Marketing ch. 2

Designing the Marketing Organization:

A marketing program needs a marketing organization to implement it. typical manufacturing firm marketing department's structure. Four managers of marketing activities are shown to report to the vice president of marketing or chief marketing officer. Several regional sales managers and an international sales manager may report to the manager of sales. The product or brand managers and their subordinates help plan, implement, and evaluate the marketing plans for their offerings. However, the entire marketing organization is responsible for converting these marketing plans into reality.

core values

An organization's core values are the fundamental, passionate, and enduring principles that guide its conduct over time. A firm's founders or senior management develop these core values, which are consistent with their essential beliefs and character. They capture the firm's heart and soul and serve to inspire and motivate its stakeholders—employees, shareholders, board of directors, suppliers, distributors, creditors, unions, government, local communities, and customers. Core values also are timeless and should not change due to short-term financial, operational, or marketing concerns. Finally, core values guide the organization's conduct. To be effective, an organization's core values must be communicated to and supported by its top management and employees; if not, they are just hollow words.

marketing metric

Each display in a marketing dashboard shows a marketing metric, which is a measure of the quantitative value or trend of a marketing activity or result. 2 8 The choice of which marketing metrics to display is critical for a busy marketing manager, who can be overwhelmed with irrelevant data.

functional level

Each strategic business unit has a functional level, where groups of specialists actually create value for the organization. The term department generally refers to these specialized functions such as marketing, finance, information systems, research & development, manufacturing, human resources. At the functional level, the organization's strategic direction becomes its most specific and focused. Just as there is a hierarchy of levels within an organization, there is a hierarchy of strategic directions set by managers at each level. A key role of the marketing department is to look outward, keeping the organization focused on creating value both for it and for customers. This is accomplished by listening to customers, developing and producing offerings, and implementing marketing program activities.

Discuss how an organization assesses where it is now and where it seeks to be.

Managers of an organization ask two key questions to set a strategic direction. The first question, "Where are we now?" requires an organization to (a) reevaluate its competencies to ensure that its special capabilities still provide a competitive advantage; (b) assess its present and prospective customers to ensure they have a satisfying customer experience—the central goal of marketing today; and (c) analyze its current and potential competitors from a global perspective to determine whether it needs to redefine its business. The second question, "Where do we want to go?" requires an organization to set a specific direction and allocate resources to move it in that direction. Business portfolio and diversification analyses help an organization do this. Managers use business portfolio analysis to assess the organization's strategic business units (SBUs), product lines, or individual products as though they were a collection of separate investments (cash cows, stars, question marks, and dogs) to determine the amount of cash each should receive. Diversification analysis is a tool that helps managers use one or a combination of four strategies to increase revenues: market penetration (selling more of an existing product to existing markets); market development (selling an existing product to new markets); product development (selling a new product to existing markets); and diversification (selling new products to new markets).

Profit

Most firms seek to maximize profits—to get as high a financial return on their investments (ROI) as possible.

Variation by Offering

Organizational strategies also vary by the organization's offering. The strategy will be far different when marketing a very tangible physical product (a Medtronic heart pacemaker), a service (a Southwest Airlines flight), or an idea (a donation to the American Red Cross).

Describe how core values, mission, organizational culture, business, and goals are important to organizations.

Organizations exist to accomplish something for someone. To give organizations direction and focus, they continuously assess their core values, mission, organizational culture, business, and goals. Today's organizations specify their foundation, set a direction, and formulate strategies—the "why," "what," and "how" factors, respectively. Core values are the organization's fundamental, passionate, and enduring principles that guide its conduct over time—what Enron forgot when it lost sight of its responsibilities to its stakeholders. The organization's mission is a statement of its function in society, often identifying its customers, markets, products, and technologies. Organizational culture is a set of values, ideas, attitudes, and norms of behavior that is learned and shared among the members of an organization. To answer the question, "What business are we in?" an organization defines its "business"—the clear, broad, underlying industry category or market sector of its offering. Finally, the organization's goals (or objectives) are statements of an accomplishment of a task to be achieved, often by a specific time.

industry

Organizations that develop similar offerings create an industry, such as the computer industry or the automobile industry. As a result, organizations make strategic decisions that reflect the dynamics of the industry to create a compelling and sustainable advantage for their offerings relative to those of competitors to achieve a superior level of performance. The foundation of much of an organization's marketing strategy is having a clear understanding of the industry within which it competes.

