TABLE OF CONTENTS The contemporary view of customer orientation has been adopted by most companies. However, many tend to neglect a systematic approach to planning, analysis and control. Not only does attention to the latter facilitate customer satisfaction, it helps to guarantee survival by ensuring profitability.
Some businesses are directed by leaders who have a feel for the market and whose intuitive decisions lead to success. Intuition is an important ingredient of successful management, but few can say that it is so frequently correct that we can use it as the basis for managing a company. Markets change rapidly and the intuitive leader runs risks that are unacceptable to shareholders and employees.
Some companies merely respond to current demand. Providing the order book is full, they see no need for planning. When sales slow down pressure is put on the sales force to sell more.
Planning systems that have not evolved from the origins of marketing planning are often based on the company's financial budgeting process. Available resources are allocated to functional managers in an indiscriminate manner and there is no facility available to evaluate expenditure in terms of what it has achieved. So long as a department has not overrun its budget allocation, everyone is satisfied.
A formalised planning procedure that takes account of the firm's environment, its internal resources and its longer-term objectives is required. Planning is complicated in practice, but its concept is relatively straightforward as illustrated in Figure 19.1.
