Developing Short Range Marketing Plan

Developing Short-Range Marketing Plans

BY ANDRALL E. PEARSON

Even though top management should not get

involved in the details of the company's marketing

planning effort, it does have a crucial role to play

in approving the basic strategy. And it needs

to know enough about the planner's art to be sure

the planning is done properly. This perceptive

analysis of the four phases of the planning process

offers useful insights for both top management

and the marketing planner.

I_-N MANY LEADING COMPANIES, the short-range

marketing plan is the focal point for organ-izing marketing efforts for the coming year.Such a plan estabhshes specific steps based oncompany objectives and strategies that mustbe taken in the next year to achieve corporateprofit and competitive goals. Unfortunately,many companies waste considerable time andeffort developing marketing plans that cannot

be used.Successful marketing plans are generally

developed in four phases: (l) searching analy-sis of the industry, (2) objective appraisal ofthe company's chief problems and opportuni-ties, (3) formulation of objectives and strate-gies on the basis of the industry and companyanalyses, and (4) development of programs toimplement those strategies.

The first phase in the development of auseful marketing plan should be identificationof trends or developments in the competitiveenvironment that significantly affect the com-pany's operations. For example, the Coca-Cola

ANDY PEARSON, a Director in the New Yorkoffice, has special responsibility for the Finn'smarketing practice. This article will appear as achapter in HANDBOOK OF MODERN MARKETING, edited

by Victor P. Buell, to be published later this yearby the McGraw-Hill Book Company. It appearshere by special permission of the publisher.

Company's success with the soft drink"Fresca" was the result of its assessment oftwo separate trends: increased use of dieteticdrinks and increased use of "light" beverages.Assuming that these two key trends wouldgreatly enhance the success of Fresca, the com-pany introduced it into test markets. Con-versely, the Ford Motor Company ignored thetrend toward smaller, low-priced cars when itintroduced the large, medium-priced Edsel—awidely publicized failure.

In a practical sense, then, marketing issimply a process of serving customer wants orneeds.

To recognize actual and potential market-ing problems and opportunities, the marketingplanner should know a great deal about theconsumer. But beyond that, he should havean overall knowledge of the marketing processas it affects and is affected by changes andtrends in the market.

Use of Flow Analysis

"Flow analysis" can be an important aid tooverall understanding of the marketing pro-cess. A flow analysis is a diagram depictingwhat happens in a product market at eachstage of the product's movement from theraw-material state to its purchase by the cus-tomer—and post-purchase service where ap-propriate. A typical flow analysis is shown atthe top of Exhibit I. By grouping his analysesalong the lines of the flow, the planner can re-late shifts in one part of the marketing processto changes in another.

For example, a major food producer gavelittle thought to a sizable shift in his volumefrom smaller stores to supermarkets, assumingthat the shift was an inevitable developmentin the grocery industry. Further, he was satis-fied that his product's market share was rea-sonably stable. Flow analysis, however, al-lowed him to study consumer usage patternsin relation to distribution channel data andrevealed a major trend toward home consump-tion of the product, as opposed to restaurantuse. This led him to compare his product'sperformance to the performance of its com-petitors. Consequently, he discovered that, al-though his product was gaining market sharein smaller stores, it was actually losing overallmarket share because of the fact that it wasless well suited to the home consumption mar-ket than its competitors.

A leading metals processing company'smarket position was deteriorating despite itsfine marketing plans. When this company be-gan to explore its competitors' raw materialsand processing approaches in relation to mar-ket share trends, it quickly saw that it wasbeing consistently underpriced and outspentbecause both its key competitors had clear-cuteconomic advantages in raw materials andprocessing.

Neither of these two company manage-ments was naive. The problem was simply thatthey had focused exclusively on their ownproducts and customers without trying to findout why their key competitors were able tooutperform them in the marketplace.

Companies face two basic types of con-straints, marketing and economic, in their

42 I WINTER 1970

Exhibit ; Analyzing the mariteting process

Rawmaterials

ProductionWholesaledistribution

RetaildistritHJtion

Consumeror user

After-purchaseservice

COMPETITORS

Number, profitability, degreeof integration, costadvantages/disadvantages

TECHNOLOGY

Product and processimprovements

Rate (life cycle)

Lead time

Market impact (primaryvolume versus share)

Economics (price ofinnovation versus costof obsolescence)

Hov^ interrelated are productand process?