business portfolio analysis

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a nationally known management consulting firm, has developed business portfolio analysis. It is a technique that managers use to quantify performance measures and growth targets to analyze their firms' strategic business units (SBUs) as though they were a collection of separate investments. The purpose of the tool is to determine the appeal of each SBU or offering and then determine the amount of cash each should receive. More than 75 percent of the largest U.S. firms have used this analytical tool. More than 75 percent of the largest U.S. firms have used this analytical tool. The BCG business portfolio analysis requires an organization to locate the position of each of its SBUs on a growth-share matrix. The vertical axis is the market growth rate, The horizontal axis is the relative market share The BCG has given specific names and descriptions to the four resulting quadrants in its growth-share matrix based on the amount of cash they generate for or require from the organization: Cash cows, stars, question marks, dogs. An organization's SBUs often start as question marks and go counterclockwise around to become stars, then cash cows, and finally dogs. Because an organization has limited influence on the market growth rate, its main alternative is to try to change its relative market share. To do this, management decides what future role each SBU should have and either injects or removes cash from it.

Step 1: Situation (SWOT) Analysis:

The essence of situation analysis is taking stock of where the firm or product has been recently, where it is now, and where it is headed in terms of the organization's marketing plans and the external forces and trends affecting it. An effective summary of a situation analysis is a SWOT analysis, an acronym describing an organization's appraisal of its internal Strengths and Weaknesses and its external Opportunities and Threats. The SWOT analysis is based on an exhaustive study of four areas that form the foundation upon which the firm builds its marketing program: ● Identify trends in the organization's industry. ● Analyze the organization's competitors. ● Assess the organization itself. ● Research the organization's present and prospective customers.

What is the implementation phase of the strategic marketing process?

The implementation phase carries out the marketing plan that emerges from the planning phase and consists of (1) obtaining resources; (2) designing the marketing organization; (3) developing planning schedules; and (4) executing the marketing program designed in the planning phase.

Describe the elements of the implementation and evaluation phases of the strategic marketing process.

The implementation phase of the strategic marketing process carries out the marketing plan that emerges from the planning phase. It has four key elements: (a) obtaining resources; (b) designing the marketing organization to perform product management, marketing research, sales, and advertising and promotion activities; (c) developing schedules to identify the tasks that need to be done, the time that is allocated to each one, the people responsible for each task, and the deadlines for each task's accomplishment; and (d) executing the marketing strategies, which are the means by which marketing goals are to be achieved, and their associated marketing tactics, which are the detailed day-to-day operational decisions essential to the overall success of a firm's marketing strategies. These are the marketing program actions a firm takes to achieve the goals set forth in its marketing plan. The evaluation phase of the strategic marketing process seeks to keep the marketing program moving in the direction that was established in the marketing plan. This requires the marketing manager to compare the results from the marketing program with the marketing plan's goals to (a) identify deviations or "planning gaps" and (b) take corrective actions to exploit positive deviations or correct negative ones.

strengths and weaknesses of portfolio analysis?

The primary strength of business portfolio analysis lies in forcing a firm to place each of its SBUs in the growth-share matrix, which in turn suggests which SBUs will be cash producers and cash users in the future. Weaknesses of this analysis arise from the difficulty in (1) getting the needed information and (2) incorporating competitive data into business portfolio analysis.

goal of SWOT analysis

The task is to translate the results of the SWOT analysis into specific actions that will help the firm grow. The ultimate goal is to identify the critical strategy-related factors that impact the firm and then build on vital strengths, correct glaring weaknesses, exploit significant opportunities, and avoid disaster-laden threats.

What are the three steps of the planning phase of the strategic marketing process?

The three steps of the planning phase of the strategic marketing process are (1) Situation (SWOT) analysis, which involves taking stock of where the firm or product has been recently, where it is now, and where it is headed in terms of the organization's marketing plans and the external forces and trends affecting it. To do this, an organization uses a SWOT analysis, an acronym that describes an organization's appraisal of its internal Strengths and Weaknesses and its external Opportunities and Threats. (2) Market-product focus and goal setting, which determines what products an organization will offer to which customers. This is often based on market segmentation—aggregating prospective buyers into groups or segments that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action. (3) Marketing program, in which an organization develops the marketing mix elements and budget for each offering.

