Marketing planning and corporate culture: A conceptual framework which examines management attitudes in the context of marketing planning

This paper examines the marketing planning process of a number of British Companies. It finds that the companies who subscribe to what is described in the paper as a “complete marketing planning process”, are further along an organizational evolutionary development path than their semi‐planning and non‐planning counterparts. While the marketing planning process appears on the surface to be just a series of procedural steps, it does in fact embrace a set of underlying values and assumptions. Only the more developed and mature organizations seem likely to have the corporate culture which is capable of sustaining these values. Corporate culture is often intangible to the outsider, but can be very real to those within the company. It develops partly through the way the company has triumphed over adversity in the past, and partly through the so‐called “culture carriers”. These are the influential figures who, by their behaviour, communicate the organizational values they wish to see espoused. Because marketing planning often challenges existing corporate values and attempts to introduce new ones, the process cannot be regarded simply as a neutral, cognitive activity; it is clearly a political process. The problems this poses for executives of organizations and their external advisers are complex and far‐reaching. Nevertheless the potential rewards which result from comprehensive marketing planning can be substantial, and make it a goal worth striving for.     

The logic of being illogical in strategic marketing planning

This article challenges the validity and usefulness of a conventional model of the sequence of stages in strategic marketing planning. Quite simply the conventional model ignores the organisational and human realities facing the planner. This paper proposes an “illogical” but iterative model of strategic marketing planning which is driven by the managerial understanding of the environment and knowledge of what tactical imperatives exist and constrain implementation. The advantages of explicitly recognising this “illogical” aspect of the planning process lie in: coping better with information demands made by executives in planning; allowing for psychological planning constraints and the obstacles created by the real nature of the manager's job; and in gaining the implementation of strategic marketing plans, with all that this implies for organisational and cultural change. The argument leads to an agenda of issues to be considered by the executive responsible for managing the strategic marketing planning process.     

Marketing planning in the larger family business

In recent decades a considerable literature on marketing planning has accumulated. The larger part relates to marketing planning in big firms with specialized, professional managers. There are books on the subject, like that of Malcolm McDonald which has gone through several editions, and there is also a steady stream of articles in the academic journals. In addition, the marketing planning activities of big firms are referred to by many more writers in the overlapping but broader contexts of “strategic marketing” and “strategic planning”. A lesser part of the literature relates to marketing planning in small firms. The small firms in question are usually very small. Typically they are owner‐managed and employ just a handful of people in a single location. The purpose of this study is to fill a gap in the literature by examining a medium‐sized firm; a category which seems to have been neglected by researchers.

Most modern economies are characterized by a significant group of middle‐sized firms, still owner‐managed, but with multi‐million dollar turnovers. Many of these remain family companies and constitute an important reservoir of business initiative. One such family business is the focus of this study. Given the relative lack of scrutiny of such firms to date, the author decided to conduct an in depth evaluation from within one large, family firm rather than seek by means of questionnaire to obtain information from a significant sample of the group. The results of the study suggest that neither the existing typologies of small firm approaches to marketing nor the formal models of marketing planning attributed to big companies necessarily characterize the marketing planning and management of larger, family businesses.     

Organisational context and behavioural problems as determinants of the effectiveness of the strategic marketing planning process

This paper continues the authors’ recent work on organisational behaviour by arguing that the differences between theory and parctice in marketing planning can be better understood by analysing the corporate environment for marketing management. Thus, variables such as organisational structure, the configuration of corporate decision making processes, patterns of managerial behaviour and the impact of corporate culture, can help us to understand how marketing planning processes operate in practice.

The authors contention is that the real problems associated with the strategic marketing planning process should be grounded in the realities perceived by executives. They go on to discuss a number of common pitfalls in the planning process before reporting on an exploratory empirical study of UK firms with over 100 employees. The implication of the results is seen as reselling the management agenda with regard to the process of marketing planning.     

Machiavellian marketing: The development of corporate lobbying in the UK

Political lobbying by business has grown considerably in recent years. This paper considers its relationship with marketing communication and marketing. Niccolo Machiavelli, in “The Prince”, gives a practical treatise on how to use power and the influences upon the ruler. It is argued that the role of the political lobbyist and corporate campaigner is a modem reflection of Machiavelli's ideas. The literature on lobbying and corporate campaigning in the UK is reviewed and there is an assessment of the insights which marketing can bring to this growing area. The paper presents a working definition of corporate lobbying and campaigning, and an indication of the scale of activity in the UK. A practical research programme for marketing researchers in this significant area is outlined. Some recent cases from current research are given with an outline of some of the core reasons for the growth of “Machiavellian Marketing”.     

