P: ISSN No. 2231-0045 RNI No.  UPBIL/2012/55438 VOL.- X , ISSUE- III February  - 2022
E: ISSN No. 2349-9435 Periodic Research
Impact of Promotional Expenses on Organisation’s growth: A study on Cement Industry in India
Paper Id :  15866   Submission Date :  14/02/2022   Acceptance Date :  20/02/2022   Publication Date :  25/02/2022
This is an open-access research paper/article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
For verification of this paper, please visit on http://www.socialresearchfoundation.com/researchtimes.php#8
Debadatta Sahu
Research Scholar
Commerce & Management
Ravenshaw University
Cuttack,Odisha, India
Tushar Kant Pany
Professor
Commerce & Management
Ravenshaw University
Cuttack, Odisha, India
Abstract Business growth is a core element of a healthy national economy, partly contributing to global economic growth.There are different ways to measure the growth of a business such as comparing revenue between the present year and the previous year basing on industrial characteristics and corporate goals in a manner or relying on the scale of the business.The factors affecting business growth is also studied by many researchers. These factors include several characteristics of the enterprise’s owners such as personal incentives, owner relationships, education background, and the features of that enterprise such as age, size, legal form, industry type, strategy, and financial structure (Harabi 2005; Storey 2009; Davidsson and Delmar 1997; Kumar 1985; Variyan and Kraybill 1992; Marris and Wood 1971; Chen et al. 1985; Pavitt 1984; Nguyen et al. 2019). However, in the context of a harshly competitive market, spending on sales and marketing has increasingly affirmed the role of promoting the development of businesses; it not only helps businesses achieve higher sales and profit but also attain customer loyalty, thus gaining market shares before accomplishing sustainable growth for these businesses.Promotional expenses are the costs associated with any activities of selling a good or making a sale such as: publicity costs, demonstration costs, advertising costs, sale commission, warranty charges of goods, maintenance charges, cost of packing and transportation etc. The present study has examined the impact of promotional expenses on enterprise growth in Indian cement industry. The enterprise growth is measured though sales turnover of four major cement companies during 2001 to 2021. Simple regression and pooled regression is used to analyse the data. The result shows a significant impact of selling and marketing expenses on enterprise growth of selected cement companies.
Keywords Promotional Expenses, Business Growth, Sales Turnover, Simple Regression, Pooled Regression.
Introduction
The term "business" also refers to the organized efforts and activities of individuals to produce and sell goods and services for profit. The enterprising entity may be engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional activities. Businesses ranges from small operations operating in one industry to large operations operating in many industries around the world. Recently, the tension among large economies has caused world trade and investment to decline. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the global economy is facing a difficult period when 70% of the world’s economies fall into a slowdown growth (Nelson 2019). In the context of the global economy’s deterioration with several unpredictable factors, the General Statistics Office of Vietnam also predicts that the economic growth in Vietnam must face more challenges and difficulties. In fact, enterprises play a significant role in the national economy development, especially contributing decisively to financial recovery and growth (World Bank 2018); hence, business growth is a core element of a healthy national economy, partly contributing to global economic growth. Theoretically, there are many different definitions of “business growth” in accordance with many different theories built. In general, most previous studies have shown that enterprises have to go through many challenging stages to grow based on two different approaches: the first direction indicates that growth is a natural and necessary element (Henrekson and Johansson 2010; Hermans et al. 2015; Stam and Wennberg 2009; Wong et al. 2005), while the second direction defines growth as the result of the whole process in which enterprises try to develop and achieve goals (Biesebroeck 2005; Caves 1998; Audretsch and Klepper 2000; Freel and Robson 2004). There are different ways to measure the growth of a business such as comparing revenue between the present year and the previous year (Davidsson et al. 2010) basing on industrial characteristics