LO1: Role of Marketing and Its Interrelation With Other Functional Units LO2: Elements of Marketing Mix LO3: Development of Marketing Plan
LO1: Role of Marketing and Its Interrelation With Other Functional Units LO2: Elements of Marketing Mix LO3: Development of Marketing Plan
Introduction
LO1: Role of marketing and its interrelation with other functional units
LO2: Elements of Marketing Mix
LO3: Development of Marketing Plan
Introduction:
Marketing can be defined as management and study of relationships. The original meaning of the
term literally referred to going out in the market and selling the goods. It is considered as a
creative field which itself includes advertising of the product, distribution and sale of it. In the
modern context the term marketing goes beyond the process of exchange of or sale of goods and
is observed as an integral part of the socioeconomic system of the organization. Marketing is not
a single term or activity but rather a collection of activities linking the organization’s profitability
to its market. These collections of activities include exchange and distribution of goods or
services in the market, warehousing of them, shipping or transportation of goods, selection of
channel of distribution, inventory check and so on and so forth. Marketing department is often
considered as a backbone to any organization. (Sherlekar et al, 2010)
LO1: Role of Marketing and its interrelation with other functional units of
organization:
P1: Key roles and responsibilities of Marketing function
Marketing function can be defined as a role adopted by any organization to identify and source
either existing products or potentially new products in the market and promote them by
distinguishing them from other substitute or similar ones in the market. A generalized market
function includes functions like conducting a market research, designing and drafting a market
plan, development of the desired product, financing, risk taking, packaging and labeling,
advertising or promotion of the product, distribution, customer service and customer relations.
(See appendix 1) The marketing department who is in charge of marketing plays a crucial role in
promoting the mission and business of an organization. (Rust et al, 2010)
Therefore, most of the marketing decisions are dependent on the interrelationships between the
marketing and other functional departments in the organization. In order for the marketing
strategies to be more effective and efficient they have to take into consideration considerations of
other non-marketing business functions in design and implementation of market research,
development of marketing strategies, marketing planning and control systems. When Cadbury
wants to promote it new products or existing products with discount offers or any other special
offers it has to consult the finance department for budget allocation and cost and benefit analysis
of the same strategy. Later they have to consult with the productions/operation team to check for
production capabilities by forecasting the demand and wants. On the other hand, before doing all
these they have to consult with the research and development team to conduct a study on whether
the offer or strategy would be successful if implemented. At last they have to consult with the
personnel team to hire an efficient sales team to promote the said strategy or offer. Only by
integrating all the functional departments with the marketing department will the company be
able to achieve its objective.
Conclusion:
The report has been prepared and executed with respect to the study of the marketing functions
of Cadbury, a British multinational confectionary. The study starts by explain the roles and
responsibilities of the marketing function and how it related to the wider organizational context
with respect to the said organization. Later, roles and responsibility of marketing with respect to
the marketing environment is studied and the interrelation ship between marketing and other
functional areas in Cadbury is analyzed. Cadbury’s five concepts of marketing such as
production, product, selling, marketing, and social marketing concepts are discussed in detail as
well.
The 7P’s of marketing mix is discussed in detail with respect to Cadbury and how it utilizes them
to achieve its goal or objective. We have even compared how organizations apply the marketing
mix to achieve their objective. Later, we have evaluated different tactics followed by competitors
like Hershey’s in comparison with that followed by Cadbury. Cadbury’s use of marketing mic in
designing and implementing the marketing strategies are discussed in detail. Cadbury can also
use product mix (Mayer et al, 2014) along with marketing mix in order to achieve its objective
on more efficient and effective way. Cadbury can use Strengths, Weakness, Opportunism and
Threats (SWOT) (See appendix 3) (Helms and Nixon, 2010) analyses to adopt and survive in the
changing market environment. The report has ended by drafting a basic marketing plan for
Cadbury and producing a coherent evidence-based marketing plan using the marketing mix
essentials.
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Appendix 1:
Appendix 3: