The Marketing Audit and Business Performance: a Review and Research Agenda

The popular marketing textbooks and the published literature overall deal primarily with the theoretical and practical aspects of the marketing audit without offering any rigorous empirical validation. The teaching of the marketing audit appears to be based on the logical expectation of its usefulness, isolated case studies, and anecdotal evidence. There is little indication of how, generally, the marketing audit is actually being used, the procedure in conducting it, and how the industry perceives and evaluates its benefits. The authors provide an understanding of the current status of the marketing audit, suggest a model for an expanded role of the marketing audit and propose a research agenda.