Exploring Barriers to Innovative Marketing in MSMEs: An Analysis Using a BWM-ISM Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Framework

In today's dynamic business landscape, organisations increasingly realise the pivotal role of innovative marketing approaches (IMA) in gaining a competitive edge and driving sustainable growth. However, many organisations encounter formidable barriers to adopting and developing IMA, despite the growing importance of innovative approaches in marketing. The purpose of this research is to identify, prioritise, establish the inter-relationships and propose a ‘level-wise structural model’ of the barriers that an organisation faces in adopting and developing IMA. The research employed a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. An exhaustive review of related literature and theoretical frameworks (namely the ‘resource-based view’ (RBV) theory, the ‘social capital theory’ (SCT) theory, the ‘innovation resistance theory’ (IRT) theory, and the ‘institutional theory’ (IT) theory), along with expert feedback, are used to categorise and finalise the barriers. Further, a case study from ‘micro, small and medium enterprises’ (MSMEs) in a developing nation such as India along with hybrid ‘multi-criteria decision-making’ (MCDM), that is, best-worst method (BWM), was applied to prioritise the barriers. While ‘interpretive structural modelling’ (ISM) was used to establish contextual relationships, and ‘matrice d'impacts croisés multiplication appliquée á un classment’ (MICMAC) analysis was employed to cluster the barriers. The findings suggest that among the main category technology-related barriers and from subcategories, infrastructure supports the top barriers and works as a driving obstacle while building IMA for sustainable development. The findings from this study can help develop effective marketing strategies that align profitability with environmental and social responsibility.