and corporate goals in a manner (Delmar et al. 2003; Koga and Kato 2017) or relying on the scale of the business (Hölzl and Friesenbichler 2010; Mansfield 1962; Hart and Oulton 1996; Jones and Miskell 2007). Previous studies have also pointed out factors affecting business growth. These factors include several characteristics of the enterprise’s owners such as personal incentives, owner relationships, education background, and the features of that enterprise such as age, size, legal form, industry type, strategy, and financial structure (Harabi 2005; Storey 2009; Davidsson and Delmar 1997; Kumar 1985; Variyan and Kraybill 1992; Marris and Wood 1971; Chen et al. 1985; Pavitt 1984; Nguyen et al. 2019). However, in the context of a harshly competitive market, spending on sales and marketing has increasingly affirmed the role of promoting the development of businesses; it not only helps businesses achieve higher sales and profit but also attain customer loyalty, thus gaining market shares before accomplishing sustainable growth for these businesses (Melfi 2016; Jena 2013; Haas et al. 2012; Levitt 1960; Lindgreen and Wynstra 2005; Ramsey and Sohi 1997). Promotonal/Selling expenses are the costs associated with any activities of selling a good or making a sale such as: publicity costs, demonstration costs, advertising costs, sale commission, warranty charges of goods and products, maintenance charges, cost of packing, and transportation (Ministry of Finance 2014). Cement is an essential component of infrastructure world over and is also the largest consumable in the world after water.It is also the happening sector with global players like Holcim, Italcementi, Heidelberg, CRH consolidating their stakes in India. After a wave of mergers and acquisitions, Indian cement industry has only 70-80 large players with integrated cement plants, while the smaller mills, grinding units have merged with larger organization or acting as standalone supply units of raw materials. Indian Cement industry is the second largest producer of cement in the world following China. It was expected to reach 520 million tonnes by the year 2022. The sector is dominated by 20 companies which accounts for more than 70% of the output. Cement Industry is likely to grow from virgin markets of tier III construction in rural India and also the industry will generate growth through exports in Gulf and South East Asia markets. Indian companies will also explore raising capital from global markets through FCCB route or GDR route. Indian government is also expected to introduce market friendly reforms, making India a globalized cement market place. In the long run, housing sector will continue to drive cement sector growth. As a representative of Indian cement industry, we may take the name of few companies like UltraTech, J K Lakshmi, JSW and ACC. UltraTech Cement Limited is the cement flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group. A $ 5.9 billion building solutions powerhouse, UltraTech is the largest manufacturer of grey cement, ready mix concrete (RMC) and white cement in India. It is the third largest cement producer in the world, excluding China. UltraTech is the only cement company globally (outside of China) to have 100+ MTPA of cement manufacturing capacity in a single country. The Company’s business operations span UAE, Bahrain, Sri Lanka and India. JK Lakshmi Cement Limited is a part of the prestigious JK Organisation. This eminent industrial house is over a hundred and twenty five years old and boasts operations in India and abroad with a leadership presence in the fields of tyre, cement, paper, power transmissions, sealing solutions, dairy products and textiles.With a wide network of over 400 cement dumps and more than 7000 channel partners, JK Lakshmi Cement brand enjoys a premium position in its markets and is recognized for its immaculate quality and services. A vast pool of highly trained & dedicated marketing and technical service team helps the company to service its customers at their doorstep. JSW Cement is India’s leading green cement company with current capacity of 14 MTPA across manufacturing units at Vijayanagar in Karnataka, Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh, Salboni in West Bengal, Jajpur in Odisha, Dolvi in Maharashtra and Fujairah in UAE, among others. Our subsidiary, Shiva Cement, is currently investing over ₹1,500 crores in a 1.36 MTPA clinker unit project to be established in Sundergarh, Odisha. The project includes setting up a 1 MTPA grinding unit and associated facilities. ACC Limited (ACC) is a leading player in the Indian building materials space, with a pan-India manufacturing and marketing presence. With 17 cement manufacturing units, 85 ready