Abstract
This paper reviews recent literature concerning the nature of competition in markets for undifferentialed products and investigates the role and effectiveness of marketing activities in such markets. In particular, the paper seeks to explore the relationship (if any) between good marketing practice and success in the marketplace amongst companies supplying basic industrial products. The work is based on a study of the marketing activities of steel stockholders in the UK. The findings lend some support to the view that marketing can and should be used to differentiate the offerings of competing suppliers in so‐called “stalemate industries”, and that the investment of management time and effort is more important to the development of effective marketing practices than the size of the marketing budget.

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