The Role of Marketing and its Interrelation with Other Functional Units

This article discusses the concept of marketing and its interrelation with other functional units of an organization. It explores the current and future trends in marketing, including the importance of mobile phones as a marketing tool and the role of visual content. The article also explains the marketing intelligence model and the marketing mix. Additionally, it explains the key roles and responsibilities of a marketing manager and how marketing influences and interrelates with other functional departments.

The role of marketing and how it interrelates with other
functional units of an organisation
Introduce the concept of marketing, including current and future
trends
The UK’s Chartered Institute of Marketing defines the concept of marketing as:
‘The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying
customer needs profitably’
(F1/FAB Examiner, ACCAglobal, 2017)
It cannot be underestimated the key contributors for the success of a marketing
concept of the following key areas; firstly a clearly defined strategy with goals and
objectives outlined from the start; secondly, a clear management process, often with
an executive director who adheres to the functional responsibilities; finally, the
understanding that the role of marketing is to understand the customer’s needs in
order to sell the right product or service.
Forbes (forbes.com, 2017), describes the current and future trends to include the
following points:
- The importance of the mobile phone as a marketing tool, developing a more
‘personalised’ and consistant relationship with the user
- Good visual content which will continue to dominate with user-generated
content becoming more directly involved in the marketing process
- And with consumers becoming more directly involved in the marketing
process, transparency between brand and consumer will be ever more
integral to promoting loyalty and interest of the consumer to the brand
The following image (Figure 1) details the marketing process within a marketing
intelligence model.

Fig. 1. (www.globalintelligence.com, 2010)
We can simplify the essence of this Marketing Intelligence model into the following
diagram (Figure 2) where we firstly identify our customer’s needs, analyse the
‘need situation’, unpack this information in order to develop a marketing strategy.
Fig. 2: The process of competitive Intelligence (McCall, 2006)
Upon completion of this process it becomes important to choose the correct
marketing mix to implement in order for the process to be both profitable to us,
sustain future business and be useful to the customer’s needs.

The marketing mix is illustrated by Acutt in the book Marketing Mix Debunked:
Fig. 3: The Marketing Mix (Acutt, 2017)
Give an overview of the different marketing processes
Marketing processes can be used as a strategy to obtain a greater percentage of the
market share, or retain existing customers. Feedback is obtained at different stages
when implementing a marketing process including receiving customer reviews.
The marketing mix is . . . The set of controllable tactical marketing tools – product,
price, place, and promotion – that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in
the target market.
Kotler and Armstrong (2010).
The marketing mix can be broken down into what is known as the 7Ps:
- Product
- Price
- Place
- People
- Promotion
- Physical Environment
- Process
Each of the 7Ps has tools linked to its contribution to the marketing mix. For
example, a product can be defined by its variety and differentiation from the rest of

the market, also its quality, features, the services and brand values associated with it
and the packaging it is presented in. Price can be defined by the cost relative to the
market, any discounts applied, a payment period or even credit terms which can
make a once inaccessible item now accessible by a greater number of people. Place
can be linked to the logistics of a particular service, a specific location a product is
present in and the emotional values or memories linked to that place, or even
transportation and access requirements/ social status required to reach a particular
location. Finally promotion can be related to PR and styles of advertising campaigns
which are used to tap into a particular mind-set/ consumer, or a sales promotion
which encourages multiple sales or continued future purchasing leading to loyalty.
P1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of a marketing
manager
The marketing manager holds both long-term and short-term marketing strategy
responsibilities and is required to interact with other functional departments within
the firm. The main aim of the duties is to sustain and/or develop the brand
(Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2017). This is in creating a sensory experience through a
mixture of visuals, sounds, smells and physical experiences - depending upon the
most relevant according to the promoted product or service.
The marketing manager works directly with senior management within the firm in
order to ensure there is a consistency among all departments and that the message
which is delivered to the target customer is both strong and coherent. The
organisation’s ‘mission statement’ is key in this.
Upon deciding a strategy, the marketing manager then directs clear objectives and
holds discussions with both the firm’s own PR and advertising departments and
external media organisations. It is important to have this relationship due to the
impact of a negative or incorrect message can have on a business’ reputation. For
example, when retail giant Target suffered a decline in share prices after being
negatively associated with supporting a political action committee who opposed gay
rights (MarketWatch, 2017).
The key roles of a marketing manager can be outlined as follows:
- Conducting consumer research through a range of surveys and focus groups
to understand more about the needs of the customer
- Analyse competitor advertising strategies and sales performances by keeping
up to date with the latest public sales reports published and an up to date
understanding of current advertising campaigns along with future trends.
There are a range of trend predicting companies (example) which investigate
consumer behaviour and lifestyle choices which can impact upon future
purchasing decisions.
- Further to this, he or she may analyse the economic status and so hold close
relations with the financial departments. Financial intelligence, paired with

