The strategic orientation of marketing planning by franchised motor dealers: A pilot study

Abstract

A number of authors have emphasized the necessity for a strategic orientation towards organizational planning and marketing planning, particularly if firms operating under dynamic and ever-changing market conditions want to survive and prosper. Changing market conditions can offer both opportunities and threats to business firms. To achieve its goals a firm thus has to ensure that its 'strategic fit' with its environment is at an optimum to enable it to exploit opportunities and successfully overcome threats. Against this background a pilot study was undertaken to evaluate the strategic orientation of marketing planning by franchised motor dealers. The findings of this study seem to indicate that marketing planning by franchised dealers in the motor industry is not conducted in the manner suggested in the marketing literature. More specifically the findings of this study are that, with a few exceptions, respondents do not strategically plan their marketing effort, do not conduct their marketing planning in a formal, structured manner as suggested in the literature, and depend to a large extent on their manufacturers with regard to important aspects of their marketing planning. It furthermore appears as if the marketing efforts of manufacturers and respondents are not sufficiently co-ordinated and integrated.