بررسی تعامل شَمّ بازاریابی و هوشمندی بازار در ارتقای عملکرد بازاریابی دیجیتال: شواهدی از صنعت پخش داروی ایران

مسعود   تبعه امامیه; محمدرضا دلوی; اسماعیل  باقری

Authors

Masoud Tabaeh Emamieh PhD Student, Department of Management, Deh.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6772-3548
Mohammad Reza Dalvi Associate Professor, Department of Management ,Deh.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1232-374X
Esmaeil Bagheri Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering, Deh.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0280-2691

Keywords:

Marketing Acumen, Market Intelligence, Digital Marketing Performance, Thematic Analysis, Pharmaceutical Distribution, Iran

Abstract

This study aimed to examine and explain how marketing intuition interacts with market intelligence to enhance digital marketing performance in Iran’s pharmaceutical distribution industry. This applied qualitative study employed an exploratory design. Participants included 18 managers and specialists working in marketing, sales, digital marketing, market research, business development, and commercial planning in pharmaceutical distribution companies located in Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews, and interviewing continued until theoretical saturation was reached. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis with MAXQDA software. Member checking, peer review, constant comparison, and documentation of analytic decisions were employed to enhance credibility and dependability. The analysis yielded 264 initial codes, 96 final codes, 23 subthemes, and six major themes. The major themes were experiential and cognitive foundations of marketing intuition, market-intelligence infrastructures and processes, mechanisms for integrating intuition and market intelligence, facilitating conditions, decision barriers and tensions, and consequences for digital marketing performance. The principal mechanisms of interaction included validating intuition with data, interpreting data through experience, revising judgments in response to contradictory evidence, filling informational gaps with professional judgment, testing intuitive decisions through limited implementation, and learning iteratively from digital outcomes. This interaction was associated with more accurate targeting, faster market response, improved personalization, greater campaign effectiveness, more efficient resource allocation, and stronger organizational learning. The effective integration of marketing intuition and market intelligence represents a dynamic organizational capability through which professional experience and analytical evidence jointly improve the quality and speed of digital marketing decisions. Establishing feedback-based and continuous learning mechanisms can strengthen this synergy in pharmaceutical distribution firms.

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