Essay: Relationship between marketing and other functional area
Abstract
The purpose of the essay is to outline the basics of marketing and the need for the marketing department to collaborate with other departments such as personnel, production, financial, and R&D. After introducing a basic outline of a marketing plan and its corresponding activities, the interrelationship between various functions of organizations with marketing has been discussed in the essay.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Marketing is an activity that involves buying and selling a service or product. The products are advertised so that marketers can sell the products to a target group of customers. Marketers usually work on behalf of companies (Moorman & Rust, 1999). Marketing is essential across all industrial organizations. In an industrial organization, there is a relation and direct link between various functions of a business and the marketing component of a business. In this essay, the link shall be explored and relevant examples will be highlighted. Marketing activities are varied in nature. A marketing plan might consist of short-term goals or long-term goals.
Body
The interrelationship between marketing and other business activities or functions can take two vital directions. A marketer develops a marketing plan and the possibility of developing an effective marketing plan depends on the ability to coordinate among various marketing components. Coordination of marketing activities with production, financial, R&D plans, personnel, and procurement is necessary (Micu et al., 2012). The consistency of marketing plans with accounting and financial plans of a firm is necessary. The corporate plans for R&D plans, personnel, or procurement should also incorporate inputs of marketing activities. Overall, marketing can be an engine for the profitability and growth of a firm.
Common activities included in a marketing plan
While conducting an external and internal marketing audit, research and planning is a common marketing activity. Marketing opportunities can be identified after identifying the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of the marketing plan. Marketers need to present their marketing approach after conducting planning. Brand management, process management, product development, channel management as well as marketing communications are vital activities. Again, budgeting is one of the vital parts of a marketing plan and it involves the allocation of financial resources into the plan so that desired results can be achieved. Lastly, control and monitoring are necessary actions of the plan because it instigates marketers to take corrective actions only.
The interrelationship between various business functions and marketing
Contemporary organizations develop a business plan by integrating and coordinating several functional areas so that they can achieve the desired objectives. Coordination must exist between various components of an organization. This is because there is a direct impact of every action on customers and competitor’s response matters as well. The competitor’s response and customer’s response depends on the activities of marketing and in order to generate value for the customers, it is necessary to understand the impact of every action on the value chain of the organization.
Relationship between finance and marketing
Marketing plans can be developed after seeing the financial contribution or dimension. A budget and cost-profit trends should be calculated so that it can be incorporated into a marketing plan. Financial tools are required for profitability analysis and budgetary analysis. Whenever the management decides to launch a new product, they also consider the financial instruments necessary for evaluating an investment. Product-related advertisement costs, price, promotion costs are various elements that should be considered.
Relationship between production and marketing
While developing new products, interdependency exists between production and marketing. Production informs marketing decisions by outlining the methods necessary for producing a new product. The marketers will be able to know the ways by which the addition of new features can change production time and price. Marketers work collaboratively so that they can produce a new product that is required in the market. They are also able to produce an efficient product. Improvement in production facilities depends on the extensive research conducted by marketers. The production function of an organization strives towards improving the efficiency of the production cycle while the marketing function strives towards high quality and short-term production cycles (Lim & Reid, 1992). In this instance, the conflict between the marketing team and the production team is bound to occur. Nevertheless, the link between marketing and production co-exist.
The link between marketing and R&D
An organization’s R&D (Research and Development) function is closely associated with product development and marketing function. The engineers of the R&D department are supposed to collaborate with the marketers of the marketing department so that they agree on a common product (Brockhoff & Chakrabarti, 1988). During the product development stages, the close connection between R&D and marketing should exist from the idea generation phase to the finished product development phase. Each function contributes towards the development of a well-designed and easily marketable product. The reasons behind customer’s unresolved issues and needs can be identified as well. When the two components collaborate, they stimulate innovation.
The link between personnel and marketing
In an organization, the HR or personnel department focuses on hiring and training of departmental personnel. This department also hires marketing personnel and the personnel department is responsible for managing the marketing employees as well (Chimhanzi, 2004). Moreover, the marketing department and personnel department are supposed to collaborate with one another and develop job descriptions, design of training programs, and screening of candidates as well. The personnel department conducts various research activities and the marketing department can provide aid. For instance, the marketing department can conduct research on different kinds of compensation systems in order to establish its importance in the personnel department. The HR manager might fail to conduct a proper internal evaluation. The marketing department can conduct the research on personnel actively and efficiently. Hence, the marketing team and the HR team would be benefitted from the collaboration. Furthermore, the collaboration could be beneficial for potential employees and customers. Due to constant growth and increased reputation of the organization, it would be possible to attract new and potential employees.
Conclusion
The essay incorporates an interrelationship between the marketing function and other related functions of an organization. It can be concluded that the marketing department collaborates with several functional departments of an organization because collaboration leads to a better and comprehensive understanding of customers’ needs. In this essay, the interrelationship between marketing and finance, personnel, production, and R&D have been explored. The need for collaboration and the outcomes of collaboration have been outlined as well. It has been noted that the dependency of one department with another ensures effectiveness in the organization.
References
Brockhoff, K., & Chakrabarti, A. K. (1988). R&D/marketing linkage and innovation strategy: Some West German experience. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 35(3), 167-174.
Chimhanzi, J. (2004). The impact of marketing/HR interactions on marketing strategy implementation. European Journal of Marketing.
Lim, J. S., & Reid, D. A. (1992). Vital cross-functional linkages with marketing. Industrial Marketing Management, 21(2), 159-165.
Micu, D., Ifrim, L., Daraban, C., & Purdescu, C. (2012). Cross-functional linkages between marketing and the other business functions in an industrial organization. UPB Science. Bulletin, Series D, 74(3), 1454-2358.
Moorman, C., & Rust, R. T. (1999). The role of marketing. Journal of marketing, 63(4_suppl1), 180-197.
