INTERNAL MARKETING APPLICATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON CORPORATE CULTURE IN TRADE COMPANIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Internal marketing as a marketing activity was developed much later than external marketing although acknowledging the logical development of these two activities, the internal marketing should have preceded the external one. This research aims to define in which way and by application of which tools trade companies in the Republic of Croatia apply internal marketing, with which objectives and effects, and it proposes also to explore whether the application of internal marketing helps in making a real corporate culture as similar as possible to the desired one. Qualitative field research has been conducted on a sample of 10 companies in trade industry. In-depth interviews have been used to collect data from managers in charge of implementing internal marketing activities in these companies. The results show that the companies studied mainly apply the type of internal marketing in which all employees act as its recipients, while it is carried out by only one organisational department, mainly their human resources department. Companies implement various tools of internal marketing, among which the most common are informing and educating employees and determining the level of their satisfaction. By the implementation of internal marketing most companies achieve results at internal and external markets, although the implementation of internal marketing gives the best results in achieving the desired corporate culture by including all employees in its implementation and by the application of a wide range of its tools.