INVESTMENT AND CAPACITY

CHARACTERISTICS

Relative significance of costand investment

Extent of capacity andtrends

Pattern of entry

MAJOR CHANNELS

Where are products bought?

How do products reachpoints of sale?

DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS

Functions of each type ofdistributor-physicaldistribution, productpromotion

Compensation of distributors—gross and net incomerelative to other productshandled

Range of products, brandshandled

(Note: Often useful to develop frequency distributions

on customers, products, orders. md outlets)

PRODUCT

Variety, design, pricequality, and performancecharacteristics

CUSTOMERS

Who buys (e.g.,demographics, coreusers)?

Who consumes?

USAGE AND BUYING

PATTERNS

Frequency, quantity, timingof purchases

Applications, substitutes,seasonality

Buying influences

PRICING

Range of price levels

Volumes at each price level

Logic and industryleadership

SERVICE CONSIDERATIONS

Frequency, variability ofneed

Technical requirements

marketing planning. Marketing constraints in-clude levels of the competition's product per-formance, distribution outlets needed to matchcompetition, and the strength of the consumerfranchises enjoyed by competition. Economicconstraints include the company's cost struc-ture relative to those of its competitors, itsneed to integrate forward or backward, and itsaccess to capital for expansion. There are nohard and fast rules for deciding what kinds ofanalyses to make to identify the economic andmarketing constraints in any given situation,but the following four economic analyses areusually worth considering:

1. The industry's cost and profit structure2. Behavior of costs at various volume

levels3. Sources of profit for each major com-

petitor4. Relative sensitivity to different manage-

ment actions.Some examples of marketing analyses that

are often useful to consider are shown in Ex-hibit I, page 43.

After the marketing planner has analyzedhis industry and determined which trends ordevelopments will actually affect the company,he must make clear the relevance of thosetrends or developments called for in his plan.Moreover, since facts included merely to dem-onstrate the completeness or logic of the un-derlying analysis rob the plan of focus andreduce its readability, the planner should dis-cipline himself to omit from his plans all infor-mation that is unrelated to specific action. Oneof the commonest defects in marketing plansis inclusion of such things as elaborate brand

switching analyses or exhaustive sales per-formcince histories by company and productline, which lead to no logical actions whatever.

For instance, a planner may demonstrateconclusively in his plan that industry technol-ogy is slowing down and becoming less pro-ductive. That may be an interesting insight.But what, if anything, does this developmentmean in terms of the company's new-productdevelopment strategy? Should the companyshift its emphasis? Cut back its program? Re-duce its expectations? Clearly, these are thereal issues.

Appraising the Company's Position

Because what is going on in the industryalmost always affects the company and viceversa, the marketing plarmer appraises hiscompany's problems and opportunities bymaking two kinds of analyses: comparisonswithin the industry and comparisons withinthe compjuiy.

The marketing planner should assess hiscompany's competitive performance—bothhistorical and current—in all key areas. Again,flow analysis can help the planner, allowinghim to compare his company's performance toits competitors' at each stage of the product'smovement to the marketplace.

Often, too, data that are considered insuf-ficient are merely not being used effectively.There is a good deal of truth in the commonnotion that American packaged goods com-panies excel in marketing because of superiorinformation pertaining to each stage in the

44 I WINTER 1970

product cycle. Experience indicates, however,that determination and resourcefulness canhelp the planner make effective use of limiteddata. For example, two of the most imagina-tive and productive company performance ap-praisals I have seen were done by a Europeanconsumer products producer on the one handand an American equipment rental concern onthe other. In both cases the planners had beentold, "We just don't have the data availableto make a useful evaluation of performance ormarket potential."

Intemal company analysis can reduce theproblems or enhance the opportunities for im-provements in company performance. Suchanalyses may include:

5 Comparing the perfonnance of each ma-jor market area to the company average

5 Comparing product line profits, costs, orsales trends with one another

5 Comparing company performance bydistributor or end user on an index basis

5 Comparing past results with current re-sults by area, product, or channel.

Comparative analysis is not done simplyto discover, for example, that perfonnance inLos Angeles is 210 versus Chicago's index of73. This is simply the starting place in a rea-soning process that says, "Why is our per-formance so much better in Los Angeles thanin Chicago?" Often, differences in perfor-mance hold the keys to correcting poor per-formance. One company found three majordifferences between its operations in LosAngeles and Chicago that helped to explainwhy Chicago's performance was poor and sug-gested what needed to be done to improve it:

1. The company's relative advertising ex-penditures in Chicago had traditionally beenabout 35 percent of its advertising weight inLos Angeles.