mix concrete plants, over 6,600 talented employees, a vast distribution network of 56,000 dealers & retailers and a countrywide spread of sales offices, it contributes tremendously to the landscape of the country.For over 80 years, ACC has been synonymous with cement, establishing its reputation as a pioneer organisation that consistently sets new benchmarks in research and innovative product development. This research is necessary when assessing the impact of the promotionalexpense on the growth of enterprises in individual as well as in overall of large enterprises in India. Moreover, for large enterprises, in general, understanding and controlling the selling and marketing expenses are essential to allocate both financial and human resources, to “communicate their value proposition to their customers in fun and interesting ways” (Gross 2016), and to promote their sales, which seem to be more difficult than promoting sales in a smaller enterprises. Hence, enterprises can avoid wasting budget and uncertain risks to improve the cost structure allocation and endorse sustainable growth. Thus the present study pertains to study the impact of selling and marketing expenses on four major cement companies sales turnover during the period of 2001 to 2020.
Aim of study This objective of this study is: 1. To study the impact of the promotional expenses on the sales turnover of 4 major cement companies individually during the twenty-year period from 2001 to 2020. 2. To study the overall impact of the promotional expenses on the sales turnover of 4 major cement companies during the twenty-year period from 2001 to 2020.
Review of Literature
Sandra Luxton, Mike Reid & Felix Mavondo (2015), by drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm, investigated how an integrated marketing communication (IMC) capability drives a brand's financial performance through influencing the effectiveness of communication campaigns and the brand's market-based performance. The results illustrated that an IMC capability has a significant direct effect on campaign effectiveness and significant indirect effect on a brand's market-based performance and financial performance. The study highlights the role of IMC as a key firm-specific capability with significant impact on performance outcomes. Competitively, the more the firm is able to build its distinctive IMC capability, the greater its campaign effectiveness, which in turn leads to superior brand market-based and financial performance. Mike Reid (2005) conducted a study in order to prove that whether the value of the integrated marketing communication (IMC) process is related to brand outcomes, such as brand awareness, brand loyalty and sales are critical issues. The research presented in this paper employs a modified version of the Duncan-Moriarty IMC mini audit (Duncan and Moriarty 1997) to examine the relationship between the IMC process and brand outcomes. Data were collected from managers in both consumer goods and consumer services organizations. Results demonstrated a positive relationship between the implementation of the IMC process and brand outcomes, and provide encouragement for further research to validate the findings. It was also found that IMC is used more in companies with a market orientation, and in those that encounter a high level of competition. Saeed. R. Et.al (2013) have done a review of past research in order to enhance the understanding of what IMC is, its impact and the difference between IMC and traditional marketing communication. They have drawn the conclusion that IMC is consumer oriented approach rather than organizational oriented that focuses on organisational needs. IMC is performed in a manner of synergy rather than in isolation. IMC is associated with some positive results like brand awareness, customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, positive brand image, unique brand association, greater profitability, increased sales and cost savings. Finally, IMC has major impact on organizational performance and brand equity. But there are some barriers to successful implementation of IMC program. Enterprise growth has always been a subject of interest and attention of scientists in the world, especially scientists in developed countries. This is because business growth represents the ability of a business to meet the goal of maximising profits and improving business value and contributes dominantly to the national economic growth. Therefore, it has attracted interest not only from company managers but also from researchers or even from the government. Many scientists such as Mansfield (1962), Hart and Oulton (1996), Dunne and Hughes (1994), Lotti et al. (2010), Calvo (2006), and Mengistae (1999) have