success, as measured by average annual Return on Shareholders Funds, within the Australian corporate finance market, during the period 1983 to 1987.

The study's findings are based on the analysis of the responses to a detailed mail questionnaire, and several follow-up in-depth interviews. The questionnaire was mailed to nearly five hundred of the most senior executives working in the corporate finance market in late 1987. A total of ninety one completed, useable questionnaires were received, representing a response rate of 19.2 per cent. This sample was representative of the several different types of organisations then competing within the chosen market.

The main findings of this thesis, based on an extensive analysis of the respondents' questionnaires, are that the organisations which were most successful in terms of their marketing activities were smaller in size than their competitors, had a more systematic approach to their marketing, and were primarily involved in providing either stock broking or investment banking services to their customers. The other major finding is that modern marketing concepts and management practices did not appear to be fully understood, or implemented, within the responding organisations, despite the deregulation of the Australian capital market and the consequent intenSification of competition.