2. The company's introductory promo-tional effort in Chicago was about one-fourthas effective (owing to a company-wide market-ing budget cutback that had nothing to dowith the product itself).

3. The company failed to market the prod-uct size preferred by Chicago consumers, andthis caused it to miss nearly 20 percent of thepotential major users of its products.

All these may seem obvious conclusionsthat any well-run marketing group wouldquickly reach, but anyone who has workedvery long with marketing data knows that it isdifficult to decide which analyses should bemade and even more difficult to establishcause and effect. In this case, for example, thecompany had always felt it was doing fairlywell in Chicago because its dollar volume wasgood there. Comparative analyses like thesecan help generate ideas and hypotheses thatwill get the planner started on the track of aproblem or an opportunity—and thereby re-duce the time wasted in trying to analyze per-formance without guiding hypotheses.

Statement of Assumptions

Having completed the company appraisal,the planner should have enough informationto make certain assumptions about future op-erating conditions. Because these assumptionswill be guidelines for anticipating develop-

45

ments that will influence the company's abilityto reach planned goals, they should be care-fully stated and explained in the written plan.

A statement of assumptions is importantbecause it carries the analyses of trends, dis-cussed earlier, one step further and forces theplanner to focus his attention on the futureshape and importance of the key external con-ditions. Furthermore, defining assumptionsprovides an excellent means of ensuring thateveryone in the organization is planning hisown work on the basis of the same assump-tions. Thus, for example, the production de-partment will know that marketing is assum-ing an industry growth of 15 percent and willplan its own operations accordingly.

Finally, recording assumptions makes itpossible to review them as conditions changeand to make sure that plans are adjusted to fitunanticipated developments. In the 1958 busi-ness downturn, for instance, many companiesthat had made no assumptions about the econ-omy continued to operate as usual long aftertheir policies and programs had become inef-fective and inadequate.

Clearly, it is not necessary to make as-sumptions about the entire range of factorsthat make up the national economy and thecompany's competitive environment. The keyfactors will vary from one industry to anotherand even from one company to another. As-sumptions about labor strikes, for example, arevery important in the steel industry but not inthe chemical industry.

Here are some assumptions that mighthave been included in the marketing plan of aleading industrial goods producer:

With respect to the general economy, weassume that:

1. There will be no major change in thegross national product.

2. There will be no major strike affectingconsumer buying practices.

3. There will be a 2 percent increase in the ,cost of living during the year.

With respect to our industry's competitiveclimate, we assume that:

1. Present industry overcapacity will growfrom 110 to 125 percent as two new competi-tive plants come into operation.

2. Price pressures will reduce industryprice levels by roughly 10 percent across theboard.

3. Two new products will be introducedprior to the fourth quarter of the year by ourleading competitors.

Each month or quarter, when the market-ing plan is reviewed, the assumptions are alsoreviewed. If they have not materialized, theplan can be modified accordingly; and if theyhave materialized, they will already have beenfactored into the planning.

Objectives and Strategies

There are almost as many definitions ofthe terms "objective" and "strategy" as thereare authorities on planning. The followingdefinitions are advemced here:

Objective: The overall end result the com-pany hopes to achieve (e.g., increasing salesby 33 percent). Clearly, using this definition.

46 I WINTER 1970

objectives can be set for nearly any aspect ofbusiness performance, including sales, profits,

j costs, and market share.Strategy: The approach by which the com-

pany plans to achieve the desired end result.We shall also distinguish between the twomain types of strategy, overall marketingstrategy and the strategy for a particular prod-uct line or brand.

For example, a company's overall objec-tive and strategy might be:

i Objective: To develop a $500 million posi-? tion in the home furnishings field without di-

luting our present ownership or holding backour eamings growth.

Strategy: To build on our present strong! position in the home fumishings market by! entering four high-priority market segments

through the acquisition of large, leading com-panies presently serving this market.

Obviously, this strategy is specific enoughto provide a basis for action. More important,it also reflects a conspicuous choice of direc-tion (i.e., toward large, leader companies, notsmall ones; four high-priority market seg-ments, not every or any market segment).

For a particular product line or brand, theobjective and strategy might be:

Objective: To build our market share inthis business from 20 to 25 percent, which willproduce sales of $135 million and profits of $7million this year.

Strategy: To convince middle-incomehousewives that our product offers a superiortaste through: (1) changes in our copy appeals,(2) revised media structure, and (3) a massivesampling program to secure high levels of trial.

