Should marketing be cross-functional? Conceptual development and international empirical evidence

Abstract

While it has frequently been stated that decisions on marketing activities should be made cross-functionally, there is no empirical evidence that shows benefits of performing marketing activities in this way. This paper examines the link between the cross-functional dispersion of influence on marketing activities and performance at the SBU level and considers dynamism of the market, which may moderate the strength of this relationship. Using data from a cross-national study in three industry sectors, the authors find that cross-functional dispersion of influence on marketing activities increases the performance of the SBU. They also find that the relationship between the cross-functional dispersion of influence on marketing activities is negatively influenced by dynamism of the market. This research thus provides empirical evidence for the positive performance implications of cross-functional interaction in the context of marketing activities. D

Social Capital and Learning Advantages: A Problem of Absorptive Capacity

“…Response performance was measured with items that captured a firm's ability to adapt to change and respond promptly to opportunities and threats (c.f. Krohmer, Homburg, and Workman, 2002) (anchored (1) very poor to (7) excellent). While complete and comparable objective data is scarce for the firms in our sample, we acquired the Total Exemption Small accounts 2 of respondent firms to obtain data on net profit performance for 2004 and to calculate profit growth 2 Total Exemption Small accounts are abbreviated balance sheets containing limited information that are submitted to the public repository.…”

Processes and integration in the interaction of purchasing and marketing: Considering synergy and symbiosis

“…Some notable examples of functional alignment are not new and include specific management systems such as total quality management or other quality assurance systems in which stages of the value chain are treated as internal customer constituencies and dyadic exchange is manifest within the organization (Krohmer, Homburg, & Workman, 2002). These are generic functional integration tools, however, and sit alongside a developed literature on marketing and sales integration (Homburg, Jensen, & Krohmer, 2008) and marketing and new product development integration (Ernst, Hoyer, & Rubsaamen, 2010), while purchasing and marketing integration has received little specific attention.…”

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Dynamism Inside the MO Box: the Credibility of Market Information as A Key Factor in Market Orientation

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