data visualization

Today's marketers use data visualization, which presents information about an organization's marketing metrics graphically so marketers can quickly (1) spot deviations from plans and (2) take corrective actions. ex: The Sonatica marketing dashboard in Figure 2-3 uses data visualization tools like graphs and a map to provide a snapshot of how parts of its business are performing as of December 2011

Market penetration

a marketing strategy to increase sales of current products in current markets, such as selling more Ben & Jerry's Bonnaroo Buzz Fair Trade-sourced ice cream to U.S. consumers. There is no change in either the basic product line or the markets served. Increased sales are generated by selling either more ice cream (through better promotion or distribution) or the same amount of ice cream at a higher price to its current customers.

strategic business unit (SBU)

a subsidiary, division, or unit of an organization that markets a set of related offerings to a clearly defined group of customers. ex: Some multimarket, multiproduct firms, such as General Electric and Johnson & Johnson, manage a portfolio or group of businesses and each is a SBU.

Profit

the money left after a business firm's total expenses are subtracted from its total revenues and is the reward for the risk it undertakes in marketing its offerings.

Organizational Direction: What Will It Do?

the organization's foundation enables it to set a direction in terms of (1) the "business" it is in and (2) its specific goals.

The Implementation Phase of the Strategic Marketing Process:

the result of the tens or hundreds of hours spent in the planning phase of the strategic marketing process is the firm's marketing plan. Implementation, the second phase of the strategic marketing process, involves carrying out the marketing plan that emerges from the planning phase. If the firm cannot put the marketing plan into effect—in the implementation phase—the planning phase was a waste of time. There are four components of the implementation phase: (1) obtaining resources, (2) designing the marketing organization, (3) developing planning schedules, and (4) actually executing the marketing program designed in the planning phase.

organizational culture

the set of values, ideas, attitudes, and norms of behavior that is learned and shared among the members of an organization. An organization must connect with all of its stakeholders. Thus, an important corporate-level marketing function is communicating its core values and mission to them

business model

the strategies an organization develops to provide value to the customers it serves. Technological innovation is often the trigger for this business model change. With today's increased global competition, many organizations are rethinking their business model. Key question: Whether by us or a competitor, how else can the same or greater value be provided to our customers? Consider textbook authors

Customer satisfaction

Customers are the reason the organization exists, so their perceptions and actions are of vital importance. Satisfaction can be measured with surveys or by the number of customer complaints an organization receives.

Dogs

SBUs with low shares of slow-growth markets. Although they may generate enough cash to sustain themselves, they do not hold the promise of ever becoming real winners for the organization. Dropping SBUs that are dogs may be required, except when relationships with other SBUs, competitive considerations, or potential strategic alliances exist

relative market share

defined as the sales of the SBU divided by the sales of the largest firm in the industry. A relative market share of 10 X (at the left end of the scale) means that the SBU has 10 times the share of its largest competitor, whereas a share of 0.1 X (at the right end of the scale) means it has only 10 percent of the share of its largest competitor.

strategic marketing process

organization uses strategic marketing process, whereby an organization allocates its marketing mix resources to reach its target markets (This process is divided into three phases: planning, implementation, and evaluation), to answer 3 questions: 1. How do we allocate our resources to get where we want to go? 2. How do we convert our plans into actions? 3. How do our results compare with our plans, and do deviations require new plans?

The evaluation phase of the strategic marketing process

seeks to keep the marketing program moving in the direction set for it. Accomplishing this requires the marketing manager to (1) compare the results of the marketing program with the goals in the written plans to identify deviations and (2) act on these deviations—correcting negative deviations and exploiting positive ones.

market growth rate

the annual rate of growth of the SBU's industry.

To set a strategic direction, an organization needs to answer two difficult questions:

(1) Where are we now? and (2) Where do we want to go?

Quality

A firm may offer the highest quality, as Medtronic does with its implantable medical devices.

Price: elements

List price Discounts Allowances Credit terms Payment period

What is the meaning of an organization's mission?

A mission is a statement of the organization's function in society, often identifying its customers, markets, products, and technologies. It is often used interchangeably with vision.

What is business portfolio analysis?

Business portfolio analysis is a technique that managers use to quantify performance measures and growth targets to analyze its clients' strategic business units (SBUs) as though they were a collection of separate investments.

mission

By understanding its core values, an organization can take steps to define its mission, a statement of the organization's function in society that often identifies its customers, markets, products, and technologies. Often used interchangeably with vision, a mission statement should be clear, concise, meaningful, inspirational, and long-term.