trend predictions can help a firm to make early decisions to avoid a deficit or
reduced profits, especially in unstable or ‘credit crunch’ environments.
- Overseeing the marketing budget
- Working closely with design agencies to assist with product launches
- Examining potential ‘strategic partner relationships’ (Charterselection.com,
2017) which may strengthen the business through effective collaboration or
‘limited edition’ promotions
The information collated into a report by the marketing manager in the above roles,
can influence critical business decisions made by senior management.
It is important that all of the company functions are informed of changes or
developments with the marketing strategy and so internal communication between
the departments is crucial in maintaining the firm’s overall strategy.
P2, M1, M2 and D1 Explain how roles and responsibilities of
marketing influence and interrelates with other functional
departments
The role of marketing within an organisation has come into question over the past
few years. Questions arise over what value the marketing function has and what role
it plays.
Moorman and Rust describes marketing’s ability to connect the customer to, firstly
the product, secondly the service, and finally financial accountability.
In order to understand more about marketing’s influence within other functional
departments we must consider, marketing’s role, marketing performance perceived
and actual value, the market orientation and finally the firm’s performance.
In their journal article, Moorman and Rust display an effective diagram to show how
the interrelation between marketing and other functional departments in a firm
(Figure 4)

Fig. 4: ‘The functional influences on the connections between central elements of the firm’
(Moorman and Rust, 1999)
In this above diagram we can see how marketing dominates the three strands which
connects the customer to the other functional departments in a brand. It becomes
the connective element in such relationships:
1- Customer: product
2- Customer: service delivery
3- Customer: financial accountability
Workman, Homburg, and Gruner (1998) describe this as a ‘cross-functional
dispersion of marketing activities’. They state that, if the roles of marketing are
dispersed across several functional departments, then the role of marketing
becomes strengthened as it is more clearly integrated within the department it is
targeted at. Moorman and Rust argue that ‘the effectiveness of a market orientation
depends on the presence of strong function that includes marketing’, and so here we
explain how such roles and responsibilities of marketing influence and interrelates
with other functional departments.
The role of marketing and its importance within a firm firstly depends upon its context
and the type of firm it is situated within. If the marketing department is a separate
entity and a ‘functional marketing organisation’ (Moorman and Rust, 1999) then the

roles and responsibility it holds for those roles is more highly concentrated and
specialised within its own department. If spread across multiple departments, in what
is called a ‘marketing process organisation’ (Workman, Homburg, and Gruner 1998),
its specialism is more adapted towards the particular department it is situated in. it
may by beneficial to have a separate functional marketing organisation in a firm may
enhance its efficiency and ‘ability to develop specialized, distinctive capabilities’
(Thompson and Strickland 1983). However, contrary to individual units, a sole
functional marketing unit may suffer from ‘interfunctional conflict’ and
‘overspecialisation’ (Moorman and Rust, 1999).
To conclude, it has been suggested that, in order to have a successful market
orientation multiple departments must effectively interrelate, share information
regarding the target customer and perform relevant activities which are designed to
meet the needs of the customer (Narver and Slater 1990). It is considered, from
some scholars, that the existence of marketing as its own department is becoming
rarer, with greater integration within existing other functional departments of an
organisation (Webster, 1989). However, the truth of this is yet to be seen.
References
Acutt, M. (2017). The Marketing Mix Debunked. 1st ed. USA:
www.marketingmix.com.
Charterselection.com (2017). Marketing Manager Job Description. Charter Selection [online] Available
at: http://www.charterselection.com/56/marketing-manager-job-description [Accessed: 10 Jun.
2017].
Forbes.com. (2017). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/04/14/10-top-trends-driving-the-future-of-
marketing/#5018a78c5f97 [Accessed 11 Jul. 2017].
Gallup (2006). Competitive Intelligence: The Process. [image] Available at:
http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/23149/james-bond-comes-
boardroom.aspx [Accessed 8 Jun. 2017].
Gallup, I. (2017). James Bond Comes to the Boardroom. [online] Gallup.com.
Available at: http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/23149/james-bond-comes-
boardroom.aspx [Accessed 8 Jun. 2017].
http://www.accaglobal.com, A. (2017). The role of marketing | F1 Accountant in
Business | ACCA Qualification | Students | ACCA Global. [online]
Accaglobal.com. Available at: http://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/student/exam-
support-resources/fundamentals-exams-study-resources/f1/technical-articles/
the-role-of-marketing.html [Accessed 3 Jun. 2017].