A quality function deployment framework for service strategy planning

This research introduces a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) decision framework for orchestrating and aligning quality management and services marketing efforts for effective service strategy planning. Specifically, a 3-phased QFD framework is presented, emphasizing the implications of the “Voice of the Customer” in defining service quality and delivering customer value, while interpreting it into a set of prioritized strategies to guide service design activities. Method wise, an extended methodological approach is employed, the QFD-LP-GW-Fuzzy AHP (Linear Programming method to Generate Weights in the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process), to capture and rank more accurately uncertain and subjective judgments. The application of the proposed framework is discussed within the financial sector. Essentially, this study contributes to the literature by streamlining and simplifying marketing strategy planning decisions with a novel QFD factual approach that aligns customer requirements with service organizations’ market positioning and tactics.     

Ethical beliefs and personal values of top level executives

Do business executives sell their souls to the corporation? Is the organization a “paramour” in an executive's life? Is backstabbing the only way to climb the corporate ladder? The basic purpose of this study was to provide answers to these questions by surveying Fortune 500 corporate executives in the marketing, finance, and production areas. The findings are interesting as various executives exhibited different behavior regarding three types of ethical concern.     

Environmental context and marketing planning processes

The traditional model of marketing planning assumes that the process by which organizations take planning decisions is constant with respect to context. Organizational environment, internal context, performance and distinctive competency affect marketing planning only as information inputs for the planning process, not as influences on the choice of process. However, rapid change in environments, in competitive patterns and in market responses all demand action from organizations. Intuitively, we expect that rapid environmental change will require a faster planning process, and that increasing environmental complexity requires more careful deliberation. The marketing planning model does not accommodate such intuition. This paper outlines the case for rethinking marketing planning models, and develops a conceptual framework through which the impact of environmental context on marketing planning processes can be effectively examined.     

Revisiting Business and the Arts

SUMMARY

From a critical perspective, this paper examines the development of closer relationships between business and the arts. There has been a concerted effort to expand “exchange transitions,” a fundamental marketing concept, so that marketing is now viewed as a pervasive social activity. As such, marketers like corporate sponsors are the possessors and disseminators of a new and powerful language. Three strands of investigation are pursued: the conceptualization of the consumer in relationship to the arts organization; the significance of the (American-based) Business Committee for the Arts, since its founding in the late 1960s, in championing stronger relationships between commercial enterprises and arts organizations; and interventions by visual artist Hans Haacke, as an example of culture jamming, against what he perceives to be the corporate takeover of the arts. These cases are points of contact representing the complex and contested managerial imperatives faced by arts organizations.     

The marketing and strategic planning interface

This article examines the potential contribution and implementational problems of developing marketing planning as a means to increase the marketing orientation of a company. It draws on the experience gained from a two year involvement in the design and implementation of a planning system for a large manufacturer, and reviews some of the literature on marketing and strategic planning. The focus is on the problems of managing the interface between strategic and marketing management, and the important role played by marketing information, the Chief Marketing Executive and the planning function in achieving effective and integrated strategic marketing planning.     

Strategic planning for marketers.

The merits of strategic planning as a marketing tool are discussed in this article which takes the view that although marketers claim to be future-oriented, they focus too little attention on long-term planning and forecasting. Strategic planning, as defined by these authors, usually encompasses periods of between five and twenty-five years and places less emphasis on the past as an absolute predictor of the future. It takes a more probabilistic view of the future than conventional marketing strategy and looks at the corporation as but one component interacting with the total environment. Inputs are examined in terms of environmental, social, political, technological and economic importance. Because of its futuristic orientation, an important tenant of strategic planning is the preparation of several alternative scenarios ranging from most to least likely. By planning for a wide-range of future market conditions, a corporation is more able to be flexible by anticipating the course of future events, and is less likely to become a captive reactor--as the authors believe is now the case. An example of strategic planning at General Elecric is cited.     

Competitive advantages in new corporate ventures: The impact of resource sharing and reporting level

Ideally, new ventures “born” into a corporation's “family” of existing businesses have a wealth of established resources to successfully draw upon. Such new corporate ventures do not have to reinvent every wheel. There are already marketing programs and plants in place as part of the existing business' operations, and they should be able to piggyback upon these. Likewise, the managers from across the corporation already have established a brand name and gained important experience in dealing with customers, and the new venture should get to ride on these coattails. However, along with these benefits come costs that may be more than offsetting. Corporations may try to force the new venture into the established way of doing things in the name of efficiently utilizing existing resources. Perhaps the new venture will be hamstrung by an effort to coordinate its development with the ongoing operations of the corporation's established businesses.It is not at all clear that sharing corporate resources is always a good thing for new corporate ventures. Some have argued that for new ventures to be successful, they often need the direct involvement of top management to see that they get the benefits of corporate resources without suffering the costs. This suggests the general hypothesis underlying much of this work: reporting to top management will be especially beneficial to new corporate ventures heavily involved in sharing corporate resources.In considering this idea, we explore the complicated relationship between resource sharing, top-management involvement, and the ability of new corporate ventures to establish a competitive advantage. We consider both the relative overall quality and relative production costs as forms of competitive advantage. We find that in new corporate ventures heavily involved in resource sharing, achieving either of these advantages is highly contingent upon the level of corporate management to which the new venture regularly reports.In ventures heavily involved in resource sharing, reporting to top-ranking managers appears to be beneficial in terms of controlling cost, but detrimental in terms of the new venture's overall relative quality. In other words, when it comes to benefiting from shared corporate resources, reporting directly to top management is apparently a “two-edged” sword, offering both benefits and costs. (Reporting level appeared to make little difference in new ventures not involved in corporate resource sharing, and competitive advantage is complex and counter to some existing theories.) New theoretical arguments are needed to explain the empirical results. We develop three such theories, all appropriate for further empirical examination.     