Social responsibility

Firms may seek to balance the conflicting goals of stakeholders to promote their overall welfare, even at the expense of profits.

Sales (dollars or units)

If profits are acceptable, a firm may elect to maintain or increase its sales even though profits may not be maximized.

Growth Strategies: Where Do We Want to Go?

Knowing where the organization is at the present time enables managers to set a direction for the firm and allocate resources to move in that direction. Two techniques to aid managers with these decisions are (1) business portfolio analysis and (2) diversification analysis.

Stars

SBUs with a high share of high-growth markets that may need extra cash to finance their own rapid future growth. When their growth slows, they are likely to become cash cows.

competitive advantage

What do we do better than others? Competencies should be distinctive enough to provide a competitive advantage, a unique strength relative to competitors that provides superior returns, often based on quality, time, cost, or innovation.

business firm

a privately owned organization such as Target, Nike, or Volkswagen that serves its customers to earn a profit so that it can survive.

Diversification analysis

a technique that helps a firm search for growth opportunities from among current and new markets as well as current and new products. For any market, there is both a current product (what the firm now sells) and a new product (what the firm might sell in the future). And for any product there is both a current market (the firm's existing customers) and a new market (the firm's potential customers).

strategic business unit level

at the strategic business unit level, managers set a more specific strategic direction for their businesses to exploit value-creating opportunities. For less complex firms with a single business focus, such as Ben & Jerry's, the corporate and business unit levels may merge.

Market share

the ratio of sales revenue of the firm to the total sales revenue of all firms in the industry, including the firm itself.

What is the difference between a business firm and a nonprofit organization?

A business firm is a privately owned organization that serves its customers to earn a profit so that it can survive. A nonprofit organization is a nongovernmental organization that serves its customers but does not have profit as an organizational goal. Instead, its goals may be operational efficiency or client satisfaction.

market segmentation

involves aggregating prospective buyers into groups, or segments, that (1) have common needs and (2) will respond similarly to a marketing action. This enables an organization to identify the segments on which it will focus its efforts—its target market segments—and develop specific marketing programs to reach them.

marketing strategy

the means by which a marketing goal is to be achieved, usually characterized by a specified target market and a marketing program to reach it. The term implies both the end sought (target market) and the means to achieve it (marketing program).

Organizational direction (what)

• Business • Goals (objectives) Long-term Short-term

What are the two main themes of Chapter 2?

1. The structure of business organizations and marketing's place in the organization 2.The Strategic Marketing Process Most organizations think strategically. If they don't... It's better to do so using formal planning

What is the difference between a marketing dashboard and a marketing metric?

A marketing dashboard is the visual computer display of the essential information related to achieving a marketing objective. Each variable in a marketing dashboard is a marketing metric, which is a measure of the quantitative value or trend of a marketing activity or result.

Promotion: elements

Advertising Personal selling Public relations Sales promotion Direct marketing

What is the difference between an organization's business and its goals?

An organization's business describes the clear, broad, underlying industry or market sector of an organization's offering. An organization's goals (or objectives) are statements of an accomplishment of a task to be achieved, often by a specific time. Goals convert an organization's mission and business into long- and short-term performance targets to measure how well it is doing.

Market development

a marketing strategy to sell current products to new markets. For Ben & Jerry's, Brazil is an attractive new market. There is good news and bad news for this strategy: As household incomes of Brazilians increase, consumers can buy more ice cream; however, the Ben & Jerry's brand may be unknown to Brazilian consumers.

Today's visionary organization uses key elements to?

(1 ) establish a foundation and (2) set a direction using (3) strategies that enable it to develop and market its offerings successfully.

three steps in the planning phase of the strategic marketing process:

(1) situation (SWOT) analysis, (2) market-product focus and goal setting, and (3) the marketing program.

offerings

(products, services, or ideas) that create value for both the organization and its customers by satisfying their needs and wants.

Employee welfare

A firm may recognize the critical importance of its employees by stating its goal of providing them with good employment opportunities and working conditions.

Step 3: Marketing Program:

Activities in step 2 tell the marketing manager which customers to target and which customer needs the firm's product offerings can satisfy—the who and what aspects of the strategic marketing process. The how aspect—step 3 in the planning phase—involves developing the program's marketing mix (the four Ps: Product strategy, price strategy, promotion strategy, Place (distribution) strategy) and its budget. Each marketing mix element is combined to provide a cohesive marketing program. Putting this marketing program into effect requires that the firm commit time and money to it in the form of a sales forecast and budget that must be approved by top management.

