Marketing planning and corporate culture: A conceptual framework which examines management attitudes in the context of marketing planning

• Published in: Journal of marketing management 1991, Vol.7 (3), p.213-235
• Main Authors: Leppard, John W., McDonald, Malcolm H.B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0267-257X; 1472-1376
• DOI: 10.1080/0267257X.1991.9964153

This paper examines the marketing planning process of a number of British Companies. It finds that the companies who subscribe to what is described in the paper as a "complete marketing planning process", are further along an organizational evolutionary development path than their semi-planning and non-planning counterparts. While the marketing planning process appears on the surface to be just a series of procedural steps, it does in fact embrace a set of underlying values and assumptions. Only the more developed and mature organizations seem likely to have the corporate culture which is capable of sustaining these values. Corporate culture is often intangible to the outsider, but can be very real to those within the company. It develops partly through the way the company has triumphed over adversity in the past, and partly through the so-called "culture carriers". These are the influential figures who, by their behaviour, communicate the organizational values they wish to see espoused. Because marketing planning often challenges existing corporate values and attempts to introduce new ones, the process cannot be regarded simply as a neutral, cognitive activity; it is clearly a political process. The problems this poses for executives of organizations and their external advisers are complex and far-reaching. Nevertheless the potential rewards which result from comprehensive marketing planning can be substantial, and make it a goal worth striving for.