Kotler, P., Armstrong, G. and Parment, A. (n,d.) Principles of marketing. London.
MarketWatch. (2017). 7 companies hurt by bad publicity. [online] Available at:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/7-companies-hurt-by-bad-publicity-2014-08-
18 [Accessed: 11 Jul. 2017].
Moorman, C. and Rust, R. (1999). The Role of Marketing. Journal of
Marketing, special issue, 63(1999).
Narver, John C. and Stanley F. Slater (1990), “The Effect of a Market Orientation on
Business Profitability,” Journal of Marketing, 54 (October), 20–35.
Smallbusiness.chron.com. (2017). Duties of a Marketing Manager. [online]. Available
at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/duties-marketing-manager-801.html
[Accessed: 10 Jun. 2017].
Thompson, Arthur A., Jr. and A.J. Strickland III (1983), Strategy Formulation and
Implementation. Plano, TX: Business Publications, Inc.
Workman, John P., Jr., Christian Homburg, and Kjell Gruner (1998), “Marketing
Organization: An Integrative Framework of Dimensions and Determinants,” Journal of
Marketing, 62 (July), 21–41
www.globalintelligence.com (2010). How to Develop a World Class Market
Intelligence Function. [image] Available at:
https://www.slideshare.net/GIAGroup/how-to-develop-a-world-class-market-
intelligence-function-slideshare [Accessed 11 Jul. 2017].

Part 2: Essay: O2
As the newly appointed Marketing Manager for your selected company.
The first objective you have been set is to research the competition and
produce a marketing plan based on your findings.
P3 Comparison between marketing mix elements
Product: Product is considered as important element which is sold by companies to their customers.
O2 is telecommunication provided in the UK which is owned by the Spanish multinational Telefonica.
It focuses on selling various types of products and services to their customers. The firm emphasises
on innovation so they introduce every year innovative mobile phone in the market.
On the other side Vodafone also carried out its business in telecommunication industry. The
firm use to differentiate its products from another competitor on the basis of unique features.
Price: Price is considered as important element which company need to consider for selling
products. There are various types of pricing strategies that can be followed by O2 companies for
selling products such as premium pricing strategy, skimming pricing strategy etc. O2 company can
consider premium pricing strategy for selling products and services. The products of O2 are unique
as no other competitor have so it can easily sale at premium price.
On the other side, Vodafone use skimming pricing strategy for selling products. As per this strategy
company kept price of its products lower then increase after sometime.
Place: Place is from where product can be sold to customers. It is important for the companies to
open its store at the place where people can easily visit and make purchase of their companies’
products and services. O2 has opened its store in different placed in UK which lead to make easier
for companies to sell. Along with this it also has online store.
One the other side Vodafone is operating its business at the large sector he also many stores in all
over the country and in other countries also.
Promotion: Promotional strategies used by O2 is different from its competitor it used to advertise
product on social networking sites. On the other side, Vodafone company sales its advertise its
product through making unique videos
Physical evidence: It is important that physical store of company should be attractive so that
customers feel satisfied. Interior design should be appropriate which can easily grab attention of
customers. O2 physical store is attractive enough in respect to grab attention of customers. On the
other side Vodafone use unique concept which help in looking its physical store attractive.
Process: A systematic process required to be followed so customers can received their products and
services on time. Therefore, company can use advance technology which can help them in
developing carrying out process in an effective manner. O2 company process is simple as because
they focus on fulfilling customer requirements on time. On the other side, Vodafone company use to
sale its product online also and focus on improving its process.
People: People within the firm are those who make innovative products and services for their
customers. O2 company’s employees are highly skilled and they focus on making innovative
products. On the other side, Vodafone company employees are not much skilled, therefore company
need to hire skilled employees.