Explain the three steps of the planning phase of the strategic marketing process.

An organization uses the strategic marketing process to allocate its marketing mix resources to reach its target markets. This process is divided into three phases: planning, implementation, and evaluation. The planning phase consists of (a) a situation (SWOT) analysis, which involves taking stock of where the firm or product has been recently, where it is now, and where it is headed. This assessment focuses on the organization's internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and the external forces and trends affecting it (opportunities and threats); (b) a market-product focus through market segmentation—grouping buyers into segments with common needs and similar responses to marketing programs—and goal setting, which in part requires creating points of difference—those characteristics of a product that make it superior to competitive substitutes; and (c) a marketing program that specifies the budget and activities (marketing strategies and tactics) for each marketing mix element.

Competitors

In today's global marketplace, the distinctions among competitors are increasingly blurred.

Explain why managers use marketing dashboards and marketing metrics.

Marketing managers use marketing dashboards to visually display on a single computer screen the essential information required to make a decision to take an action or further analyze a problem. This information consists of key performance measures of a product category, such as sales or market share, and is known as a marketing metric, which is a measure of the quantitative value or trend of a marketing activity or result. Most organizations tie their marketing metrics to the quantitative objectives established in their marketing plan, which is a road map for the marketing activities of an organization for a specified future time period, such as one year or five years.

Executing the Marketing Program:

Marketing plans are meaningless pieces of paper without effective execution of those plans. Effective execution requires attention to detail for both marketing strategies and marketing tactics.

Although marketing managers can set strategic directions for their organizations, how do they know if they are making progress in getting there?

One answer is to measure performance by using marketing dashboards.

What are examples of a functional level in an organization?

The functional level in an organization is where groups of specialists from the marketing, finance, manufacturing/operations, accounting, information systems, research & development, and/or human resources departments focus on a specific strategic direction to create value for the organization.

marketing tactics

To implement a marketing program successfully, hundreds of detailed decisions are often required. These decisions, called marketing tactics, are detailed day-to-day operational decisions essential to the overall success of marketing strategies.

competencies

What do we do best? The answer involves an assessment of the organization's core competencies, which are its special capabilities—the skills, technologies, and resources—that distinguish it from other organizations and provide customer value. Exploiting these competencies can lead to success.

Acting on Deviations:

When evaluation shows that actual performance has failed to meet expectations, managers need to take corrective actions. In response to the negative and positive deviations from targets, task force might consider the following: ● Exploiting a positive deviation. ● Correcting a negative deviation.

organization

a legal entity that consists of people who share a common mission. Today's organizations can be divided into business firms and nonprofit organizations.

Diversification

a marketing strategy of developing new products and selling them in new markets. This is a potentially high-risk strategy for Ben & Jerry's if it decides to try to sell Ben & Jerry's branded clothing in Brazil. Why? Because the firm has neither previous production nor marketing experience on which to draw in marketing clothing to Brazilian consumers.

Product development

a marketing strategy of selling new products to current markets. Ben & Jerry's could leverage its brand by selling children's clothing in the United States. This strategy is risky because Americans may not see the company's expertise in ice cream as extending to children's clothing.

organizational strategies vary in at least two ways:

depending on (1) a strategy's level in the organization and (2) the offerings an organization provides to its customers.

business

describes the clear, broad, underlying industry or market sector of an organization's offering. To help define its business, an organization looks at the set of organizations that sell similar offerings—those that are in direct competition with each other—such as "the ice cream business." The organization can then begin to answer the questions, "What do we do?" or "What business are we in?"

marketing plan

Most organizations tie the marketing metrics they track in their marketing dashboards to the quantitative objectives established in their marketing plan, which is a road map for the marketing activities of an organization for a specified future time period, such as one year or five years. The planning phase of the strategic marketing process (discussed later in this chapter) usually results in a marketing plan that sets the direction for the marketing activities of an organization.

Variation by Level

Moving down an organization involves creating increasingly specific, detailed strategies and plans. For example, at the corporate level, top managers may struggle with writing a meaningful mission statement; while at the functional level, the issue is whether Joan or Adam makes tomorrow's sales call.

