Marketing Management and Corporate Social Responsibility Questions Please make sure each question in apa format and total word count should be 1500 words o

Marketing Management and Corporate Social Responsibility Questions Please make sure each question in apa format and total word count should be 1500 words or more. As i will rewrite information that is submitted but please do not send plagiarized work assignments. Make sure all scholarly sources are cited which should be three or more. 1.Corporate social responsibility is a broad concept. Explain the dimensions of social responsibility. What actions should organizations take to maximize each dimension of social responsibility? 2.What is the relationship between social responsibility and organizational success and profitability? What evidence can you provide to support your position? 3.There are several potential ethical issues related to marketing strategies. Identify a recent ethical dilemma facing a marketing organization. Describe the ethical situation and the consequences for the organization, its customers, and its other stakeholders. How could the ethical dilemma be avoided? 4.Many organizations have a code of ethical conduct. Find an organization’s code of ethics and assess the code’s ability to enhance ethical decision-making within its organization. What revisions do you propose for the organization’s code of ethics? 5.Considering the many factors that may influence consumer brand preferences, how important is it for a brand to be recognized for social responsibility? How can we formulate the return on investment for CSR? Marketing
Implementation
and Control
CHAPTER
9
G
A
INTRODUCTION
T
Throughout the history of business, many firms and their top executives have
E
emphasized strategic planning at the expense of strategic implementation. HistoriS
cally, and even today, this emphasis
on planning occurs because many executives
believe that strategic planning,, by itself, is the key to marketing success. This belief
is logical because a firm must have a plan before it can determine where it is going.
Although many firms are quite good at devising strategic marketing plans, they are
often unprepared to cope withD
the realities of implementation.
Marketing implementation is the process of executing the marketing strategy by creE
ating and performing specific actions
that will ensure the achievement of the firm’s
marketing objectives. StrategicAplanning without effective implementation can produce unintended consequences that result in customer dissatisfaction and feelings
of frustration within the firm. N
Likewise, poor implementation will most likely result
in the firm’s failure to reach its
D organizational and marketing objectives. Unfortunately, many firms repeatedly experience failures in marketing implementation.
R
Out-of-stock items, overly aggressive salespeople, long checkout lines, malfunctioning websites, and unfriendly orAinattentive employees are examples of implementation failure that occur all too frequently today. These and other examples illustrate
that even the best-planned marketing strategies are a waste of time without effective
implementation to ensure their1success.
To track the implementation
1 process, firms must have ways of evaluating and
controlling marketing activities, as well as monitoring performance to determine
whether marketing goals and2 objectives have been achieved. As illustrated in
Beyond the Pages 9.1, implementation,
evaluation, and control go hand-in-hand in
3
determining the success or failure of the marketing strategy, and ultimately the
T
entire firm. One of the most important
considerations in implementing and controlling marketing activities involves
gaining
the support of employees. Because a marS
keting strategy cannot implement itself, all firms depend on employees to carry out
marketing activities. As a result, the firm must devise a plan for implementation, just
as it devises a plan for marketing strategy.
In this chapter, we examine the critical role of marketing implementation and
control in the strategic planning process. First, we discuss a number of important
strategic issues involved in implementation, including the major components of
implementation that must work together in order for a strategy to be executed successfully. Then, we examine the advantages and disadvantages of major marketing
implementation approaches. This discussion also describes how internal marketing
260
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Chapter 9 • Marketing Implementation and Control
BEYOND THE PAGES 9.1
Keurig Green Mountain Gets It Done1
Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. is a leader in the
specialty coffee industry. The company from
Waterbury, VT uses a coordinated multichannel
distribution network that is designed to maximize brand recognition and product availability.
Green Mountain roasts high-quality Arabica
beans and offers nearly 400 coffee selections
including single-origins, estates, certified organics, Fair Trade Certified™, proprietary blends,
and flavored coffees sold under the Green
Mountain Coffee Roasters® name and roughly
60 other brands. Its products come in a variety
of packages including whole bean, fractional
packages, premium one-cup coffee pods, Vue
Packs, and Keurig® K-Cup® single-serving coffee
cartridges. Green Mountain also sells other products including iced coffee, teas, cider, and hot
chocolate. The company operates an active
e-commerce business at www.keurig.com.
