MARKETING ESSAY QUESTION Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

MARKETING QUESTION - Essay Example 538). Most marketers today are experiencing difficulties with effective and systematic planning due to a number of market forces such as globalization, fierce competition among market players, radical changes in technology and changing consumer behavior. This piece of research work presents a brief study on systematic approach to marketing planning from the perspective of contemporary international marketing contexts. This paper reviews relevant literatures to critically evaluate the statement â€Å"A systematic approach to marketing planning is essential to successfully inform the marketing decisions made within a contemporary international company†. Marketing planning Planning is basically a systematized method of relating to the future (Cateora and Graham, 2007, p. 317) and therefore many literatures have considered marketing planning as all rational, incremental and intuitive processes that guides a firm’s marketing activities to its future (Greenley, Hooley and Sau nders, 2004, p. 933). Dibb and Simkin (1996, p. 3) who provided a clear and systematic approach to marketing planning defined it as a systematic process that involves assessing marketing opportunities and resources, determines marketing goals and develops future plan for implementation and control. Traditionally, literatures described marketing planning as a model of logical-sequential decision making that incorporates a firm’s objectives, strategies, tactics and control. Greenley, Hooley and Saunders (2004, p. 933) pointed that this explanation to marketing planning has focused on what marketing planning decisions could be and not on how they could be made. They emphasized that marketing planning is used to pursue dynamic marketing opportunities in order to guide a firm’s marketing to its future. In today’s rigorously competitive marketing contexts, market opportunities keep on changing and hence firms need to adopt their plans with a view to pursue these dynam ic opportunities. Marketing planning involves deciding on significant marketing strategies that help the firm achieve its overall strategic objectives and future goals. A marketing planning is required for each business, each product and each brand (Armstrong and Kotler, 2005, p. 59). A Systematic approach to Marketing Planning A systematic approach to marketing planning has been considered to be the most difficult of all marketing tasks since it involves bringing together all the various marketing elements in to coherent and realistic plan (McDonald, 2007, p. 9). A systematic marketing planning necessarily requires certain degree of organizational procedures and compromise between conflicting objectives. McDonald (1992, p. 5) identified ‘lack of systematic approach to marketing planning’ as one of the most difficult barriers to marketing planning. Marketers need to design and implement most appropriate planning system for their firms. As McDonald (1992, p. 14) pointed, a marketing planning system is essential to ensure that all key issues are systematically