pointed out that firm size is one of the most important factors to compare the growth of businesses to each other or to evaluate the growth factor of businesses in the present year with the previous year. Any change in the enterprise size can directly influence the business growth in the present period or in the subsequent period. About the impact of the structure of the selling expenses on the growth of the business, several different studies have been taken such as Agarwal et al. (2009), Lindgreen and Wynstra (2005), Ramsey and Sohi (1997), and Konak (2015).However, instead of taking concentration directly on evaluating the influence of different types of selling expenses on business growth, these previous studies indicated the importance of marketing to the expansion of enterprise market share, to the growth of sales, or to maximising profitability. More specifically: (i). Upgrading sales means encouraging customer commitments, which help the company with reputation and market share achievement. This is because if the customers are more interested in buying products from a company, they tend to make several “free marketing” these products to their friends and family members with a great review. In the digital age, attracting more customers is an important key to quickly increase sales and service provision, for any type of business. Approving with this opinion, Melfi (2016), Jena (2013), Haas et al. (2012), Levitt (1960), Lindgreen and Wynstra (2005), and Ramsey and Sohi (1997) indicated that “sales are tied to revenue, and setting sales goals makes it possible to forecast quarterly performance”. Sales not only guarantee the ability of any business to achieve its growth goals but also play an important role in motivating employees and helping managers set strategies in the right direction (Ramsey and Sohi 1997). This is the reason why many large enterprises have spent over 10% of their annual revenue on marketing for dominating the market and becoming a “monopoly” in the industry (Markdao 2019). (ii). Affirming the position of sale staffs in generating revenue and, thereby, motivating business growth is one of the vital aspects that previous researchers tend to. Indeed, finding the right weighted formula for who (individuals, stores, e-commerce personnel) gets what is the challenge (Haas et al. 2012, Lindgreen and Wynstra 2005, Ramsey and Sohi 1997). In other words, this sentence means that finding ways to make sales and marketing strategies reasonable to a customer audience through different sales channels is the best method to achieve business goals (Drucker 1973, Woodruff 1997, Ramsey and Sohi 1997). Furthermore, sales employees act as a bridge between businesses and customers, building relationships and creating value from these relationships (Haas et al. 2012). (iii). The impact of marketing on business growth showed that marketing and advertising expenditures are recognised as an essential element influencing the profitability negatively in the short term, but they can add more value for the firm in the long-term (Konak 2015). In each marketing campaign or a business’s sales strategy launched, the most important purpose of business is not just upgrading the revenue figure or the amount of money that customers are willing to spend on products and services provided by that business, but it is for developing customer loyalty and competitive advantages (Konak 2015; Kumar 1985; Blattberg et al. 2009). Therefore, it is possible to assume that the cost of marketing and selling activity is directly correlated to the revenue and market size of the business, influencing significantly the business growth. The above literature review shows that the previous studies are done on the assessment of business growth in small and medium enterprises rather than in large enterprises and the study on the impact of selling and marketing expenses on business growth of cement companies is ignored. Therefore, in this study, we have examined the impact of the selling and marketing expense on the growth of large enterprises in India. This is because, although small- and medium-sized enterprises account for 97.5% of total businesses, their GDP accounts for only about 40% total national GDP while large enterprises represent only 2.5% of total businesses but their GDP is created accounting for 60% of national GDP (Ha 2018). In addition, every year, large enterprises always spend over 10% of the total revenue on marketing activities with the purpose of dominating the market and achieving the growth rate (Markdao 2019). This shows that researching and assessing the impact of the prootonal expense structure on business growth is necessary and urgent, especially for large enterprises.
Main Text