In achieving its early success, Keurig Green
Mountain pursued three key strategies: boosting
market share, expanding into new markets, and
making key acquisitions. To increase market
share and expand, the company relied on direct
relationships with farms, coffee estates, cooperatives, and other parties to ensure a consistent
supply and price of 75 different varieties of
high-quality coffee beans. This, combined with a
custom-roasting process, allows Green Mountain
to differentiate its coffee offerings. One of Green
Mountain’s key acquisitions was Keurig—the
company that made its K-Cup® coffee cartridges.
While Keurig had been a dominant player in the
office coffee service segment, its expansion into
the home market under Green Mountain has
been extraordinary—more than one in five
U.S. households has a Keurig single-serve coffee
maker. Green Mountain also acquired Tully’s—a
Seattle-based coffee company in 2009. Today,
Keurig Green Mountain accounts for 30 percent
of all retail coffee sales in the United States and
sells more than $5 billion per year in K-Cups.
One of the major reasons for Green Mountain’s success is its overall focus on implementation. The company signed a number of strategic
partnerships, including agreements with Dunkin’
Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Swiss Miss, Starbucks,
and Tazo to make their products available via
the patented K-Cup system. Green Mountain
also has agreements with Breville, Cuisinart,
and Mr. Coffee to make branded single-cup coffee makers that use the K-Cup system. Internally, the company employs roughly 6,600
people but has a very flat organizational structure. This promotes open communication, passion, and commitment among employees.
Worldwide, the company has only a 10 percent
employee turnover rate. As a part of the company’s evaluation and control system, Green
Mountain uses a process called the after-action
review—a process adapted from the U.S. Army.
G The goal of the review is to answer four key
A questions: What did we set out to do? What happened? Why did it happen? What are we going to
T do about it? Most of the effort is spent on this
E last question to ensure that the company learns
both its successes and failures. Employees
S from
are empowered to apply these lessons and
, encouraged to share their views in a “constellation of communication” that ensures a collaborative style of getting things done. Green
D Mountain has consistently appeared on Forbes’
E list of the “200 Best Small Companies in
America,” Fortune’s list of the “100 FastestA Growing Small Companies in America,” and
N Business Ethics magazine’s list of the “100
Best Corporate Citizens.” In addition, the SociD ety of Human Resource Management has recogR nized Green Mountain for its socially
responsible business practices.
A Not all things are perfect for Keurig Green
Mountain, however. The company’s patent on
K-Cups expired in September 2012, leading to
1 an avalanche of competing single-serve cups
1 that work in Keurig machines. In response,
Green Mountain introduced the Vue
2 Keurig
brewing system that added the ability to brew
3 café beverages, such as lattes and cappucciT nos, in addition to coffees, teas, chocolate,
and cider. The Vue system also allows more
S customization than the K-Cup system in terms
of strength, temperature, and size. In addition,
Vue packs are recyclable. The environmental
impact of the company’s K-Cups has been
widely bemoaned by both competitors and
environmentalists. Each year, Keurig produces
enough K-Cups to circle the Earth more than
10 times. In fact, John Sylvan, the inventor of
9781337669078, Marketing Strategy: Text and Cases, Seventh Edition, O.C. Ferrell – © Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-240
261
262
Chapter 9 • Marketing Implementation and Control
the K-Cup, has stated that he wishes he had
never created them. Keurig Green Mountain
has pledged to make all K-Cups recyclable by
2020.
The most recent issue for Keurig Green
Mountain is the fallout over its Keurig 2.0 system, introduced in late 2014. The new brewers
use a special system that reads the ink on the
lids of K-Cups and only allows those made by
the company to work in its brewers. While this
move protects Keurig Green Mountain’s profits,
it locks competing cups out of the market. Several competitors have filed suit against Keurig
Green Mountain to end the practice. One of the
most vocal critics, California-based and familyowned Rogers Coffee Company, has gone as
far as creating the “Freedom Clip,” a plastic
gizmo that attaches to a Keurig 2.0 brewer and
fools the system into accepting rival brands.
Keurig Green Mountain argues that its system
ensures the freshest, best cup of coffee possible.
