Chapter 20 Summary

Marketing can be organized within a firm based on function, geographic area, products, or customers. There appears to be no one best method. Sometimes firms work with other firms to develop new products and to accomplish this they set up joint ventures. In other cases they many establish strategic alliances, networks, and virtual organizations.

Strategic alliances are long-term partnerships designed to accomplish the strategic goals of the parties involved. A network is an organization of independent business units interacting with each other. A virtual corporation is a network of alliances in which each member shares it expertise in a certain area. In recent years, strategic alliances have been very popular.

No matter how marketing is organized, marketing’s plans and strategies must be implemented. To do this, priorities must be set, activities need to be scheduled, and cooperation must take place. It is not just the marketing department that implements plans and strategies because they affect the entire firm. That is why cooperation is so important. The key to implementing is communicating with customers, management, and employees.

Having implemented the marketing plans and strategies, it is imperative that they be evaluated to determine if what was planned took place (control). To do this, the marketing manager must measure realized results, compare them against what was expected, and make adjustments where needed. There are a number of evaluation measures such as sales analysis, profitability analysis, and customer satisfaction analysis. It is also necessary for the marketing manager to periodically perform a marketing audit which entails a systematic review of a firm’s strategic business units, objectives, plans, strategies, and activities, and personnel.