TABLE OF CONTENTS About this chapter
Implementation is critical to the success or failure of any venture. Basic generic management principles (e.g. leadership, team building and delegation) contribute to the process. Marketing managers must evaluate the ease, or otherwise, of implementation and deploy project management techniques to achieve desired goals. Additionally, internal marketing can ease the process of implementation.
After reading this chapter, you should:
Understand the importance of implementation.
Have an awareness of key management principles associated with implementation.
Be able to apply the 7S framework of implementation.
Consider the role of people and politics in project management.
Consider how internal marketing can drive successful implementation.
A key maxim in business is: never acquire a business you don't understand how to run. Equally, it would be true to say: never adopt a strategy you don't understand how to implement.
It can be said that, in terms of strategy, planning is the easy part. With a basic grounding in marketing, most managers could sit down with a blank sheet of paper and develop an outline marketing plan. This plan may contain all the correct buzz-words . Ideas relating to market penetration, segmentation, globalization and competitive advantage would fill the page and a clear concise way forward formulated. However, it is not that simple. While many managers could produce such an outline - how many could implement it? Without implementation, the plan remains some ideas on a piece of paper.
In the context of marketing the goal will be...