So far, consumers seem to agree.
can be used to motivate employees to implement marketing strategy. Finally, we
G and control process.
look at the marketing evaluation
A
T
STRATEGIC ISSUES IN MARKETING
IMPLEMENTATION
E
Marketing implementation is critical to the success of any firm because it is responS
sible for putting the marketing strategy into action. Simply put, implementation
refers to the “how” part of the, marketing plan. Marketing implementation is a very
broad concept, and for that reason it is often misunderstood. Some of this misunderstanding stems from the fact that marketing strategies almost always turn out differently than expected. In fact, allD
firms have two strategies: their intended strategy and
strategy is what the firm wants to happen—it is
a realized strategy.2 Intended marketing
E
the firm’s planned strategic choices that appear in the marketing plan itself. The
realized marketing strategy, on theA
other hand, is the strategy that actually takes place.
More often than not, the difference
N between the intended and the realized strategies
is a matter of the implementation of the intended strategy. This is not to say that a
D is necessarily better or worse than the intended
firm’s realized marketing strategy
marketing strategy, just that it R
is different in execution and results. Such differences
are often the result of internal or external environmental factors that change during
A
implementation.
1 and Implementation
The Link Between Planning
1 of marketing implementation is its relationship to
One of the most interesting aspects
the strategic planning process.2
Many firms assume that planning and implementation
are interdependent but separate issues. In reality, planning and implementation inter3
twine within the marketing planning
process. Many of the problems of marketing
implementation occur becauseT of its relationship to strategic planning. The three
most common issues in this relationship are interdependency, evolution, and
S
separation.
Interdependency
Many firms assume that the planning and implementation process is a one-way
street. That is, strategic planning comes first, followed by implementation. Although
it is true that the content of the marketing plan determines how it will be implemented, it is also true that how the marketing strategy is to be implemented determines
the content of the marketing plan.
Certain marketing strategies will define their implementation by default. For
example, a firm such as Southwest Airlines with a strategy of improving customer
9781337669078, Marketing Strategy: Text and Cases, Seventh Edition, O.C. Ferrell – © Cengage Learning.
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AP Images/Jacqueline Dormer
Chapter 9 • Marketing Implementation and Control
G
Long waiting lines are a common symptom that can be tied to problems in strategy, implementation,
or both.
A
T
E important part of that stratservice may turn to employee training programs as an
egy’s implementation. Through profit sharing, many Southwest
employees are also
S
stockholders with a vested interest in the firm’s success. Employee training and
, on their employees’ comprofit-sharing programs are common in firms that depend
mitment and enthusiasm to ensure quality customer service. However, employee
training, as a tool of implementation, can also dictate the content of the firm’s stratDprocess of implementing its
egy. Perhaps a competitor of Southwest, who is in the
own customer service strategy, realizes that it does not
E possess adequate resources
to offer profit sharing and extensive training to its employees. Maybe the company
A to implement these activisimply lacks the financial resources or the staff required
ties. Consequently, the company will be forced to go back
N to the planning stage and
adjust its customer service strategy. These continual changes in marketing strategy
make implementation more difficult. Clearly, a SWOTDanalysis and strategic thrust
conducted with an eye toward what the company can
R reasonably implement can
reduce, but not completely eliminate, this problem.
A
Evolution
All firms face a simple truth in planning and implementation:
Important environmen1
tal factors constantly change. As the needs and wants of customers change, as com1
petitors devise new marketing strategies, and as the firm’s own internal environment
changes, the firm must constantly adapt. In some cases,
2 these changes occur so rapidly that once the firm decides on a marketing strategy, it quickly becomes out3
of-date. Because planning and implementation are intertwined, both must constantly
T
evolve to fit the other. The process is never static because
environmental changes
require shifts in strategy, which require changes in implementation,
which require
S
shifts in strategy, and so on.
A related problem is that executives often assume there is only one correct way
to implement a given strategy. This is simply not true. Just as strategy often results
from trial and error, so does marketing implementation. Firms that are truly
customer-oriented must be flexible enough to alter their implementation on the fly
to fully embrace customer intimacy and respond to changes in customers’ preferences. In the airline industry, for example, competitors quickly alter their pricing
strategies when one firm announces a reduction in fares on certain routes. These
rapid changes require that firms be flexible in both marketing strategy and
implementation.