P4 Marketing plan
Executive Summary
According to Ofcom (Figure 1), 94% of adults use a mobile phone, with 82.7 million
active mobile phone users in the UK, this is a dominant market. Therefore getting the
right marketing mix to deliver the right product to the customer is important for
increasing the market share and customer retention.
Fig. 1: Overview of key data: Mobiles, 2016 (Ofcom, 2017)
Company Overview
Telefonica purchased O2 in 2006 for £18 billion and holds a global presence across
the UK, America, Brazil, Germany, China and Spain. O2 is the brand name which
Telefonica is associated by in the UK. It is understood by Telefonica that, in the
current environment, mobile phones are considered as a major importance within the
daily life of its customers. Therefore, the name O2 is pertinent in that it compares its
importance to that of the presence of oxygen in life.

Fig. 2: (Telefonica.com, 2017)
Current marketing situation analysis
At O2 we consider EE to be one of our biggest rivals within the current market. The
overall business objective for both EE and O2 is to dominate the market of mobile
phone operators, by providing mobile products and services which meet the target
customers’ needs to the greatest degree.
EE is a private limited company and the largest mobile network operator within the
UK. Although they are ranked in joint 4th position of market share holders, they hold
both Orange and T-Mobile as subsidiaries and therefore together hold the largest
percentage (33%) of the market as seen in Figure 3 (Statista, 2017).
Market share held by mobile phone operators in the UK as of February 2013

Fig. 3: UK mobile phone operator market share as of February 2013, (Statista, 2017).
EE is a part of the BT Group plc (Beta.companieshouse.gov.uk, 2017) as of January
2016 and has approximately 30 million customers.
Figure 4 displays the leading market operators on a global scale, Telefonica is
ranked 7th behind Deutsche Telekom Group who represents EE’s positioning on
global rankings.
Leading mobile operators ranked by global 12 month mobile revenue as of the
second quarter 2016 [in billion U.S. dollars]

Fig. 4: Leading mobile operators ranked by global 12 month mobile revenue as of the
second quarter 2016 [in billion U.S. dollars], (Statista, 2017).
SWOT Analysis: O2 Mobile Operator
Strengths Weaknesses
- Customer service/ solving issues
through online and instore Guru
service
- Additional customer perks -
knowing our customer and
offering tickets/ deals through the
Priority App
- Unable to match the network
coverage offered by EE
Opportunities Threats
- Develop flexibility and control - EE’s reputation as the best

customers have in mobile plans
(Refresh and One Year
Programme)
- Training to enhance customer
experience and support
awareness of new technology
network provider and continued
enhancement of this through ‘Wifi
Calls’
- Price-orientated deals offered by
3
Objectives
- Market research reviews of customers who are currently on and have been on
the refresh plan
- Generate a report based upon findings
- Look into the possibility of providing rolling contracts, with options to increase
or decrease data plans each month
Strategy
To strengthen O2’s current USP of providing flexibility in control of SIM and phone
plans by the customers.
Segmentation, targeting and position
Behavioural segmentation is the most significant in the mobile phone market as its
reach to numbers of the population is significant. Therefore understanding the type
of lifestyle of the consumer groups in order to match to particular services, perks and
products including that of offering Apple Music, or Priority Tickets is more advisable.
There will be a range of consumers including early adopters of new technology who
seek to obtain the latest phone (this could be from Group A to C2 within the
classification listed in below figure 5), to those who utilise phones purely for
functional use and for emergencies (Group E on the below figure 5). Others include
the types of benefits sought from the products including EU data roaming for those
who travel abroad significantly.

Fig. 5: Socio-economic group classification
Market positioning based on price and % market share
A Higher managerial or professional
B Intermediate managerial or professional
C1 Supervisory, clerical, junior managers
C2 Skilled manual workers
D Semi & Unskilled manual workers
E Casual workers, pensioners, benefits

Market positioning based on customer satisfaction and % market
share

Tactics and Action
The performativity of the 4G networks and coverage is one aspect which can
determine if a particular customer buys into O2. The network coverage may not
reach the customer where they live or work and therefore becomes somewhat
useless unless linked directly to an alternative wifi connection. Statistics show that
gaining a good quality network connection influences a person’s satisfaction rate
with a particular mobile operator: EE state that, their 4G network reaches
approximately 80% of the population whilst their 3G reaches 98%, as of November
2016. Where EE is described as currently having the best overall coverage, they tie
with Three and O2 with the 3G coverage (Cable.co.uk, 2017).
Customer service supports the delivery of products and services and can strengthen
the loyalty between brand and customer through tapping into the emotional
connection (Figure 6), especially within growing digital market spaces.

