Introduction
Marketing has defined responsibilities in a typical organization which is quite distinct from the other functional departments. These include identifying and defining the target market, determining the customer wants as well as how to add customer value. Marketing departments make decisions on matters such as which products to offer to the customers, how to package and advertise them, where to sell the products, and for how much.
However, the marketing department needs to work in close cooperation with the other departments to achieve its objectives. Otherwise, it might end up not delivering the promises it made to the customers when marketing. To produce goods/services that meet customer needs marketing needs the services of other departments like human resources, finance, and production departments (Lancaster & Reynolds, 2005).
How Marketing is Linked and Integrated with Other Functions
The marketing department cannot act in isolation because the decisions made by the marketing department affect other functional areas. Likewise, the decisions of other departments affect the marketing department. This can be explained as follows; the Production department is concerned with system processes whereby it is transforming inputs into outputs according to what the marketing department determined that would meet customers’ requirements (Blythe & Zimmerman, 2005). The marketing department needs to coordinate with the production department to ensure that what is produced meets the customers’ needs. It must also ensure that the quantity is enough to meet the demand as simulated by the marketers. Otherwise, if demand surpasses supply the customers will be disappointed (Doyle, 1995).
The human resource department is concerned with recruiting and selecting employees, training them as well as evaluating and compensating them. The marketing department needs to work closely with the HR department to get employees that will fit into the marketing strategy of the firm. The type of compensation should be reached in coordination between both departments because the marketing department understands the workload and the HR department is charged with handling employees’ matters. One of the functions of the finance department is to finance the activities of the business, by either selling stock or bonds or through loans (Lussier, 2008).
The finance department keeps records of transactions and prepares budgets. It is also charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the organization’s cash reserves are used optimally. In light of these functions performed by this department, it shows that the marketing department needs to cooperate with it to achieve its objectives. For instance, the marketing department needs to be aware of the finances available before developing a marketing plan. This will help the plan to be within the budget provided by the finance department. The marketing department needs to work closely with the finance department in determining the prices to be charged on the products or services (Kendall & Rollins, 2003).
Unilever’s Marketing Integration with Other Departments
An example of cooperation between departments is seen when Unilever sold its Sanex personal care brand to Colgate for €672 million. The deal included the sale of the laundry-detergent venture in Colombia to Unilever by Colgate for $215 million. The marketing department had identified a potential market in Latin America; however, its personal care brand was not doing well. The marketing department had to depend on the finance department for the valuation of the brand to be divested.
The finance department was also to determine the value of the laundry business to be acquired to determine if the exchange value was fair. As explained by the company’s categories president the decision to make the acquisition was driven by the need for the company to strengthen their position in Latin America which is one of the largest detergent markets (Jarzemsky & Zekaria, 2011). The company also markets 400 brands globally, therefore, the marketing department depends on the HR department to be able to attract and retain employees that will be fit to market each of the products (Unilever, n.d.).
Decision
The decisions solely made by the marketing department are more tactical decisions. These include policies concerned with line extensions, promotions, and superficial positioning. This means that real strategic decisions that determine the company’s competitive advantage are made cooperatively between the marketing department and other respective departments. These include decisions concerning service and cost structures, product innovation as well as product quality. As a result, the marketing activities need to be linked and integrated with the activities of other departments. This will help in achieving the marketing objectives and those of the whole organization effectively and efficiently
The Competitive Advantage Between Companies’ Offerings
The automobile industry has experienced competition for the last decade because each company is striving to produce quality vehicles at the lowest cost possible and still meet customer requirements. Three companies have almost the same strategies in their product offerings; however, each has gained an edge in a particular area. As a result, there have been changes in market share with some gaining and some losing. Also, some have recorded a significant increase in sales (Porter, 1998).
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is the third-largest automobile maker in the world. It has managed to gain a competitive edge over its rivals by having a diverse range of brands that meet the needs of a range of customers. The brands include Lamborghini, Skoda, Seat, Bentley, and Audi. This has enabled it to serve different market segments has enabled it to record an increase in sales. For instance, the company has been experiencing improvement in the demand for its products in China, India as well as Russia. Also, the company registered a 28% increase in profits in 2008, between July and September. This increase resulted from a boost by the emerging markets mentioned above that are enjoying the variety of brands from the company’s offering (BBC News, 2008).