Reasons for strategy: Our industry andcompany performance analyses show that: (1)consumers strongly prefer our product's taste,(2) our copy appeals have not stressed the newtaste, and (3) only 15 percent of the targethousewife group has tried our product, yet ourrepeat purchases are high among those whohave tried it.

Out of the industry and company analysesgrows a selective identification of market-cen-tered opportunities or problems. Out of these,in tum, flows the basic strategy for the busi-ness or product category. Finally, sales, profit,and share-of-market objectives are derivedfrom an appraisal of the expected results ofthe strategy change. Obviously, if no majorstrategy change is planned, sales and profitgoals will logically follow pretty much thesame trends they have followed in the past.

Clearly, this emphasis on changing a prod-uct or company strategy because of opportuni-ties identified by market-centered analyticalwork is a much more realistic way to establishsales and profit objectives than merely legislat-ing annual increases because of top manage-ment's understandable desire to "do betterevery year." It is also a key test of planningskills. A company that consistently fails toidentify promising market-centered opportun-ities and generate the strategies and programsneeded to capitalize on them is clearly notdoing an effective job of planning.

It should be emphasized here that strategicchanges affect most operating departments,not just the marketing department. For exam-ple, any strategy that calls for product or pack-age improvement will inevitably affect R&D

47

priorities, production scheduling (and oftenproduction costs), and, of course, the com-pany's financial needs and position. Accord-ingly, there must be effective coordination be-tween the planners and the various operatingdepartments of the business, as discussed laterin this article.

Marketing Programs

The fourth phase in comprehensive mar-keting planning is the development of pro-grams to implement marketing strategy. Theseprograms cannot be, as is often the case, thefirst phase in planning. Rather, they must bebased firmly on company strengths, limita-tions, and assumptions about the future—theother three phases of planning discussedearlier.

Many companies find it useful to set upspecific quarterly programs as well as generalyearly programs. Basically, there is no differ-ence between these two types of programs. Itis impractical and unnecessary to be very de-tailed or specific about programs two or threequarters ahead because conditions change toorapidly, but it is desirable to make specificdetailed plans for the coming three months.

A quarterly program might cover such fac-tors as the objective of the program, how itworks, where it will be used or conducted, thecost, expected results, assignment of responsi-bilities, and deadlines. A specific program ofthis kind helps the reader as well as the plan-ner to get a picture of its key details. More-over, it helps to secure approval of the

program from executives in upper echelonsbecause it gives them an adequate basis fordeciding whether the program is well con-ceived and properly focused.

One of the most successful devices for se-curing necessary action in the proper sequenceon marketing programs is to insist on the in-clusion of deadlines and assignments of re-sponsibility in all written plans. This deviceforces the planners to think through the ques-tion of who must do what to assure action.The written word is a published persuader thatstays in the mind of each executive who seeshis name in print as being responsible for acertain action.

Deadlines not only prescribe time limitsbut also establish priorities. In setting dead-lines, it is necessary to consider cind weigh theimportance of each program agcdnst all otherdemands on the time of those involved incarrying out the plan. Finally, a written assign-ment of responsibility and deadlines providesa specific and inescapable means of follow-up.Exhibit II describes a program to step up salesto oil company outlets (gas stations).

This written program shows clearly thatMr. Murphy missed his deadline and therebydelayed completion of the final project. Hav-ing determined that the deadlines were real-istic. Murphy's boss has sufficient evidence todeal with this problem and to correct Mur-phy's misguided sense of priority. Withoutsuch written deadlines it is all too easy to letcritical steps fall by the wayside. Setting dead-lines and defining responsibility will not auto-matically produce results, but they almostinvariably improve the batting average, espe-

48 I WINTER 1970

Exhibit II Assignment of deadlines in a mariceting program

STEP

1. Develop form to analyze capacityof present dealers to sell oil outlets

2. Use form to evaluate dealers'ability to sell oil outlets

3. Visit all potential oil outletsand determine present as well aspotential sources

4. Relate findings of dealer analysisand field visits; establish necessarysales progams for each dealer

5. Determine results of sales callsby each dealer on oil companyoutlets

RESPONSIBILITY DEADLINE COMPLETED

JONESmarket research

MURPHYsales manager

Each districtmanager

MURPHYsales manager

JONESmarket research

6/10

6/25

6/30

7/15

8/15

6/10

6/25

6/30

8/15

9/15

dally if the key marketing executive person-ally follows up.

