Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic

Marketing: A

Global−Managerial

Approach, 14/e

19. Implementing and
    Controlling Marketing
    Plans: Evolution and
    Revolution

Text © The McGraw−Hill

Companies, 2002

546 Chapter 19

Our primary emphasis in this book is on the strategy planning part of the

marketing manager’s job. There’s a good reason for this focus. The one-time strat-

egy decisions—those that decide what business the company is in and the

strategies it will follow—set the firm on a course either toward profitable oppor-

tunities or, alternatively, toward costly failure. If a marketing manager makes an

error with these basic decisions, there may never be a second chance to set things

straight. In contrast, if good strategies and plans are developed, the marketing

manager—and everyone else in the organization—knows whatneeds to be done.

Thus, good marketing plans set the framework for effective implementation and

control.

Even so, developing a potentially profitable plan does not ensure either satis-

fied customers or profit for the firm. Achieving the outcomes envisioned in the

plan requires that the whole marketing management process work well. As you

learned in Chapter 2, the marketing management process includes not only mar-

keting strategy planning but also implementation and control. See Exhibit 2-5. In

fact, in today’s highly competitive markets customer satisfaction often hinges on

skillful implementation. Further, the ongoing success of the firm is often depen-

dent on control—the feedback process that helps the marketing manager learn

(1) how ongoing plans and implementation are working and (2) how to plan for

the future.

We discussed some specific opportunities and challenges with respect to imple-

mentation and control as we introduced each of the marketing strategy decision

areas. In this chapter, we’ll go into more depth on concepts and how-to approaches

by using its own trucks. With

just-in-time delivery, the hospi-

tals carry very few supplies in

inventory. For example, the

same day a patient is sched-

uled to go into surgery a

package arrives with the 200

items needed for that patient’s

procedure. They’re all packed

in the precise order that the

surgeons and nurses will use

them. There’s a skin marker to

trace a seven-inch incision,

bone wax to stanch the bleed-

ing, suction tips to clear blood,

plus scalpels, sutures, and, oh

yes, gloves, and gowns.

With these changes in how

distribution is implemented,

it’s the sales rep’s job to

show the hospitals that these

systems save money. Each

hospital has to agree to pay a

fee for the special services,

as well as the price of the

supplies. This improves Alle-

giance’s profit margins. But

Allegiance also promises that

this collaboration will cut the

hospital’s total cost of

supplies. Then they split

the savings. For many hospi-

tals, millions of dollars are

saved.

What’s more, by continu-

ously improving the system,

the level of customer satisfac-

tion has increased. For

example, Allegiance now uses

EDI and e-commerce to deal

with 90 percent of its suppli-

ers, which reduces stock-

outs. As a result, 95 percent of

the items that hospitals order

are available immediately. Fur-

ther, customers can now easily

order any of 100,000 products

online at http://www.allegiance.net.

With this kind of help, hospi-

tals can focus on their real job:

helping patients get well.^1

Good Plans Set the Framework for Implementation and Control

Implementation puts
plans into operation—
and control provides
feedback