Methodology
The four major cement companies taken for the present study are Ultratech Cement Ltd., J K Lakshmi Cement Ltd., JSW Ltd. and ACC Ltd. The promotional expenses and sales turnover data has been taken from the annual reports of the selected companies for a period of twenty years from 2001 to 2020. The data for JSW ltd. is taken from 2007. In most of the cases promotional expenses are written as selling/marketing/advertising expenses. Sales turnover is considered as the representative of business growth. The analysis has been done in two steps. In step 1, the simple regression is calculated to find the relationship between promotional expenses and sales turnover of each cement company for the study period. And in step 2, the overall impact of promotional expenses on sales turnover of four cement companies together is calculated.
Analysis

Table 1 shows the simple regression and pooled regression result as below.

Table 1: Simple Regression - Promotional Expenses and Sales Turnover

Company

R

R2

Adjusted R2

Value of Beta

Value of C

Sig.

Ultratech

0.996

0.992

0.991

3.454

775.8

0.000

J K Lakshmi

0.995

0.991

0.99

2.717

617.5

0.000

JSW

0.917

0.841

0.832

28.056

-1285.2

0.000

ACC

0.980

0.960

0.958

2.921

1680.7

0.000

Pooled Regression

0.971

0.943

0.942

3.296

1461.6

0.000

Dependent Variable: Sales Turnover

Independent Variable: Promotional Expenses

The study tries to find whether sales turnover increases with increase in Promotional expenses of cement companies or not. Simple regression analysis is used to verify the relationship between Promotional expenses (independent variable) and Sales turnover (dependent variable) as shown in the table 1. The data for the analysis is taken for a period of twenty years from 2001 to 2020 for four cement companies i.e. Ultratech, J K Lakshmi, JSW and ACC. The impact of Promotional expenses on Sales turnover of each company for a period of twenty years is analysed independently and the overall impact of the independent variable on dependent variable of the sample four companies for the given period of twenty years is calculated. The outcome of the analysis is explained below.

Ultra tech

It is found that there is a high correlation between Promotional expenses and Sales turnover, R = 0.996 in Ultratech company. The model is good as the coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.992 which explains 99% variability in sales turnover by Promotional expenses. From the Table 1 it is observed that Promotional expenses regressed sales turnover with a beta value of 3.454 and constant value of 775.8. The result shows that for every unit increase in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 3 units increase in sales turnover. Similarly for every unit decrease in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 3 units decrease in sales turnover of Ultratech cement.

J K Lakshmi

It is found that there is a high correlation between Promotional expenses and Sales turnover, R = 0.995 in J K Lakshmi company. The model is good as the coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.991 which explains 99% variability in sales turnover by Promotional expenses. From the Table 1 it is observed that Promotional expenses regressed sales turnover with a beta value of 2.717 and constant value of 617.5. The result shows that for every unit increase in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 3 units increase in sales turnover. Similarly for every unit decrease in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 3 units decrease in sales turnover of J K Lakshmi cement.

JSW

It is found that there is a high correlation between Promotional expenses and Sales turnover, R = 0.917 in JSW company. The model is good as the coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.841 which explains 84% variability in sales turnover by Promotional expenses. From the Table 1 it is observed that Promotional expenses regressed sales turnover with a beta value of 28.056 and constant value of -1285.2. The result shows that for every unit increase in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 28 units increase in sales turnover. Similarly for every unit decrease in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 28 units decrease in sales turnover of JSW cement.

ACC

It is found that there is a high correlation between Promotional expense sand Sales turnover, R = 0.980 in ACC company. The model is good as the coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.960 which explains 96% variability in sales turnover by Promotional expenses. From the Table 1 it is observed that Promotional expenses regressed sales turnover with a beta value of 2.921 and constant value of 1680.7. The result shows that for every unit increase in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 3 units increase in sales turnover. Similarly for every unit decrease in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 3 units decrease in sales turnover of ACC cement.

Overall Impact of Promotional expense son Sales Turnover of four selected companies during 2001 to 2020

It is found that there is a high correlation between Promotional expense sand Sales turnover, R = 0.971 if all four companies taken together. The model is good as the coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.943 which explains 94% variability in sales turnover by Promotional expenses. From the Table 1 it is observed that Promotional expenses regressed sales turnover with a beta value of 3.296 and constant value of 1461.6. The result shows that for every unit increase in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 3 units increase in sales turnover. Similarly for every unit decrease in Promotional expenses there will be approximately 3 units decrease in sales turnover in aggregate of all four cement companies.

Hence, the study found a significant positive relationship between Promotional expenses and sales turnover of selected cement companies over a period of twenty years.

Annexure 1:

Sales Turnover and Promotional Expenses of Selected Cement Companies

Year

UltraTech

J  K Lakshmi

JSW

ACC

Sales
Turnover
(In Cr.)

Promotional
Exp.
(In Cr.)

Sales
Turnover
(In Cr.)

Promotional
Exp.
(In Cr.)

Sales
Turnover
(In Cr.)

Promotional
Exp.
(In Cr.)

Sales
Turnover
(In Cr.)

Promotional
Exp.
(In Cr.)

