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Marketing toward 2000
FOREWORD
Marketing toward. 2()OO N
iels Bohr, the atomic . physicist, once said "fore.. casting is difficult, especially about the future!" Regardless of that caution, I think that it is still useful to speculate about trends in business and market.. ing, where marketing is heading towards 2000, and what are the significant challenges to be addressed. Marketing will undoubtedly be affected by such trends as the drive to total quality manage .. ment, the emphasis on having a "customer service" orientation, · and such concepts as "bench.. marking", "world best practice" and "comp.etitive advantage". But how will marketing be affected? Currently, many organiza.. tions are attempting to adopt TQM or are changing to a cus.. tomer service focus. Likewise particular businesses and indus.. tries are taking up the "competi.. tive advantage" concept. By and large, however, mar.. keting seetTIS little affected as yet and is often not in the fore .. front of these developments. I think there are three reasons for this: * Marketing is still dri .. ven by the 4Ps, with an empha.. sis on marketing strategy devel.. opment, and particularly on the promotion P. It is true that more organizations are also looking at
their customer service, but often this is occurring independently of the traditional marketing department, or is driven by other factors such as TQM and logistics. * Akey reason for that is that marketing has not yet applied - or identified how to apply - the concepts of "total quality" and "best practice" to marketing itself! For instance "competitive advantage" is often thought of in simplistic terms, such as a "positioning advan.. tage" deriving from marketing and promotional strategy. The recognition that "total quality" and "best prac.. tice" imply the adoption of these concepts in marketing implementation, has not yet fil .. tered through. * The final reason fol .. lows on from that last implica.. tion. "Total quality" and "best practice" imply not only that the marketing strategy is cor.. rect, but also that it is excel . . lently implemented. However, this implies that the marketing department moves out of its own area and coordinates the marketing implementation across the rele.. vant functions within the orga.. nization. Frequently, the organiza .. tional structure acts to prevent this; e.g. all staff training is
2 • Asia, Australia Marketing Journal Vol. 1 No.1
under the general control of HR. But often, marketing tends to see its responsibility ceasing with marketing strategy devel.. opment, or with the launch of the new advertising campaign, and simply assumes "things will happen"; e.g. that frontline staff will receive the necessary prod.. uct brochures and information before customers start walking in the door. How will marketing be affected by the various trends and concepts which I have mentioned? There is a distinct danger that, if marketing sits passively by, other areas of the organization will have taken over much of marketing's terri.. tory by the year 2000. How then should market.. ing be affected? I believe that it is imperative for marketing to adopt the concepts of "total quality" and "best practice" in marketing itself; i.e. both in marketing strategy development and in marketing implementa.. tion. This will have a number of implications: * Marketing will need to demonstrate greater account .. ability for its role, and explain it better within the organization, instead of simply throwing (or being seen to throw) more advertising dollars at any and
e"ery probl~m, Developm~"u in inform'I;"" .n.l~sis .nd re~hnology, .nd compcri'ivc pressure' will fo.ce 'hi' grc.ler occoun,.bilir~,
