Sample definition for data collection

There are various methods available to select a research sample. The selected sampling method must suit the aims and assumptions of the research.267 Further, selecting the participants must be linked with the aim of the study. The researcher must ask themselves

‘why these cases’ and ‘what qualifies them’.268 Next, it is important to be able to compare and contrast the selected cases to be able to identify their similarities and differences.269 In this study, it got decided to conduct purposeful sampling. Purposeful sampling is a popular method in qualitative research to select cases that fit the phenomenon of interest.270 Further, a non-probabilistic sampling method was used which involves selecting cases that are available to be studied.271 The research objects of this study were five large multinational companies operating in the Netherlands. Research participants come from the personal network of the researcher, colleagues, or were approached via the social media platform LinkedIn. The aim was to select marketing-procurement professionals and marketers who work in large multinational companies operating in the FMCG sector, who were willing to participate in this research. By purposefully selecting case companies who are in similar industries and have a similar size it is easier to benchmark them and find best practices. Potential participants were messaged and asked to voluntarily take part in the research. Here, the method of non-probabilistic sampling was applied. If e.g. some start-ups and some large multinationals would have been in the sample, the practices and best practices of the start- ups/large multinationals might not apply to firms of other sizes. Therefore, it was decided to stick to one size category, being large multinationals. Upon willingness to take part either a visit, phone call or skype call was scheduled.

Inspiration from the research design of Bals et al. (2009) got taken for this thesis. The researchers analysed the marketing and procurement integration by analysing a company that has separate marketing and procurement departments, high marketing spend and is active in a marketing extensive industry. Bals et al. selected a company from the pharmacy industry and interviewed four purchasers and four marketers.272 In this research, a company from the food industry got selected to be the centre of this research (Company 1). The firm operates in over 100 countries worldwide, has separate marketing and procurement departments, high marketing spend, and operates in the marketing intensive fast-moving consumer goods industry. At that company, four purchasers for marketing as well as four marketers were interviewed. This dyadic approach has been successfully used by other researchers who analysed the relationship and inclusion between the internal stakeholders and procurement department and therefore, it seemed suitable to also use a dyadic

268 _{See Palinkas et al. (2015), p. 536} 269 _{See Palinkas et al. (2015), p. 534} 270 _{See Palinkas et al. (2015), p. 533}

271 _{See Creswel & Plano Clark (2011), p. 174}

approach.273 Next to Company 1, four other companies in the Netherlands got interviewed. At those firms, one purchaser for marketing got interviewed each. The descriptions of the interviewees and companies can be found in Table 5, 6 and Figure 7.

Figure 7: Company 1; Interview Sample Overview

Table 5: Overview of research sample and its characteristics

Company Industry Employees Revenue Founded

1. Company 1 FMCG - Food 23.000 €11,6 billion Founded 2008 after a merger, in the Netherlands 2. Company 2 FMCG - Beverage 30.000 €13.7 billion Founded 1997, in England

3. Company 3 FMCG - Food 38.000 €24 billion Founded 2015 after a merger, in the USA 4. Company 4 FMCG- Furniture 208.000 €37.05 billion Founded 1943, in the Scandinavian region 5. Company 5 FMCG - Beverage 10.000 €5.00 billion Founded 2015 after a merger, in the Netherlands

Gender of research participants, n=12:

Female: 75% Male 25%

Interview Duration in minutes

Average: 20,28 Shortest: 13,15 Longest:28,01 Company Turnover: Average: €18,27 billion Lowest: €5.00 billion Highest: €37,05 billion Industry, n= 5 companies - FMCG – Food: 2 - FMCG – Beverage: 2 - FMCG – Furniture: 1 Number of employees: Average: 61.800 Lowest: 10.000 Highest: 208.000 Interview Style Face to Face: 67% Skype: 17% FaceTime: 8% Phone Call: 8%

Existence of company in years

Average company existence: 23.4 Youngest Company: 4 Oldest company: 76

273 _{See Ashnai et al. (2019); Bals et al. (2009)}

Marketing

Shopper marketing manager Marketing manager Digital marketing manager Shopper marketing and trade

marketing manager

Procurement

Marketing-procurement buyer for POSM and premiums Manager marketing-procurement Manager marketing-procurement

for marketing content Manager business procurement

Table 6: Qualitative sample overview

Company Function Interviewed via Duration Yrs.

experience with marketing 1-Buyer 1 Marketing Procurement: POSM Face to face 18:36 min. 9 months 1-Buyer 2 Manager Marketing Procurement Face to face 19:24 min. 13,5 years 1-Buyer 3 Marketing Procurement: Marketing Content Face to face 19:48 min. 6 years 1-Buyer 4 Business Procurement Face to face 13:10 min. 5 years 1-Marketing 1 Shopper Marketing Manager Face to face 24:57 min. 1 year 1-Marketing 2 Marketing Manager Face to face 13:09 min. 3 years 1-Marketing 3 Digital Marketing Manager Skype 16:48 min. 7 years 1-Marketing 4 Shopper Marketing Manager Face to Face 23:29 min. 2 years 2-Buyer Global Marketing Procurement Director Face to face 28:02 min. 12,5 years 3-Buyer Marketing and Sales Procurement Skype 24:56 min. > 2.5 4-Buyer Marketing and Sales Procurement FaceTime 19:24 min. >1 year

5-Buyer Marketing Procurement Phone call 20:07 min. 8 years

As can be seen in Table 6, the interview duration varies, ranging from 13:09 minutes to 28:02 minutes. Irvine et al. (2011) found that interview durations can vary a lot, typically telephone interviews tend to be shorter than face to face interviews.274 Regardless, in this study, it was not experienced that the phone/Skype calls were particularly shorter.

It was noticed that the interviewees at company 2-5 shared more details and were generally more talkative which explains the longer interview durations at those firms. Overall, it was noticed by the researcher that some interviewees were less invested in the interviews than others which explains some shorter interview durations. In those interviews, the interviewee tended to give short answers and not many details. Another reason for the varying interview durations can be that people speak with different speeds. Some interviewees spoke quick and didn’t have to think long for a reply to a question which resulted in an overall shorter interview duration.

5. Analysis: Deductive coding and evaluation of organisational culture assessment