Toyota
Toyota is the world’s largest automaker by sales. Toyota embraces a lean manufacturing strategy that helps it to provide quality products at a lower cost compared to its competitors. The company positions its products as having quality and affordability (Spear, 2010). For instance, the company has been able to produce fuel-efficient vehicles and this has been a major success. This gives it an edge because most brands from the US market are fuel guzzlers. With skyrocketing fuel prices, consumer demand has shifted to fuel-efficient brands. For instance, Toyota is the brand that is the closest to meeting the fuel-efficiency goals set by the EU across Europe (Reuters, 2011).
General Motors
The company is among the world’s largest automobile manufacturers. The company has been able to market its leadership in vehicle performance and functionality. This is where the company produces products for a particular customer segment to perform specific functions. A case in point is its Cadillac brand that is marketed as a world-class luxury car. This has enabled the brand to gain increased with luxury consumers.
Taking the Chinese market as an example, the Cadillac models have secured top positions in 2010. These include the new generation SRX which is marketed as trendy and sporty, was the best seller among its rivals in the SUV market of mid-sized vehicles. The new SLS model which is a luxury business sedan is marketed as having cutting-edge technology as well as excellent handling. It was also ranked top three among the mid-sized luxury vehicles. Since the Cadillac brand was introduced to the Chinese market in 2004 it has made significant strides and secured the market leadership. This is because of the company’s style of marketing whereby it presents the futures of the models about their functionality and performance (Foley, 2010).
Market Mix of the Companies
Toyota
Toyota puts a lot of focus on achieving quality at the lowest cost possible. This is done to ensure that it offers quality products to the market at a relatively lower price. The company has empowered its workers to provide suggestions for improvements in its effort to achieve continuous quality improvement. This addresses the element of price and product whereby quality is high and the price is affordable (Kotelnikov, n.d).
The company manages its distribution system which includes not only its primary stores alone but also the entire economic chain. For instance, when it introduced its Lexus model to the market it adopted an all systems view approach. This involved knowing and managing the costs of the chain of suppliers, costs of its primary and support processes as well as the distributors and agents costs. This enabled it to reduce costs by 50% over Mercedes which was the market leader at the time (Doyle, 1995).
Volkswagen
Volkswagen offers a wide range of vehicle brands to meet the needs of a large number of varied customers. To support this strategy the company offers financial services through its finance company called Volkswagen Finance Private Limited. For instance, in India, the Finance arm secured a non-banking license that would provide the Indian market with a wide range of financial services. This includes a 3-in one package that would enable a customer to purchase the three top brands of Audi, VW, and Skoda. The company has a slightly high price compared to its competitors; however, it counters this by making it easy for customers to purchase the products by providing them with financial services (The Hindu, 2011). As far as distribution is concerned, the company has been focusing on emerging markets in India, China, and Russia. The growing demand in such markets has been a boost to the company considering the dwindling performance in the European markets and the US (BBC News, 2008).
General Motors
GM sells its products through retailers in North America and distributors outside the North American market. It has distributors throughout the world. It has divided the world market into a region which includes GM North America, GM Europe, GM Latin America/Africa/Middle East, and GM Asia Pacific. This ensures that the company has a worldwide presence; however, its largest market is in China. The company uses Auto-show as its main method of promotion. It attends virtually all auto shows worldwide whether small-scale or large-scale. The company believes that in doing that they will efficiently find potential distributors who are qualified as well as dealers (Zhang, n.d).
Conclusion
Every company has a competitive advantage above its competitors that it uses to position itself in the market for the customers to identify. It can be a low price advantage because of cost efficiency; it can also be outstanding product features that the competitors cannot achieve. It can as well be the services that accompany its products, such as free maintenance after purchase. Each company finds ways of combining the elements of its marketing mix so that it will be able to promote its cutting edge. Therefore, it is upon the management to identify their competitive advantage, develop it, and combine the marketing mix appropriately to present the advantage to the consumers.
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