It is generally agreed by most marketing authors and professionals alike that the marketing of industrial products and services has its own special characteristics, and is often quite different from the marketing of consumer products and services, including consumer durables, even though these may also be very technical. Be that as it may, the marketing of industrial products also varies according to different classes. It is this line of reasoning that prompted the researcher to undertake the study of developing sustainable strategies for the marketing of industrial starch, bearing in mind that industrial starch falls under the industrial product classification of raw materials. The case study for this research happens to be a small f i rm which under normal conditions may not survive where the big ones are showing great
strength through massive advertisements, bulk purchasing of raw materials taking advantage of quantity discounts etc.
But the f i rm in question has been able to survive thus far by first identifying a market niche which it can profitably serve and segmenting t h e market by usage segmentation. It is therefore of interest to investigate the development of the sustainable strategies of t he f i rm for marketing i t 's industrial starch.
This w r i t e up constitutes f i ve chapters. The introductory chapter deals w i t h the objectives, problems, and scope of t he study,
research methodology as well as the definition of terms.
Chapter t w o deals extensively on the review of related literature. The major areas highlighted include the definition of marketing, strategy and comparing consumer and industrial marketing mixes. Other areas of interest are prodding into the various
perspectives of sustainable competitive advantage and the various views of authors defining the industrial market.
Chapter three covers a brief historical account of Raphyjay Agricultural and Food processing Company, the case-study for
this research work, the objectives of t he company, the production f a c i l i t i e s and processes involved in the manufacture of industrial starch. Also the company's marketing strategies are highlighted.
Chapter four consists of presentation of data and analysis. The major point here is the statement of hypothesis that the cost of
personal selling is directly related to turnover levels, which was subjected to s t a t i s t i c a l test proof the validity of t h i s statement.
The research results obtained were interpreted.
Chapter f i ve covers the research finds, recommendations and general conclusion.
From the test of hypothesis, it was found that changes in personal selling expenditure of f i rm have direct impact on the
level of turnover. I t is thus recommended that the intensity of personal selling be encouraged since the regression model developed proved to be s t a t i s t i c a l l y reliable for the purposes of estimation. Finally the f i rm is encouraged to invest into developing better sustainable strategies of serving the market niche carved for itself so as to remain in business in the foreseeable future.
