CORPORATE governance matters have become a heated topic in the 21st century.
Companies with good corporate governance systems are likely to earn themselves public confidence, respect and support.
A good corporate governance system is closely linked to an organisation’s corporate culture which relates to the structures, systems, leadership, management styles, mission and values.
This week I elected to focus on a topic which many may consider to be rather difficult to comprehend, especially those who may not be very well grounded in marketing discipline.
I am saying this because I know that there may be those that have mere basic understanding about marketing and its strategic place in organisations.
I believe that there are many of my colleagues and dear readers out there who know what I am trying to drive across.
Yes, we believe that marketing in itself, is about strategy and yet we find it very hard to envisage its place at the corporate levels.
For starters, may I be bold enough to state that many people and organisations have not yet come to appreciate the strategic role that marketing has in organisations.
As I have pointed out in the introductory part, organisations with sound corporate governance systems have a good chance of positioning themselves well on the market due to public support, trust and confidence.
This in turn would significantly help an organisation to do business and market its products or services.
Over the past 13 years I have worked in several organisations in marketing capacities and during these years, I have observed that most of the organisations have undermined and trivialised the role of marketing to that of merely selling.
In most instances marketers are rarely consulted on matters bordering on corporate strategic direction except at the point of implementation.
I remember some time back when I worked for a leading retailing company which had a habit of making strategic decisions without the input of the marketing.
At one time the company made a decision on pricing across all products in our retail shops.
When that decision was made I was not consulted nor was I asked for an opinion on the matter despite the fact that at that time, one of my major responsibilities was to conduct weekly competitor and consumer surveys.
From the weekly survey’s findings, the majority of our targeted markets had been complaining about our products being unaffordable.
Issues to do with Corporate Social Responsibility, Sponsorship and Community relations fall under marketing.
Marketing people are usually at the centre of company, customer and community interface – they are usually the face and first point of contact for organizations.
Hence, they are better placed to advise management on matters that affect the organisation’s stakeholders.
One of the most popular definitions of Marketing given by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is that it is a management function responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers’ needs profitably.
From this definition, any average person can deduce that the marketing function should play an important and strategic role in every organisation.
For instance, there is a generally acceptable understanding in business and commerce that the primary goal of every organisation is to make a profit.
The question that follows is, how are profits generated in organisations? Do they come from production, from accounts, human resources, and do they come from auditing or from purchasing?
While all these are critical to operations of every organisation, they do not directly generate any revenue for any organisation, unless they themselves become a service or product.
Borrowing from Professor Neil Bolden statement, marketing is the only function in every organisation which brings revenue and the rest do not.
In short marketing and all its related functions; namely Distribution, Customer Service, Sales, Business Development, Advertising and Public Relations are profit centres whereas the rest are cost centres.
Having put things into a clear perspective let us try and see the role that marketing has in corporate governance or rather the relationship between marketing and corporate governance.
To understand this topic much better, let us look at what corporate governance is.
Corporate governance is all about performance management, marketing strategy, strategy for marketing, strategic management.
“Corporate governance is overseeing management, control and coordination of overt and implied needs and wants of the organisation aligned to legal, moral, industry, cultural and political expectations of all stakeholders with whom it transacts or effects, and the resources available, transparently, responsibly and diligently so as to engage and align with clarity and purpose,” (c) L. Cowan 2010.
The corporate governance burden is significantly lightened by embracing strategic marketing science to the decision making, melting pot of board level management.
In a much simplified way, the relationship between Marketing and Corporate governance is about strategy.
The formulation of corporate strategies can only be successful if marketing is incorporated at formulation stages.
Marketing helps to bridge the gap between the organisation and its internal and external environments.
The author is a Manager for Business Development, Marketing and Public
Relations at the Zambian Open University.