Marketing Management, Millenium Edition - epiheirimatikotita.gr

52 CHAPTER 3 WINNING MARKETS THROUGH STRATEGIC PLANNING, IMPLEMENTATION, AND CONTROL➤➤➤Marketing strategy: This section explains the broad marketing strategy that will beimplemented to accomplish the plan’s objectives.Action programs: This section outlines the broad marketing programs for achievingthe business objectives. Each marketing strategy element must be elaborated toanswer these questions: What will be done? When will it be done? Who will do it?How much will it cost?Projected profit-and-loss statement: Action plans allow the product manager to build asupporting budget with forecasted sales volume (units and average price), costs(production, physical distribution, and marketing), and projected profit. Onceapproved, the budget is the basis for developing plans and schedules for materialprocurement, production scheduling, employee recruitment, and marketingoperations.➤ Controls: This last section outlines the controls for monitoring the plan. Typically,the goals and budget are spelled out for each month or quarter so seniormanagement can review the results each period. Sometimes contingency plans forhandling specific adverse developments are included.No two companies handle marketing planning and marketing plan content exactlythe same way. Most marketing plans cover one year and vary in length; some firms taketheir plans very seriously, while others use them as only a rough guide to action. The mostfrequently cited shortcomings of marketing plans, according to marketing executives, arelack of realism, insufficient competitive analysis, and a short-run focus.MANAGING THE MARKETING PROCESSIn addition to updating their marketing plans, companies often need to restructurebusiness and marketing practices in response to major environmental changes such asglobalization, deregulation, computer and telecommunications advances, and marketfragmentation. Against this dynamic backdrop, the role of marketing in the organizationmust change as well. Now that the enterprise is fully networked, every functionalarea can interact directly with customers. This means that marketing no longer hassole ownership of customer interactions; rather, marketing needs to integrate all thecustomer-facing processes so that customers see a single face and hear a single voicewhen they interact with the firm. To accomplish this requires careful structuring of themarketing organization.Organization of the Marketing DepartmentModern marketing departments take numerous forms. The marketing departmentmay be organized according to function, geographic area, products, or customer markets.Global organization is another consideration for firms that market goods or servicesin other countries.Functional OrganizationThe most common form of marketing organization consists of functional specialists(such as the sales manager and marketing research manager) who report to a marketingvice president, who coordinates their activities. The main advantage of a functionalmarketing organization is its administrative simplicity. However, this form loseseffectiveness as products and markets increase. First, a functional organization oftenleads to inadequate planning for specific products and markets because products thatare not favored by anyone are neglected. Second, each functional group competes