• M.,h,ing will ne.... '<:> mOve <:>u' <:>f iu o,,'n parochial 'rea and 'ak.. r~ponsibili.y (or marh'ing implemen,a'io". Thi' will mun opening up channels 10 communic••i"" and feedback wi.h .he Olher f,mc_ .ion, in ,he o.gani,.,ion on ,,·hom m.. h'ing su~ce.. depend,. This includesf'on'. line customel sales uaff, cu.· tome. back·of·hou.e people in billing and credi' m.n.gement OfeM, field people .nd logistic>, and, if necessary, the pe<>ple on ,he focto.y floo. and ,he tele· phone =<:ptionis'. • Mad,et;ng "'iIl need to underslOnd h<:>w marhting strategy decisions impact On those othe' funClion" and .100, the impcdimcnlS to customer service which marke,ing can k VCly adept in cr~",ing. when ((0' ""a,nple) custome, (rolll' line "aff .,.. no. well bficfcd in
ti",~, or cu"elll marh.ing direc.ion, ""ffe' suddcn and fre· quent change,. Too of'~n. mar· h,ing ""em, to follow the prin. ciples of the 3Csc "make it com· plex. change it f,equently a"d confu"" e,·el)'OflC!". • In brief, I belie"e thM -marketing implementati<:>n" and ·cro:ss·functional cnordina· 'ion" need to become m,ukct;ng bu"word, fOf ,hc 19905, in .up· port <:>f bener marke.ing .ucc~ .nd beHe. cunome••e".. ie... To ,h., ~nd, I .. tongl~ ""lie"c ,hat o,gani,.,io,," necd to CoOl ide. a ne,,' marh,ing posi_ t;on _ n.mel~. Marhting Implemen,a'io" Manager _ wi,h the specific ,e,pon,ibi li,y of ensu'ing quahty implemcn'a' tion, of coo,dina'ing (unclion. aC.Oll ,hc o,gani:o,ion, and w",king "'i,h thc Vali",,! prod· OCt and lollle$ b'lQl'P". As marketing cducat"'!, we abo h.vc a rol~ rO play in a\.lil'· ing marke.;ng mect ,heiC challenge' toward 2000. In Our region, "'C ofte.. forget that the Ame,iun ma,ke' mat· be 100r
'0
20 ,ime. our l;te. Ve" we "ill rely hcavily on Ametican mar_ keting tcxU and approaches when teaching marketing nu· dem5- Onc of til<: big challenges fo' marketing edunto« i. identify what is "be" prilCtke" in ma,keting t~'3Ching, ,,'hkh i. e.pecially relevant in .he A'ia Pacific region. Hopefully, thrOllgh .he amj, we can begin to address the'e issue•. Accordingly.l.trongl~ encou13ge ~ou. whether in academia Of in indust...·. 10 COlt· nibu'e to ,he Jo"rnal a"d to "'won it.
'0
1',..,(",_
Garry Harris
"""d, School of Marketing David Sy"", F.otuhy of Bu.in.... Mon.osh Universi.y
As;"· Ausm:llill Mar/
Marketing toward. 2()OO N
iels Bohr, the atomic . physicist, once said "fore.. casting is difficult, especially about the future!" Regardless of that caution, I think that it is still useful to speculate about trends in business and market.. ing, where marketing is heading towards 2000, and what are the significant challenges to be addressed. Marketing will undoubtedly be affected by such trends as the drive to total quality manage .. ment, the emphasis on having a "customer service" orientation, · and such concepts as "bench.. marking", "world best practice" and "comp.etitive advantage". But how will marketing be affected? Currently, many organiza.. tions are attempting to adopt TQM or are changing to a cus.. tomer service focus. Likewise particular businesses and indus.. tries are taking up the "competi.. tive advantage" concept. By and large, however, mar.. keting seetTIS little affected as yet and is often not in the fore .. front of these developments. I think there are three reasons for this: * Marketing is still dri .. ven by the 4Ps, with an empha.. sis on marketing strategy devel.. opment, and particularly on the promotion P. It is true that more organizations are also looking at
their customer service, but often this is occurring independently of the traditional marketing department, or is driven by other factors such as TQM and logistics. * Akey reason for that is that marketing has not yet applied - or identified how to apply - the concepts of "total quality" and "best practice" to marketing itself! For instance "competitive advantage" is often thought of in simplistic terms, such as a "positioning advan.. tage" deriving from marketing and promotional strategy. The recognition that "total quality" and "best prac.. tice" imply the adoption of these concepts in marketing implementation, has not yet fil .. tered through. * The final reason fol .. lows on from that last implica.. tion. "Total quality" and "best practice" imply not only that the marketing strategy is cor.. rect, but also that it is excel . . lently implemented. However, this implies that the marketing department moves out of its own area and coordinates the marketing implementation across the rele.. vant functions within the orga.. nization. Frequently, the organiza .. tional structure acts to prevent this; e.g. all staff training is