2020

43,188.34

12,121.55

4,459.00

1,323.00

9281.00

320.00

13989.00

4271.00

2019

40,649.17

11,968.02

4094.00

1,249.00

12101.00

366.00

15968.00

4914.00

2018

35,703.50

10,708.29

3,940.00

1,260.00

10731.00

376.00

14801.00

4892.00

2017

27,162.42

7,258.66

3,582.00

1,148.00

8932.00

341.00

13263.00

4270.00

2016

26,947.14

7,277.92

3,330.00

962.00

6335.00

267.00

10994.00

3410.00

2015

24,107.36

7,276.42

2,988.00

880.00

5035.00

351.00

11797.00

3493.00

2014

25,710.19

6,611.58

2,307.00

689.00

4936.00

305.00

11738.00

3345.00

2013

21,652.20

5,700.81

2,101.00

603.00

4333.00

236.00

11393.00

2978.00

2012

20,174.94

5,192.34

2,110.00

555.00

2940.00

194.00

11623.00

2838.00

2011

18,309.85

4,570.85

1921.63

447.00

3208.00

196.00

9852.00

2427.00

2010

13,209.91

3,996.18

1491.26

359.40

2406.00

141.00

8074.00

1819.00

2009

7,049.68

1,759.22

1,644.05

352.80

703.00

103.00

8027.00

1817.00

2008

6,383.08

1,525.38

1404.05

283.44

4088.00

100.00

7283.00

1812.15

2007

5,508.78

1,353.35

1286.36

250.19

578.00

65.00

7007.00

1674.00

2006

4,910.83

1,297.86

970.99

34.90

 

 

5803.00

1444.00

2005

3,299.45

983.41

700.03

28.61

 

 

3203.00

899.00

2004

2,681.05

699.83

591.73

27.82

 

 

3902.00

994.00

2003

2,251.13

612.18

695.18

39.26

 

 

3490.00

817.00

2002

2,081

520

748

42

 

 

3334.00

757.00

2001

2,031

480

731

41

 

 

