Marketing Management Essays - Economy, Business, Marketing

Marketing Management "Marketing ideas have made singularly little penetration into the centres of influence of the construction industry. To some extent this follows from the character of the industry as an agglomeration of service organisations, not without structural relationship to one another, but serving a clientele from which individuals seek service very infrequently." (Jepson & Nicholson, 1972: p.1) Although times have and are changing the above statement despite being written over twenty five years ago is still to some extent very true. The subject of this assignment is a construction firm that has recently designed and implemented a marketing management strategy. The objective of this assignment is fourfold, firstly the company's approach to marketing management will be documented this will then be related to marketing management theory Then by analysing data collected through research the effectiveness of the strategy will be discussed. Finally using marketing management theory as a foundation recommendations will be made to identify where the initial strategy could be improved in order to promote future business development and success, in line with the strategic mission of the company. The organisation in question has strong foundations, since it's incorporation in the mid fifties turnover has grown in line with inflation. In 1984 the Company was purchased by the son of the original managing director, he took up the role of new managing director. By the beginning of the 1990's it became apparent that the company had reached a stage where it was no longer a small "hands-on" enterprise. The level of turnover and number of employees had increased at such a rate that the organisation now employed a sizeable management team. All with an experienced technical background in the fields of surveying, estimating or site management and who had either progressed through the ranks of this firm or other organisations of a similar size and nature. The company was at the time of the initial implementation of this initiative inexperienced in marketing management and strategy. However, the senior personnel realised the company had reached a stage where future business growth wasn't just going to come from hard work, doing the job well and relying on a good reputation. The view was taken that it was necessary to pursue new ventures to bring about growth and development. The Company has a large contracting portfolio with contracts completed for public and private clients in the commercial and industrial sectors. Appendix A shows the diversification with the selection of recently completed projects and list the clients for whom work has been carried out. The reason for a firm of this size carrying out such a wide range of activities is largely based on the belief that in such a competitive industry as construction it has been necessary to take on whatever type of work was available in order to maintain a consistent order book. In developing the company's marketing management strategy numerous workshops were held, attending these were the company directors and two senior managers. Information on the company was gained from interviews with the persons attending these workshops. There are many reasons for running a business, this company wanted to be clear on why it wanted to improve or introduce the marketing effort so that appropriate goals can be set. The aim of wanting to grow the business by increasing sales while at the same time sustaining the level of profit margin is the underlying factor in this case. Turnover could be increased very easily as most of the work is procured on an invitation to tender basis where the deciding factor is almost always price, however, "buying in" work will not necessary have a long term positive effect. The secondary objective was to secure profitable business relationships. These objectives are reflected in the mission statement in the appendix B. The development of the mission statement was the start of the company's marketing management initiative. The company's overall objective in the eye's of the leaders was defined. It was thought the development of a mission statement would provide the foundation needed. Perhaps the implementation of a mission statement doesn't have a direct link to the theory of marketing management however it's place in the overall field of strategy is illustrated below. "A firm's mission is top management's view of what the organisation seeks to do and become over the long term. Expressed in the form of a mission statement it provides a publicly available summary of the long term goals of a firm's top managers." (Barney, 1997: p.10) After the preliminary stage it was decided that careful and critical examination of the company