An obvious requirement of comprehensivemarketing planning is to aim every action pro-gram at the accomplishment of a specific mar-keting strategy. The advantage of being ableto relate marketing action programs to specificand stated strategies is twofold. First, the pro-grams will be helping to accomplish specific,measurable end results rather than merelyimproving sales or accomplishing some othervaguely stated purpose. Second, the likelihoodof accomplishing the strategy can be weighed.That is, when all the programs aimed at one

specific strategy are added together, theyshould promise a good chance of reaching thatstrategic end result.

Nonmarketing as well as marketing pro-grams should be included in the body of aformal marketing plan. Even though the re-sponsibility for carrying out the program liesoutside the marketing department, it is usefuland desirable to summarize in the marketingplan the major programs that will affect themarketing of the product. And here again suc-cess lies in selectivity and brevity.

Failure to include the major nonmarketingprograms affecting marketing profits or suc-

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cess often leads to unnecessary confusion andsometimes to cross-purposes. When one prod-uct manager listed the research programs ap-plying to his product lines, he discovered thatthe research department was spending most ofits time on products that were of secondaryimportance in marketing. He called this to theresearch director's attention, and a change wasmade in the development program.

Organizing for Planning

Organizing for comprehensive marketingplanning is no easy job. However, certain or-ganizational principles can help reduce wastedeffort:

Develop a schedule for completing eachphase of the plan and stick to it. Formal plan-ning must become a way of life in the market-ing department, supported and carried out byeach key marketing executive. The scheduleshould call for work on the plan for the nextyear to begin early enough in the current yearto permit adequate time for market researchand analysis of key data and trends. In addi-tion, the schedule should provide for the earlydevelopment of a strategic plan that can beapproved or altered in principle. As discussed,the use of a strategic plan avoids wasting valu-able time in developing finished programs thatmay not be acceptable to top marketing man-agement because they do not achieve a desiredsales or profit target or because they are notbased on an approved strategy.

h/lake formal provision for coordinationamong key planning groups during the plan-

ning process. Although the various planninggroups may make their preliminary plans rela-tively independent of one another, formal con-tact among the key groups is essential beforefinal plans are adopted. This formal contactcoordinates the efforts of the various planninggroups by:

1. Reducing duplication of effort2. Providing an important means of ex-

changing information and ideas3. Ensuring that the final plans of each

group embody the thinking and programs ofthe various other planning groups.

Make sure the company's informationgathering and reporting systems supply theinformation needed to do comprehensive plan-ning and to maintain adequate control. Forplanning purposes, it should be possible todetermine in advance what kinds of informa-tion about the company, its products, industrytrends, and other key trends will be neededeach year. Many of these requirements can bebuilt into the company's regular reporting sys-tem. This planning information will, of course,consist of nonfinancial as well as financial in-formation. For example, data about the generaleconomy, industry distribution trends, andcompany product acceptance may be requiredarmually. These should then be collected sys-tematically to avoid a last-minute rush.

Control information should be concemedwith reporting performance against plans.This concept of information reporting focusesattention where it should be—on how well thecompany is carrying out its marketing plans.Regular reporting of performance against plancan also contribute to a gradual and steady

5 0 I WINTER 1 9 7 0

I improvement in the planning skills of execu-! tives, for no one likes to see a low percentage

of attainment reported for his department orproduct line.

Defining Responsibilities

One of the things that distinguishes a suc-cessful planner is his stress on assigning re-sponsibility for developing and implementingplans. For example, a recent survey shows thatmany companies that have adopted the prod-uct manager concept have been disappointed;yet, in a number of leader companies this con-cept (including the development of first-ratemarketing plans) is working very effectively.One of the key differences is that in the com-panies where the concept is effective, the prod-uct manager's responsibilities for planning areclearly defined.

There are, unfortunately, no general rulesor absolute guidelines that pertain in any givensituation. For example, the range of responsi-bilities for product managers varies widely—and properly so—among packaged goods, tire,and electronic companies. In packaged goods,the product manager generally controls a num-ber of key fvmctions that govern his success(e.g., advertising, promotion, packaging). Intires, he must deal extensively with distribu-tion channels, technical product development,and production. And in electronics, he oftenconcerns himself primarily with functions out-side his direct control (e.g., R&D, strategy andpriorities, and developments in govemmentcontracting). Even within packaged goods

there are wide differences between the productmanager's job in a dairy or snack company, forexample, and his job with a soap or coffeeproducer.

