Abstract:
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.
