Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control, Third Edition

■ Gap analysis

The process of strategic analysis explored in Part 1 of this text effectively

establishes the current situation that the company finds itself in and

allows forecasts to be made of how the company will perform in the

future. The objectives that are set by the organisation allow it to project

what the company’s actual performance will need to be to achieve those

objectives. It is at this point that the organisation can calculate the gap

between these two positions. This is commonly referred to as the gap

analysis (see Figure 7.5).

146 Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control

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Time (years)

Objectives

Current forecast

The strategic gap

Sales £ (million)

Figure 7.5
The gap analysis

The gap between these two positions represents the divide that the mar-

keting strategy has to address. The rest of Part 2 of this book addresses

how an organisation can develop strategy to allow it to meet its objectives

by crossing this gap.

■ Summary

This chapter has explored the issues surrounding corporate mission, in

particular influences acting upon the development of an organisation’s

mission statement. The nature of strategic objectives was discussed,

as well as the hierarchy of objectives and strategies. The possible tensions

between functional objectives and strategies were highlighted. Strategies

are developed to achieve the mission and objectives of the organisation.