ABSTRACT
Effective marketing is seen as important by Boards and investors in larger businesses. Few directors or shareholders would disagree with marketing’s desire to build long-term relationships (cf. Briefs 2 and 8), achieve competitiveness or create value to the customer and other stakeholders. However, few CEOs are marketers and marketing practitioners have failed to establish themselves in the upper echelons of very senior management. Some marketers have attempted to demonstrate their worth by persuading senior colleagues to understand the importance of satisfying customers, only to find other business functions claim rightly that they, too, help to satisfy a business’s customers. Other marketers have justified their activities by showing a causal link with corporate earnings or return on capital employed. Unfortunately, a reduction in marketing expenditure is the easiest way in which a business can boost immediate-term profitability.