2,939

717

Findings The study has taken four major representative companies of cement industry to find out the impact of expenditures on promotional activities on sales turnover and found a significant positive relationship between Promotional expenses and sales turnover of selected cement companies over a period of twenty years.
Conclusion The present study evidenced that the major Cement companies in India meticulously spend money on Promotional activities. The study also evidenced that there is a positive relationship between selling Promotional expenses and sales turnover. The more money the company spends on Promotionalactivities, the more will be the sales turnover. The proportionate increase in sales turnover is three times more than the proportionate change in the Promotional expenses. Considering the growing demand for cement in India and higher capacity utilization over the years, key Indian players prepare budget for Promotional expenses to increase the sales turnover. Further, as Cement is a commodity and the process is well known, there is no USP as far as the product is concern. Therefore, aggressive sales promotion and advertising will be the key to unlocking the puzzle of profit and expansion in Indian cement Industry in the 21st century.
References
1. Nelson, Eshe. 2019. The Global Economy Has Entered a Synchronized Slowdown. Available online: https://qz.com/ 1590499/the-global-economy-has-entered-a-synchronized-slowdown/ (accessed on 15 September 2019). 2. World Bank. 2018. Review Updated Situation of Vietnam’s Economy. Available online: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/188661544471831249/pdf/132828-VIETNAMESE-REVISEDTaking-Stock-December-2018-Vietnamese.pdf (accessed on 12 September 2019). 3. Henrekson, Magnus, and Dan Johansson. 2010. Gazelles as job creators: A survey and interpretation of the evidence. Small Business Economics 35: 227–44. 4. Hermans, Julie, Johanna Vanderstraeten, Arjen Van Witteloostuijn, Marcus Dejardin, DendiRamdani, and Erik Stam. 2015. Ambitious Entrepreneurship: A Review of Growth Aspirations, Intentions, and Expectations. In Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence, and Growth. Emerald: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17, pp. 127–60. 5. Stam, Erik, and Karl Wennberg. 2009. The roles of R&D in new firm growth. Small Business Economics 33: 77–89. 6. Wong, PohKam, Yuen Ping Ho, and ErkkoAutio. 2005. Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth: Evidence from GEM data. Small Business Economics 24: 335–50. 7. Biesebroeck, Johannes Van. 2005. Firm Size Matters: Growth and Productivity Growth in African Manufacturing. Economic Development and Cultural Change 53: 543–83. [CrossRef] 8. Caves, Richard E. 1998. Industrial Organization and New Findings on the Turnover and Mobility of Firms. Journal of Economic Literature 36: 1947–82. 9. Audretsch, David B., and Steven Klepper. 2000. Innovation, Evolution of Industry and Economic Growth. The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics Series; Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University. 10. Freel, Mark S., and Paul J. A. Robson. 2004. Small Firm Innovation, Growth and Performance: Evidence from Scotland and Northern England. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship 22: 561–75. 11. Davidsson, Per, Leona Achtenhagen, and Lucia Naldi. 2010. Small Firm Growth. Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship 6: 69–166. 12. Delmar, Frédéric, Per Davidsson, and William Gartner. 2003. Arriving at the High-Growth Firm. Journal of Business Venturing 18: 189–216. 13. Koga, Maiko, and Haruko Kato. 2017. Behavioral Biases in Firms’ Growth Expectations. Ideas. Available online: https://ideas.repec.org/p/boj/bojwps/wp17e09.html (accessed on 10 June 2019). 14. Hölzl, Werner, and Klaus Friesenbichler. 2010. High-growth firms, innovation and the distance to the frontier. Economics Bulletin 30: 1016–24. Ha, Anh. 2018. Announcing and Introducing ASEAN’s Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Policy in 2018. Available online: http://www.dangcongsan.vn/preview/newid/499741.html (accessed on 1 October 2019). 15. Mansfield, Edwin. 1962. Entry, Gibrat’s Law, Innovation, and the Growth of Firms. The American Economic Review 52: 1023–51. 16. Hart, Peter E., and Nicholas Oulton. 1996. Growth and Size of Firms. Economic Journal 106: 1242–52. 17. Jones, Geoffrey, and Peter Miskell. 2007. Acquisitions and firm growth: Creating Unilever’s ice cream and tea business. Business History 49: 8–28. 18. Harabi, Najib. 2005. Determinants of Firm Growth: An Empirical Analysis from Morocco. Northwestern Switzerland: University of Applied Sciences. 19. Storey, David J. 2009. Understanding the Small Business Sector: Reflextions and Confessions. SSRN. Available online: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1496214 (accessed on 4 November 2019) 20. Davidsson, Per, and Frederic Delmar. 