Marketing importance and marketing performance measurement of architecture firms in Singapore

Abstract

Can marketing be the bridge to solving the apparent disparity between architectural design and practice? Are top-notched building designs alone sufficient in guaranteeing a sustainable architecture business? Does the architecture industry acknowledge and value the importance of measuring the performance of their marketing efforts? This dissertation sets out to answer the questions presented.

This study begins by attempting to determine the realities of formalized marketing approaches and the extent of its importance to architecture firms based in Singapore. This is done by using Rodgers’s (2010) “Architecture Business Development Process” as a framework for investigation. Sufficient evidence has been found from this study to conclude that marketing is recognized as an important component in architecture practice based in Singapore. Despite these encouraging results, this paper contends that the adoption of “The Marketing Concept” in the architecture field is still at its formative stages. Architecture firms, especially the small and medium sized ones need to fully capitalize on this business knowledge area to influence, command, and understand the market in order to remain financially viable as a practice.

This study also found that although little attention has been given towards performance measurement of their marketing outcomes, almost all of the firms surveyed and interviewed acknowledged its increasing importance. With greater corporate governance, these firms are beginning to realize the significance of marketing and evaluating its practices to command the market for success. This move towards becoming more “marketing-conscious” among architecture firms locally can be seen as a positive step forward for the industry.