Best for baby? Framing weaning practice and motherhood in web-mediated marketing

The aim is to illustrate how web marketing frame commercial baby food as a value-adding part of weaning practice and discuss how various ways of framing relate to contemporary mothering ideals. Drawing on “practice” and “frame analysis,” we illustrate how four baby food producers’ web marketing frame commercial baby food and weaning as “medical,” “fun” or “convenient.” The analysis shows that the web material offers a range of images and ideals that could function as discursive resources in mothers’ everyday feeding practices, while at the same time providing a good fit with several, rather than one specific mothering ideal. Besides adding to our knowledge on mothering this work illustrates the role that marketing play in configuring consumer practices. As a form of representation of consumer practice marketing involves a range of images offering discursive resources and supports consumers in negotiating actual and ideal practices linked to cultural ideals on consumption.     

The anatomy of strategic marketing planning

Strategic planning provides the focus for this two‐part “state of the art” review, to be published in consecutive issues of the Journal. Part one gives an overview of strategic planning and the different environments in which theategic planning process occurs. In part two the author considers the benefits and pitfalls associated with the implementation of a variety of strategic planning frameworks. The product life cycle, growth vector concept and growth share matrix are discussed, amongst others.     

The Critical Role of Internal Marketing in Knowledge Management in Not-for-Profit Organizations

Australian not-for-profit (NFP) organizations are knowledge-intensive enterprises, but most struggle with knowledge management (KM), while at the same time identifying it as an increasingly important activity they must improve for an increasingly competitive and demanding environment. Replicating “corporate” best KM practices is often misaligned with NFPs’ unique cultures, finances, operations, and missions. This article advances previous work presented in this journal and highlights the importance of internal management practices as vital for success. This article draws from NFP research in knowledge and explores a key enabler (internal marketing) that has been overlooked for building a critical link between NFP staff/volunteers and the organization for building and sustaining KM in an NFP environment. Using in-depth interviewing (32 interviews) and an online survey (179 respondents), this article examines the elements of internal marketing’s benefit/value propositions to staff and the importance of personal relevance. Further, the article also explores the value of socialization strategies (such as communities of practice) as effective internal marketing channels.     

Formulating objectives—what can really happen

The history of the evolution of strategic marketing planning in one medium sized but highly profitable British firm over a period of nineteen years is discussed. The development from production based corporate planning to a marketing oriented system is shown to be in response to external influences with which management coped using such concepts as were available to them at various times in the story. The key element in any system of corporate planning is considered to be the generation of objectives and the case history is used to illustrate the practical problems of formulating meaningful statements of objectives. At the latest stage of evolution the marketing concept is shown to be the organising principle of the system.     

Export planning orientation and its antecedents: Evidence from exporting IT products

There is strong support in the export literature for a positive relationship between export planning and export performance. However, little is known about the drivers of export planning. In addressing this knowledge gap, this article proposes that export planning is usefully analyzed in terms of a managerial orientation. Regarding the antecedents of export planning orientation, the focus here is on the role of factors internal to the firm, especially its exporting mindset (export necessity and export commitment). This article also examines to what extent export confidence (psychic distance and marketing advantage) moderates the relationship. The empirical results show that export commitment has a strong and positive effect on a firm's export planning orientation. This relationship is moderated by psychic distance and marketing advantage. Specifically, the results show that the greater the psychic distance and the weaker the marketing advantage, the stronger the relationship between export commitment and a firm's export planning orientation. The results also show that management's perceived export necessity has a negative effect on a firm's export planning orientation and that this relationship remains unaffected by psychic distance and marketing advantage.     

Appearance-related consumption among dating,cohabiting and married consumers: a comparison between men and women

This paper explores press releases, a neglected area of retail and marketing research, from leading British supermarket retailers over a two-year period to December 2002. Major themes for press releases are found to be products and services, corporate social responsibility, and corporate affairs and performance, although individual retailers show different emphases. A stakeholder engagement approach demonstrates how the releases seek to build networks of common interest, which is particularly demonstrable in relation to support for British farming and charitable activities. However it is noted that both these could be considered “easy targets”, grateful for any support they can obtain.     

A critique of the socio-cultural approach to development planning

Recent reflections on development policy have tried to eliminate the weak points in the economically oriented development theories which have dominated development planning up to now, and the traditional modernisation theories complementary to them. The propagation of strategies geared towards overcoming technological and cultural dependence is one result of such rethinking. The following article takes Black Africa as its case example for a critical appraisal of this “socio-cultural” approach.