1997. High-growth firms: Characteristics, job contribution and method observations. In RENT XI Conference. Mannhiem: Queensland University of Technology. 21. Kumar, Manmohan S. 1985. Growth, acquisition activity and firm size: Evidence from the United Kingdom. Journal of Industrial Economics 33: 327–38. 22. Variyan, Jayachandran N., and David S. Kraybill. 1992. Empirical evidence on determinants of firm growth. Economic Letters 38: 31–36. 23. Marris, Robin, and Adrian Wood. 1971. Growth, Competition, and Innovative Potential. Cambridge: Harvard. 24. Chen, Kwo-Shin, Emerson M. Babb, and Lee F. Schrader. 1985. Growth of large cooperative and proprietary firms in the US food sector. Agribusiness 1: 201–10. 25. Pavitt, Keith. 1984. Sectoral patterns of technical change: Towards a taxonomy and a theory. Research Policy 13: 343–73. 26. Nguyen, Thang Cong, Tan Ngoc Vu, Duc Hong Vo, and Dao ThiThieu Ha. 2019. Financial Development and Income Inequality in Emerging Markets: A New Approach. Journal of Risk and Financial Management 12: 1–14. 27. Melfi, Michael S. 2016. The Importance of Sales for an Entrepreneurial Organization. National Association of Sales Professionals. Available online: https://www.nasp.com/article/E7E6606D-4E51/the-importance-of-sales-foran-entrepreneurial-organization.html (accessed on 12 October 2019). 28. Jena, Abhinash. 2013. Project Guru. PG. Available online: https://www.projectguru.in/publications/importancemarketing-success-organization/ (accessed on 12 November 2018). 29. Haas, Alexander, Ivan Snehota, and Daniela Corsaro. 2012. Creating value in business relationships: The role of sales. Industrial Marketing Management 41: 94–105. 30. Krippendorf, Klaus. 2004. Content Analysis—An Introduction to Its Methodology, 2nd ed. California: Sage Publications, Inc. Levitt, Theodore. 1960. Marketing myopia. Harvard Business Review 38: 45–56. 31. Lindgreen, Adam, and Finn Wynstra. 2005. Value in business markets: What do we know? Where are we going? Industrial Marketing Management 34: 732–48. 32. Ramsey, Rosemary P., and Ravipreet S. Sohi. 1997. Listening to your customers: The impact of perceived salesperson listening behavior on relational outcomes. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 22: 127–37. 33. Ministry of Finance. 2014. Guidance on Enterprise Accounting Regime. Hanoi: Finance. 34. Gross, Jenna. 2016. Why Marketing Is SO Important? Business Market. Available online: https://movingtargets. com/blog/business-marketing/why-marketing-is-so-important/ (accessed on 15 April 2019). 35. Mike Reid, (2005), Performance Auditing of Integrated Marketing Communication Actions and Outcomes, The Journal of Advertising, Vol. 34 (4), pp. 41-54. 36. Dunne, Paul, and Alan Hughes. 1994. Age, Size, Growth and Survival: UK Companies in the 1980s. Journal of Industrial Economics 42: 115–40. 37. Lotti, Francesca, Enrico Santarelli, and Marco Vivarelli IV. 2010. The relationship between size and growth: The case of Italian newborn firms. Applied Economics Letters 8: 451–54. 38. Calvo, José L. 2006. Testing Gibrat’s Law for Small, Young and Innovating Firms. Small Business Economics 26: 117–23. 39. Mengistae, Taye. 1999. Indigenous Ethnicity and Entrepreneurial Success in Africa: Some Evidence from Ethiopia. WB Policy Research Working Paper. Washington: SSRN. 40. Agarwal, Anupam, Eric Harmon, and Michael Viertler. 2009. Cutting Sales Costs, Not Revenues. Available online: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/cutting-sales-costsnot-revenues (accessed on 9 October 2019). 41. Konak, Fatih. 2015. The Effects of Marketing Expenses on Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from the BIST Textile, Leather Index. Journal of Economics, Business and ManagementJournal of Economics Business and Management 3: 1068–71. 42. Markdao. 2019. Hire Marketing Agency—How Much Money That Business Should Spend? Markdao_Digital Marketing Solutions. Available online: https://www.markdao.com.vn/blog/thue-marketing-agency-doanhnghiep-nen-chi-bao-nhieu-tien (accessed on 3 October 2019). 43. Drucker, Peter. 1973. Management: Tasks, responsibilities, practices. In Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. Edited by P. Drucker. New York: Harper & Row, pp. 23–29. 44. Woodruff, Robert B. 1997. Customer value: The next source for competitive advantage. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 25: 139–53. 45. Blattberg, Robert C., Edward C. Malthouse, and Scott A. Neslin. 2009. Customer Lifetime Value: Empirical Generalizations and Some Conceptual Questions. Journal of Interactive Marketing 23: 157–68. 46. http://www.industry-focus.net/Ibis-Cement-Directory-2020-Sample.pdf 47. http://www.industry-focus.net/cement-directory 48. https://www.dalmiabharat.com/upload/pdf/Dalmia-Bharat-AR2017-18.pdf 49. https://www.census2011.co.in/census/state/orissa.html 50. https://www.jklakshmicement.com/annual-reports/ 51. https://www.ultratechcement.com/investors/financials 52. https://www.jswcement.in/about-us 53. https://acclimited.com/about/acc-at-a-glance