Browsing by Author "McDonald, Malcolm"

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    Achieving Excellence in Customer Relationship Management
    (School of Management, Cranfield University, 2002-12) Clark, Moira; McDonald, Malcolm; Smith, Brian
    This report covers the work of the Cranfield CRM Research Formn for the first year of its operation Directed and funded by a group of organisations across many sectors, the goals of the Forum are to enable excellence in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) by defining and understanding this important management process.
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    Banking on the Brand
    (Cranfield University School of Management, 2010-03-01T00:00:00Z) McDonald, Malcolm
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    The changing face of marketing
    (1991) McDonald, Malcolm
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    Corporate marketing and service brands - Moving beyond the fast-moving consumer goods model.
    (Emerald, 2001) McDonald, Malcolm; de Chernatony, Leslie; Harris, Fiona
    Examines the issues associated with the creation and development of service brands in corporate branding. Initially considers the increasing importance of the services sector, the appropriateness of corporate versus individual branding and how service organisations have challenged the traditional approach to business. By analysing the success and failure of corporate branding in financial services, illustrates how thinking about service branding needs to change. Outlines the differences between product and service branding and considers how the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) approach to branding needs to be adjusted for the services sector. Particular emphasis is placed on the intangible nature of services and corporate branding and how problems linked to intangible offerings can be overcome. Concludes with an examination of the roles that employees and consumers play in the delivery and strengthening of the corporate service brands.
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    The effectiveness of marketing strategy making processes in medical markets
    (Cranfield University, 2003-04) Smith, Brian D.; McDonald, Malcolm
    This thesis contributes to the understanding of the effectiveness of marketing strategy making processes. It examines how such effectiveness is contingent upon the internal and external environments in which the process operates and, therefore, how the requisite process is contingent upon its organisational and market context. It builds on the fields of strategy content and strategy process and of organisational effectiveness, organisational culture and organisation theory. It tests and develops Burrell and Morgan’s congruency hypotheses as an explanation of the effectiveness of marketing strategy making processes. That work postulates that effectiveness results when the process is congruent with both its internal environment (i.e. microcongruent) and external environment (i.e. macrocongruent) This work takes a pragmatist epistemological perspective. The methodology is qualitative, using multiple-informant case studies. The congruency hypotheses are operationalised using a model and constructs based on the extant literature. The work is restricted to the medical products market in order to optimise insight and understanding. The findings support the congruency hypotheses. Strong strategy is associated with simultaneous macrocongruence and microcongruence. Further, a mechanism for the hypotheses is identified. Interactions between the strategy process and organisational structure, systems and habits provide an underlying mechanism of microcongruence. Failure or success of the process to manage market complexity and turbulence provide an underlying mechanism of macrocongruence. This work contributes to theory, confirming the congruency hypotheses, extending them into marketing strategy making and making a new contribution concerning the mechanism of congruency. To methodology, this work confirms the use of case studies, extends it to consider simultaneously internal and external environments and makes a new contribution concerning the construct of strategy quality. To practice, the work confirms the value of planning in complex markets, extends the concept of a “requisite” process and contributes new ideas for the deliberate management of marketing strategy making processes.
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    An evaluation of styles of IT support for marketing planning
    (Emerald, 2001-08) Wilson, Hugh N.; McDonald, Malcolm
    IT support for marketing planning can aid in the use of marketing tools, facilitate group planning, and support moves towards continuous planning based on a live marketing model of the business. But, amongst other factors, achieving these benefits depends on the style of support provided by the system. After a review of relevant decision support system (DSS) literature, describes here the findings relating to support style from a qualitative evaluation of a system named EXMAR. The findings support Little’s classic rules of “decision calculus”, such as the importance of ensuring that managers understand and can control the system, rather than the objective influenced by management science of prescribing an optimal recommendation. Also emphasises the role of systems in enhancing mutual understanding in a cross-functional planning team, and hence in building commitment to the resulting plan.
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    Good marketers know the score
    (Emerald, 2006) McDonald, Malcolm
    The purpose of this paper is to offer a rejoinder to Michael Thomas's Viewpoint, “The malpractice of marketing management”.
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    An investigation into the impact of decision support systems on strategic marketing planning practice
    (Cranfield University, 1996-04) Wilson, Hugh; McDonald, Malcolm
    Relatively few companies gain the benefits from marketing planning claimed by prescriptive literature. This results from cognitive, procedural, resource, organisational, cultural and data availability barriers to effective planning. Research in other domains suggests that decision support systems (DSS) could assist in reducing some of these barriers. The research aim was therefore to examine whether and how DSS could be used to improve strategic marketing planning practice. The research method incorporated: iterative development of a DSS named EXN4AR a formative evaluation of the prototype system using a survey and a multiple-case study; and a further multiple-case study of users of other, related systems to explore the extent to which the results from the EXMAR evaluation could be generalised. The study confirms that software can play a valuable role in reducing some of the barriers to effective planning. Systems can assist with the effective application of analytical marketing tools through automated calculations, graphical display and on-line guidance, thus reducing the technical marketing knowledge required. Support for fast iteration allows these tools to be used to facilitate group strategy debates. Endeavours to move planning out of the hands of specialists and into cross-functional teams can be further aided by cross-functional analyses and by automated assistance with managing the complexity of multiple-level plans. The electronic format can support moves towards continuous planning based on a live marketing model of the business, helping the organisation to respond to internal or external changes without the constraints of the annual planning cycle. Other barriers such as cultural problems must, however, be reduced by other means. Various factors contributing to success in system implementation are identified, including top management support, sufficiently wide planning team definition, appropriate definition of planning units, sufficiently flexible planning procedures, ease of use, and a system that is seen as empowering rather than controlling.
