The motor industry in South Africa has experienced exceptional growth during the past four years mainly due to a stable economy and exchange rates, economic growth and the low interest rates. However, the quality of management has not seen the same growth as the industry itself. This study sets out to investigate the quality of marketing management principles and its ability to influence the marketing assets that adds value to the business. A survey was carried out to support the investigation. It is concluded that quality management principles are interdependent with most of the correlation values being greater than 0.5, marketing assets are interdependent with correlation values ranging from 0.5 to 0.9 and that quality management principles influences the quality and value of marketing assets with the amount of variation in marketing assets explained by each of the quality management principles range between 24% to 78%. A problem in one of the quality management principles will have a snowball effect on the other marketing quality management principles as well as on the marketing assets. This study recommends the introduction of a quality management system as a management tool that will direct and facilitate the implementation of a marketing quality management improvement program.

Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.