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Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the working relationship between accounting and marketing, exploring the nature and antecedents of their integration and consequences on firm performance.


Design/methodology/approach
The methodological approach in this study is twofold. First, a review of literature is used to identify core antecedents in the body of literature. Subsequently, four exploratory case studies were used in examining the antecedents of accounting–marketing integration from a frontier market perspective.


Findings
This study identifies information sharing and involvement as core elements of accounting–marketing integration; cultural diversity and management mechanisms (policy, structural and procedural justice) as antecedents of accounting–marketing integration; and country of origin as a mediating factor on the extent of association of some variables on their integration. Finally, this study establishes that there is a positive association between accounting–marketing integration and organisational performance.


Research limitations/implications
This study has two major limitations. First, it is qualitative and based on a review of literature and evidence from four case studies. Second, it explored only the less developed country context. Future research should, therefore, aim to address these gaps.


Practical implications
This study draws attention to the fact that accounting and marketing are culturally diverse, and strategic managerial mechanisms must be used to maintain a relevant and effective level of information sharing and involvement towards enhancing organisational performance.


Originality/value
Using exploratory case studies to support the development of a framework, the authors contend that organisations would optimise organisational performance if due attention is given to both information sharing and involvement dimensions of integration, as well as appropriate managerial mechanisms adopted in managing their relationship.

While an increasing body of literature progressively proposes that accounting–marketing integration would yield strategic marketing synergies, another stream of literature suggests ineffective accounting–marketing integration. This paper aims to bridge the dyadic research gap in the optimal business performance arising from the integration of accounting and marketing functions. Based on a survey of 162 responses (with 75 dyads) from accounting and marketing managers in UK financial services organisations, this study identifies departmental differences and boundary fencing as core relational features in this dyad. Despite the perceptual divergences in the accounting–marketing dyad, most respondents perceived an integration of these functions to be an effective tool in their respective organisations. This study illuminates the existence and influence of cultural diversity and boundary fencing behaviour in the accounting–marketing dyad with respect to impasse, accounting–marketing integration and performance. This study explains performance driven task connectivity integration between accounting and marketing.

"For many years, entrepreneurship has been considered as one of the most important solutions to the three-pronged challenges, poverty, unemployment and inequality, of most African countries. A recent development that has undoubtedly compounded the challenges that African entrepreneurs face and further impede the economic growth impact is Covid-19. This pandemic has exerted severe damage to economies and businesses globally. For the African setting, the implications of Covid-19 on businesses and individuals would be enormous, as African societies are rarely equipped to absorb unexpected shocks of this magnitude as the social and welfare schemes are far below requirements. This book illuminates entrepreneurship in the African setting, focusing on the prospects, challenges, and the post-Covid-19 pandemic future. It aims to offer a rich repository of information on strategies and techniques for sustaining entrepreneurial activities that can enrich African nations and will be of relevance to academics, researchers, advanced students, entrepreneurs, governments, and government agencies who are interested in understanding issues relating to entrepreneurship development within the African continent"--

Given the patriarchal nature of the African society, females are often secondary. In patriarchal societies, men are viewed as forbearers of knowledge and hence dominate other considerations. A direct consequence therefore is structural discrimination of women, and small businesses are owned and managed by men. Youth unemployment is notably high in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and especially among females. Notably too, one critical factor that drives entrepreneurship start-ups is self-employment, often induced by unemployment. In patriarchal societies, not only are there few opportunities for women but also women face more constraints than their male counterparts. Inspired by the gap in the literature, this study utilizes the descriptive literature review approach to understand the problems, faced by young women when starting a business in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Understanding this theoretical premise and from the perspective of the explored population is important given the criticality of entrepreneurship to economic growth (including unemployment and poverty reduction). In addition, this study would contribute to strategic policy change for achieving productive entrepreneurship. Finally, this study flags research directions for steering necessary research towards productive entrepreneurship goals.

Given the patriarchal nature of the African society, females are often secondary. In patriarchal societies, men are viewed as forbearers of knowledge and hence dominate other considerations. A direct consequence therefore is structural discrimination of women, and small businesses are owned and managed by men. Youth unemployment is notably high in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and especially among females. Notably too, one critical factor that drives entrepreneurship start-ups is self-employment, often induced by unemployment. In patriarchal societies, not only are there few opportunities for women but also women face more constraints than their male counterparts. Inspired by the gap in the literature, this study utilizes the descriptive literature review approach to understand the problems, faced by young women when starting a business in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Understanding this theoretical premise and from the perspective of the explored population is important given the criticality of entrepreneurship to economic growth (including unemployment and poverty reduction). In addition, this study would contribute to strategic policy change for achieving productive entrepreneurship. Finally, this study flags research directions for steering necessary research towards productive entrepreneurship goals.

Given the patriarchal nature of the African society, females are often secondary. In patriarchal societies, men are viewed as forbearers of knowledge and hence dominate other considerations. A direct consequence therefore is structural discrimination of women, and small businesses are owned and managed by men. Youth unemployment is notably high in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and especially among females. Notably too, one critical factor that drives entrepreneurship start-ups is self-employment, often induced by unemployment. In patriarchal societies, not only are there few opportunities for women but also women face more constraints than their male counterparts. Inspired by the gap in the literature, this study utilizes the descriptive literature review approach to understand the problems, faced by young women when starting a business in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Understanding this theoretical premise and from the perspective of the explored population is important given the criticality of entrepreneurship to economic growth (including unemployment and poverty reduction). In addition, this study would contribute to strategic policy change for achieving productive entrepreneurship. Finally, this study flags research directions for steering necessary research towards productive entrepreneurship goals.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand marketing–sales–service (M-S-S) interface from the point of how social media marketing (SMM) platforms are prioritized and associated business-to-business (B2B) sales process influence. This study also seeks to understand whether effective triadic alignment is achieved between marketing, sales and service.Design/methodology/approachThis study combines literature review and the analytical hierarchy process model. In total, 30 M-S-S managers of a multinational electronics firm situated in Africa and the Middle East participated in this study. The authors collected data from M-S-S managers during training sessions on marketing, sales, service alignment and SMM role in sales process.FindingsIn their drive for customer orientation and improved organizational performance, marketing, sales and service managers view understanding the customer as the most important sales process attribute. Considered second most significant sales process attribute is needs discovery, whereas approaching the customer is ranked the least important. From the ratings of sales process attributes evaluation and rankings of SMM platform alternatives, the results show a significant hierarchical influence of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter on sales process. The results also show an enabling influence of SMM activity on M-S-S interface alignment.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has a twofold limitation. First, it explored only one major B2B firm in the electronics industry. Second, only the African and Middle East settings are considered in this study. These limitations could be addressed in future research.Practical implicationsThis paper provides practical insights into how M-S-S managers may leverage social media to enhance customer orientation and boost organizational performance. The use of SMM can help M-S-S managers of the focal firm to predict purchase behavior of customers more accurately and as a result effectively manage and improve sales performance. In that drive of using SMM-based competitive intelligence to deliver superior customer experience and enhance sales performance, B2B marketing-oriented firms can also leverage the interdependence (information sharing and involvement) in the M-S-S interface during the SMM activity to enhance triadic alignment.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by developing a framework for modeling SMM influence on M-S-S and B2B sales process to deliver superior customer experience and drive business performance.