Fig. 6: Consumer-Brand Relationship (Friberg, 2017)
It is predicted by The Gartner Group, that just 20% of a company’s existing
customers generate 80% of its profits. So building upon existing customer loyalty to
sustain a business is a thought process beyond that of just simply attracting new
customers. Within the ranking of customer service, O2 was placed in top position
(Cable.co.uk, 2017) with 80% satisfied with the overall service provided and 68% of
customers having their problem solved within the hour. EE came last, with only 66%
satisfied with the overall service. Together with Vodafone, EE generated the most
customer complaints (Cable.co.uk, 2017) throughout 2015. ‘Which?’ highlights poor
reception as a common complaint (Barrow, 2017) and is one of the common
complaints mentioned by Jackson (Jackson, 2014). Alongside this are complaints of
lengthy contracts, overseas calls and data charges (price), and broken phone or theft
(product).
To challenge this, O2 has a ‘refresh’ programme and a yearly upgrade programme.
Simply by splitting the bill into two (one for the SIM plan and one for the mobile)
customers are able to retain their SIM plan whilst updating their phone earlier and
have greater flexibility within their two-year contract.
As a ‘pay monthly perk’ EE offers Wifi Calling which allows customers to make calls
when there is no network coverage, adding to their USP of being top for network
coverage.
Both O2 and EE provide packages which include free EU roaming data.
Furthermore, both companies offer data cap options so for customers to resist
running up expensive additional charges.

Below details a ‘Which?’ survey results for the UK’s best mobile phone operators in
2017:
Mobile providers’ rankings in the Which? survey
1. Giffgaff (81%)
2. Utility Warehouse (76%)
3. Tesco Mobile (74%)
4. Asda Mobile (72%)
5. Talkmobile (69%)
6. Plusnet (66%)
7. Three (64%)
8=. iD (Carphone Warehouse) (63%)
8=. BT Mobile (63%)
10=. O2 (62%)
10=. TalkTalk (62%)
10=. Virgin Mobile (62%)
13=. EE (50%)
13=. Vodafone (50%)
Fig. 6: Mobile providers’ rankings (Bringnall, 2017)
It is important to understand that existing customers are not only easier to sell
additional products to, but become ‘brand ambassadors’ (Anon., 2012), with
customer reviews (people) rising in importance within the marketing mix.
Additional drivers which attract customers may be in the added inclusion into O2
Priority, for deals and tickets, whilst EE offer free Apple Music for a 6 month period
and a TV service through ‘their own set-top boxes’ (Coverage, 2017).
Budget
£2000 is allocated to build a survey monkey questionnaire, its distribution through
existing O2 social network channels and providing gift card rewards for participants
to take part in online surveys.
£25,256 for advertising, based upon costs detailed below for ITV London advertising
to begin with, and popular national broadcasting channels. This can be broken down
into 7 advertising ‘spots’ each costing approximately £3,608 covering a one week
trial.

Fig. 7: ITV London Region (tvadvertising.co.uk, 2017)
Alternatively, a budget of £3,199 could be used for the same 7 day trial with ITV2,
reaching a more niche demographic but a greater coverage of the UK.
Fig. 8: National Channels (tvadvertising.co.uk, 2017)
Control
In order for O2 to gain greater market control, we must strive to compete with EE in
network coverage. This would require greater investment into new methods of
delivering data at higher speeds and of a clearer quality. Perhaps by looking into
what Virgin are currently doing with their super-fast fibre optic broadband
(virginmedia.com, 2017), or by providing more ‘hubs’ and ‘hotspots’ like Sky (Sky,
2017). By keeping up-to-date with innovations and ideas from our competitors we

are able to look into this. For now, by strengthening our USP of providing flexibility
and enhancing customer control of their own mobile phone service we can increase
our control in this area and combat common complaints (Jackson, 2014)
References
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