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    Key Customers: Identifying and implementing IT solutions that add value to key account management strategies
    (School of Management, Cranfield University, 2004-07) Mouncey, Peter; McDonald, Malcolm; Ryals, Lynette
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    Marketing planning and corporate culture
    (1991) McDonald, Malcolm
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    Marketing planning and corporate culture
    (1987) McDonald, Malcolm
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    Marketing, Existential Malpractice and an Etherised Discipline: A Soteriological Comment.
    (Westburn Publishers, 2002-07) McDonald, Malcolm
    This paper reviews the state of marketing theory and practice. A early reviewer of this paper was inclined to "criticise the title on the grounds of obscurity", but concluded it would do as it was. In an academic culture in which the average journal contents page is hardly less obfuscatory, our attempt at irony in the title and introduction seems to have been insufficiently extreme to make our point, which is that marketing academia talks esoterically to itself, even in journals such as this which aim to have a dual practitioner and academic audience. We discuss how this has left consultants as serial fad peddlers, perhaps with more influence but delivering dubious genuine benefit. The result is that marketing practice shows few signs of improving over time. We discuss the vital choices that need to be made in the nature and process of marketing if it is to reach out of its functional silo to seize the heart of the organisation.
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    Perceived environmental uncertainty : understanding the implications for strategy development processes across Barclays Plc
    (Cranfield University, 2005) Ryder, Jansen; McDonald, Malcolm; Fishwick, Frank; Jaina, Joe
    The managerial issue being addressed in this research is perceived environmental uncertainty (experienced by corporate strategists) and its implications for strategy development processes at the strategic business unit level (or business-level strategy) across Barclays Bank PLC. The objectives of the research are achieved through: an extensive review of the strategy and uncertainty literature (Project 1); a series of semi-structured interviews with fifteen members of the Group Executive Committee at Barclays (Project 2); and the completion of 731 selfadministered questionnaires covering the seventeen strategic business units within the Barclays portfolio (Project 3). Through its findings, this research concludes that any link between perceived environmental uncertainty (at the corporate level) and strategy development processes (at the business unit level) across the Barclays portfolio is largely irrelevant. Strategists at Barclays are concerned mainly with the maximisation of shareholder value and concepts such as uncertainty, change and complexity are not within the managerial lexicon. Based on this observation, strategy development at Barclays does not involve a carefully managed reciprocal relationship between the firm and its environment, or a skilfully manipulated balance of the degree of change and the level of complexity with which the organisation is deemed able to cope. Strategy development involves the dedicated and ruthless stewardship of a highly successful and resilient business model that could not fail within the economic environment experienced during the period of this research (1999–2005). Consequently, the Bank’s strategic capability (e.g. people) and assets (e.g. brand and technology) are geared towards protecting and developing the business model, or in simpler managerial terms, ‘defending the money-printing machine’.
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    Role of the global account manager : a boundary role theory perspective
    (Cranfield University, 2003-02) Holt, Sue; McDonald, Malcolm
    As the business environment takes on a global perspective for many business-to- business organisations, so the area of Global Account Management (GAM) has become an increasingly important issue for both researchers and practitioners. This study is focused on providing an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of the roles of global account managers in managing relationships with global customers. This aspect of global account management has received little attention in the literature with little empirical research in the area. From the extant literature on global account management, global account manager roles and relationships in business-to-business markets, a conceptual framework of the global account manager role was constructed. This was supported by role theory, boundary role theory, and theory on the buyer-seller interface. The research was conducted within the realism philosophical paradigm, using a qualitative case study approach with four co-operative case organisations. The research design was also grounded in boundary role theory, with data being collected from the global account managers, their managers, customers and their internal team members in order to provide a rich picture of the role. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data and the interviews were analysed against the conceptual framework using a qualitative data analysis package, QSR NVivo. Within-case analyses were carried out followed by a cross-case analysis. This resulted in the presentation of a set of validated role constructs, and a theoretical model of the global account manager role. As well as the main findings from the empirical study, the research also produced some additional findings. The research makes a contribution to theory in two main areas: firstly to our theoretical understanding of global account management roles; and secondly, in extending and supporting existing theory on account management. Given the nature of the research topic, there were also implications for practitioners. Finally the limitations of the research and opportunities for further work were explored.
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