Building a Companywide Marketing Orientation

Many companies are beginning to realize that their organizations are not really marketand customer-driven—they are product or sales driven. Companies such as Baxter, General Motors, and Shell are working hard to reorganize themselves into true market-driven companies. The task is not easy: it requires changes in job and department definitions, responsibilities, incentives, and relationships.

To create a market- and customer-focused company, the CEO must: convince senior managers of the need to be more customer-focused; appoint a senior marketing officer and marketing task force; get outside help and guidance; change reward measurement and system to encourage actions that build long-term customer satisfaction; hire strong marketing talent; develop strong in-house marketing training programs; install a modern marketing planning system; establish an annual marketing excellence recognition program; consider restructuring as a market-centered organization; and shift from a department focus to a process-outcome focus.

DuPont successfully made the transition from an inward-looking to an outward-looking orientation when it began building a "marketing community" by reorganizing divisions along market lines and holding marketing management training seminars for thousands of managers and employees. The company also established a marketing excellence recognition program and honored employees from around the world who had developed innovative marketing strategies and service improvements.25 It takes a great deal of planning and patience to get managers to accept customers as the foundation and future of the business—but it can be done, as the DuPont example shows.

Continue reading here: Marketing Implementation

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