O papel das capacidades de marketing nos serviços de telecomunicações: proposta de um framework para a região noroeste do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The telecommunications sector in the Northwest region of Rio Grande do Sul presents a unique competitive challenge: the coexistence of large multinational operators, such as Claro Brasil, and regional Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which leverage agility, proximity, and personalization as market differentiators. In this context, the challenge of this research was to investigate which marketing capabilities are necessary to create and sustain competitive advantage in developing regional markets. The general objective was to propose a marketing capabilities framework adapted to the reality of Northwestern Rio Grande do Sul. To this end, a mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining semi-structured interviews with Claro executives and external partners with a survey applied to 22 internal collaborators from Claro, allowing the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data. The results indicated that Claro possesses robust marketing capabilities in brand, scale, and infrastructure but faces barriers related to execution agility, regional autonomy, and service personalization. In contrast, local ISPs stand out for their community proximity and rapid response to market demands. Five blocks of marketing capabilities critical to competitiveness in regional markets were identified: local agility; proximity and customer service; data-driven marketing–sales integration; adaptive governance; and customer-focused digitalization. Based on these findings, a framework was developed grounded in the Resource-Based Theory (RBT), dynamic capabilities (Teece, 2007), and the typology of marketing capabilities (Vorhies; Morgan, 2005), connecting theory and practice. It was observed that large operators can sustain competitive advantage in peripheral markets by balancing the strength of corporate scale with personalization and local embeddedness strategies, reinforcing their presence and competitiveness in highly rivalrous environments.