2 • Asia, Australia Marketing Journal Vol. 1 No.1
under the general control of HR. But often, marketing tends to see its responsibility ceasing with marketing strategy devel.. opment, or with the launch of the new advertising campaign, and simply assumes "things will happen"; e.g. that frontline staff will receive the necessary prod.. uct brochures and information before customers start walking in the door. How will marketing be affected by the various trends and concepts which I have mentioned? There is a distinct danger that, if marketing sits passively by, other areas of the organization will have taken over much of marketing's terri.. tory by the year 2000. How then should market.. ing be affected? I believe that it is imperative for marketing to adopt the concepts of "total quality" and "best practice" in marketing itself; i.e. both in marketing strategy development and in marketing implementa.. tion. This will have a number of implications: * Marketing will need to demonstrate greater account .. ability for its role, and explain it better within the organization, instead of simply throwing (or being seen to throw) more advertising dollars at any and
e"ery probl~m, Developm~"u in inform'I;"" .n.l~sis .nd re~hnology, .nd compcri'ivc pressure' will fo.ce 'hi' grc.ler occoun,.bilir~,
• M.,h,ing will ne.... '<:> mOve <:>u' <:>f iu o,,'n parochial 'rea and 'ak.. r~ponsibili.y (or marh'ing implemen,a'io". Thi' will mun opening up channels 10 communic••i"" and feedback wi.h .he Olher f,mc_ .ion, in ,he o.gani,.,ion on ,,·hom m.. h'ing su~ce.. depend,. This includesf'on'. line customel sales uaff, cu.· tome. back·of·hou.e people in billing and credi' m.n.gement OfeM, field people .nd logistic>, and, if necessary, the pe<>ple on ,he focto.y floo. and ,he tele· phone =<:ptionis'. • Mad,et;ng "'iIl need to underslOnd h<:>w marhting strategy decisions impact On those othe' funClion" and .100, the impcdimcnlS to customer service which marke,ing can k VCly adept in cr~",ing. when ((0' ""a,nple) custome, (rolll' line "aff .,.. no. well bficfcd in
ti",~, or cu"elll marh.ing direc.ion, ""ffe' suddcn and fre· quent change,. Too of'~n. mar· h,ing ""em, to follow the prin. ciples of the 3Csc "make it com· plex. change it f,equently a"d confu"" e,·el)'OflC!". • In brief, I belie"e thM -marketing implementati<:>n" and ·cro:ss·functional cnordina· 'ion" need to become m,ukct;ng bu"word, fOf ,hc 19905, in .up· port <:>f bener marke.ing .ucc~ .nd beHe. cunome••e".. ie... To ,h., ~nd, I .. tongl~ ""lie"c ,hat o,gani,.,io,," necd to CoOl ide. a ne,,' marh,ing posi_ t;on _ n.mel~. Marhting Implemen,a'io" Manager _ wi,h the specific ,e,pon,ibi li,y of ensu'ing quahty implemcn'a' tion, of coo,dina'ing (unclion. aC.Oll ,hc o,gani:o,ion, and w",king "'i,h thc Vali",,! prod· OCt and lollle$ b'lQl'P". As marketing cducat"'!, we abo h.vc a rol~ rO play in a\.lil'· ing marke.;ng mect ,heiC challenge' toward 2000. In Our region, "'C ofte.. forget that the Ame,iun ma,ke' mat· be 100r
'0
20 ,ime. our l;te. Ve" we "ill rely hcavily on Ametican mar_ keting tcxU and approaches when teaching marketing nu· dem5- Onc of til<: big challenges fo' marketing edunto« i. identify what is "be" prilCtke" in ma,keting t~'3Ching, ,,'hkh i. e.pecially relevant in .he A'ia Pacific region. Hopefully, thrOllgh .he amj, we can begin to address the'e issue•. Accordingly.l.trongl~ encou13ge ~ou. whether in academia Of in indust...·. 10 COlt· nibu'e to ,he Jo"rnal a"d to "'won it.
'0
1',..,(",_
Garry Harris
"""d, School of Marketing David Sy"", F.otuhy of Bu.in.... Mon.osh Universi.y
As;"· Ausm:llill Mar/