9781337669078, Marketing Strategy: Text and Cases, Seventh Edition, O.C. Ferrell – © Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-240
263
264
Chapter 9 • Marketing Implementation and Control
Separation
The ineffective implementation of marketing strategy is often a self-generated problem
that stems from the way that planning and implementation are carried out in most
firms. As shown in Exhibit 9.1, middle- or upper-level managers often do strategic
planning; however, the responsibility for implementation almost always falls on
lower-level managers and frontline employees. Top executives often fall into a trap of
believing that a good marketing strategy will implement itself. Because there is distance between executives and the day-to-day activities at the frontline of the firm,
they often do not understand the unique problems associated with implementing marketing strategy. Conversely, frontline employees—who do understand the challenges
and hurdles of implementation—usually have a limited voice in planning the strategy.
Another trap that top executives often fall into is believing that frontline managers and employees will be excited about the marketing strategy and motivated to
implement it. However, because they are separated from the planning process, these
managers and employees often fail to identify with the firm’s goals and objectives,
G the marketing strategy.3 It is unrealistic for top
and thus fail to fully understand
executives to expect frontline A
managers and employees to be committed to a strategy they had no voice in developing, or to a strategy that they do not understand or
T
feel is inappropriate.4
E
S Implementation
The Elements of Marketing
, a number of interrelated elements and activities,
Marketing implementation involves
as shown in Exhibit 9.2. These elements must work together for strategy to be implemented effectively. Because we examined marketing strategy issues in previous
D
chapters, we now look briefly
at the remaining elements of marketing
implementation.
E
A
Shared Goals and Values
N
Shared goals and values among all employees within the firm are the “glue” of successful
implementation because theyDbind the entire organization together as a single,
R
A
EXHIBIT 9.1 The Separation of Planning
and Implementation.
1
1
Time Spent on
Planning 2
3
T
S
Very Much
Time Spent on
Implementation
Very Little
Chief
Executive
Officer
Mid-Level
Marketing
Managers
9781337669078, Marketing Strategy: Text and Cases, Seventh Edition, O.C. Ferrell – © Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved. No distribution allowed without express authorization. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-240
Frontline
Marketing
Managers
Chapter 9 • Marketing Implementation and Control
EXHIBIT 9.2
The Elements of Marketing Implementation.
Marketing
Strategy
Marketing
Structure
Shared
Goals
Systems
Resources
Leadership
G
A
T
E
S
,
People
D
E
functioning unit. When all employees share the firm’sAgoals and values, all actions
will be more closely aligned and directed toward the betterment
of the organization.
N
Without a common direction to hold the organization together, different areas of the
D the success of the entire
firm may work toward different outcomes, thus limiting
organization. For example, one of the reasons for the
R tremendous success of the
New Belgium Brewery is the fact that all employees have a commitment to make
A resources.5 Other firms,
excellent craft beer in ways that conserve environmental
SOURCE: Adapted from Lawrence R. Jaunch and William F. Glueck, Strategic Management and Business Policy, 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988), p. 305.
such as FedEx, Google, and ESPN, are well known for their efforts to ensure that
employees share and are committed to corporate goals and values.
Institutionalizing shared goals and values within 1
a firm’s culture is a long-term
process. The primary means of creating shared goals and
1 values is through employee
training and socialization programs.6 Although creating shared goals and values is a
2
difficult process, the rewards are worth the effort. Some experts have argued that
creating shared goals and values is the single most important
element of implemen3
tation because it stimulates organizational commitment where employees become
T
more motivated to implement the marketing strategy, to achieve the firm’s goals
Sfirm’s customers.7
and objectives, and to serve more fully the needs of the
Marketing Structure
Marketing structure refers to the methods of organizing a firm’s marketing activities.
Marketing structure establishes formal lines of authority as well as the division of
labor within the marketing function. One of the most important decisions that firms
make is how to divide and integrate marketing responsibilities. This decision typically comes down to the question of centralization versus decentralization. In a centralized marketing structure, the top of the marketing hierarchy coordinates and
manages all marketing activities and decisions. Conversely, in a decentralized
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