Similarly, in companies that do not employthe product management system—of ten indus-trial marketers—the successful planners haveclearly defined responsibilities for each keyphase of the planning cycle.

It is also important to make sure that theinevitable conflicts between the marketing de-partment and other functional departments(e.g., production, R&D, finance) are not buriedtoo far down in the organization. In the realworld, of course, the marketing plans of anycompany involve trade-offs between what theplanners would like ideally and what is practi-cal. For example, the marketing departmentmay want to increase production rates sharplyto carry out a sampling program in support ofa product improvement. They may also feelthat speed is crucial because the improvementcan easily be matched by competition. Yet theproduction manager faces a different set ofproblems. He must hire and train a substantialnumber of new employees just for a shortspurt of production. This makes it difficult forhim to maintain his production efficiencies (onwhich his bonus is paid), and creates unionproblems when the workers are laid off. Inmany companies, especially where one depart-ment head is stronger than another, these con-flicts of interest get resolved at quite lowlevels, often resulting in undesirable compro-mises or internally oriented decisions. Becauseof the completely different set of values in-volved, it is questionable whether top manage-

ment should expect, or really want, this typeof issue to be settled among the departmentsthemselves. Rather, the key to solving such aproblem is to carry the philosophy of manage-ment by exception to an extreme, installing aprocess that brings every conflict of this sortright up the line to general management.

Top Management's Role

One of the chief shortcomings of manycompanies' marketing planning efforts is theinadequate role that top management plays inthe approval of their plans. This problem cantake two forms. At the one extreme, top man-agement is "too busy" to study the plans in de-tail. Hence, its approval implies merely a vagueendorsement that can be, and usually is, with-drawn at any time. This is naturally upsettingto the planners, but, more importantly, it iswasteful because the business will probablyend up with two sets of plans—those devel-oped by the pl£inners formally and the infor-mal plans inflicted on the organization by anuninformed top management during the year.

The other extreme, equally frustrating, isa top management that gets involved in everydetail of the company's marketing programsand insists on approving or "signing off" onall ads, media schedules, promotion programs,package changes, and the like.

Companies that have solved the problemof effective top management involvement intheir marketing planning effort generally havedone so by recognizing and organizing aroundtwo factors. First, they recognize top manage-

ment's fundamental responsibility for approv-ing the strategic direction of each major busi-ness in which the company engages. Second,they have organized their planning processesso that top management approves each majorproduct's basic strategy and the supportingfacts that underly each strategy. Once theseare approved by top management—generallyas part of the annual planning cycle—market-ing management (and other departments) isfree to develop and execute specific programsdesigned to implement the approved strategies.Top management need only take action ifactual results fall short of planned objectivesand the explanations and revised proposals ofthe marketing planning group are imsatisfac-tory.

Clearly, it takes more than soimd plans tomake formal marketing planning work. Onceplans are developed, carrying them out mustbecome a way of life in the marketing organ-ization. Once established, strategies and objec-tives will seldom be changed; programs,on theother hand, are revised whenever necessary toachieve the objectives. As plans are executed,performance must be measured against plans.When strategic goals are not attained, pro-grams must be reevaluated. Barring ineffectiveexecution, if planned programs do not achieveplanned goals, the programs, not the goals,must be revised or supplemented. In this way,the productive effort of the marketing depart-ment is harnessed and directed toward chosenstrategic goals; it is no longer necessary tosettle for results achieved by programs thatmay well have been inadequate to begin with.

Companies that utilize comprehensive mar-

52 I WINTER 1970

keting planning consistently find that it yieldsat least these four major benefits:

1. Objectives are based on a specific, metr-ket-centered opportunity, not simply on man-agement's desire to "do better."

2. Planning is focused on identifying spe-cific, major opportunities and key strategicchanges needed to capitalize on them, not ona rote examination of an exhaustive list ofanalyses.

3. Top management can devote its limitedtime to improving strategies and to qualitycontrol without getting bogged down unneces-sarily in details. The reviewing executive can

see the basis on which the plans were made;he will not be dependent on verbal fill-ins thatare characteristic of less rigorous forms ofplanning.

4. Integrated action is increased within theorganization because planning responsibilitiesare clearly defined and the control process isgeared to measuring how each department orunit performs in relation to its specific stra-tegic goals and programs. Action is coordi-nated and directed toward a single set ofstrategic goals throughout the organizationrather than being the by-product of each de-partment's individual plans and activities. *

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