Place: elements

Outlets Channels Coverage Transportation Stock level

strategy (vs tactics)

an organization's long-term course of action designed to deliver a unique customer experience while achieving its goals. All organizations set a strategic direction. And marketing helps to both set this direction and move the organization there. Tactics -- short term plans and courses of action, often "corrective"

Step 2: Market-Product Focus and Goal Setting:

Determining which products will be directed toward which customers (step 2 of the planning phase) is essential for developing an effective marketing program (step 3). This decision is often based on market segmentation, Points of Difference Example: Medtronic's Pacemaker-Set Marketing & Product Goals, Select Target Markets,Find Points of Difference, Position the Product

Goals or objectives

Goals or objectives (terms used interchangeably in this book) are statements of an accomplishment of a task to be achieved, often by a specific time. For example, Netflix might set a goal of being the top provider of online movies by 2012. Goals convert an organization's mission and business into long- and short-term performance targets. Business firms can pursue several different types of goals: profit, sales, market share, quality, customer satisfaction, employee welfare, social responsibility S.M.A.R.T. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Based Nonprofit organizations (such as museums and hospitals) also have goals, such as to serve consumers as efficiently as possible. Similarly, government agencies set goals that seek to serve the public good.

Cash cows

SBUs that generate large amounts of cash, far more than they can invest profitably in themselves. They have dominant shares of slow-growth markets and provide cash to cover the organization's overhead and to invest in other SBUs.

Question marks

SBUs with a low share of high-growth markets. They require large injections of cash just to maintain their market share, much less increase it. The name implies management's dilemma for these SBUs: choosing the right ones to invest in and phasing out the rest.

Explain the four market-product strategies in diversification analysis.

The four market-product strategies in diversification analysis are (1) Market penetration, which is a marketing strategy to increase sales of current products in current markets. There is no change in either the basic product line or the markets served. Rather, selling more of the product or selling the product at a higher price generates increased sales (2) Market development, which is a marketing strategy to sell current products to new markets. (3) Product development, which is a marketing strategy of selling new products to current markets. (4) Diversification, which is a potentially high-risk marketing strategy of developing new products and selling them in new markets.

How do the goals set for a marketing program in the planning phase relate to the evaluation phase of the strategic marketing process?

The planning phase objectives are used as the benchmarks with which the actual performance results are compared in the evaluation phase to identify deviations from the written marketing plans and then correct negative ones or exploit positive ones.

nonprofit organization

a nongovernmental organization that serves its customers but does not have profit as an organizational goal. Instead, its goals may be operational efficiency or client satisfaction. Regardless, it also must receive sufficient funds above its expenses to continue operations. Social entrepreneurs, like Teach For America, SightLife, and Hand in Hand International described in the Making Responsible Decisions box, seek to solve the practical needs of society and are usually structured as nonprofit organizations.

corporate level

where top management directs overall strategy for the entire organization. "Top management" usually means the board of directors and senior management officers with a variety of skills and experiences that are invaluable in establishing overall strategy. The board of directors oversees the three levels of strategy in organizations: corporate, strategic business unit, and functional.

Organizational strategies (how)

• By level: Corporate, SBU, Functional • By offering: Product, Service, Idea

Organizational foundation (why)

• Core values • Mission (vision) • Organizational culture

What are points of difference and why are they important?

Points of difference are those characteristics of a product that make it superior to competitive substitutes—offerings it faces in the marketplace. They are the single most important factor in the success or failure of a new product.

Product: elements

Features Brand name Packaging Service Warranty

planning gap

Planners call this the planning gap: (a wedge-shaped shaded gap in the figure) the difference between the projection of the path to reach a new goal (line BD) and the projection of the path of the results of a plan already in place (line BC). The ultimate purpose of the firm's marketing program is to "fill in" this planning gap

cross-functional teams

When developing marketing programs for new offerings or for improving existing ones, an organization's senior management may form cross-functional teams. These consist of a small number of people from different departments who are mutually accountable to accomplish a task or a common set of performance goals. Sometimes these teams will have representatives from outside the organization, such as suppliers or customers, to assist them.

marketing dashboard

the visual computer display of the essential information related to achieving a marketing objective. Often, active hyperlinks provide further detail. An example is when a chief marketing officer (CMO) wants to see daily what the effect of a new TV advertising campaign is on a product's sales. The idea of a marketing dashboard really comes from the display of information found on a car's dashboard. On a car's dashboard we glance at the fuel gauge and take action when our gas is getting low. With a marketing dashboard, a marketing manager glances at a graph or table and makes a decision whether to take action or to analyze the problem further. An effective marketing dashboard helps managers assess a business situation at a glance.