Virtual Team as a Marketing Strategy: Pros and Cons

Management Communication 1
To:
From:
Date:
Subject: Virtual Team as a marketing strategy.
Technological development in the information sector of marketing has pushed communication to
a whole new level where teams can work remotely and report findings and receive feedback in
return without having to meet face to face. The internet has become a useful tool in ensuring this
milestone of connecting various teams remotely (McConnell and Lewinson, 2012). Most
organizations are however still held between the undecided position of whether to establish a
remotely operating team- virtual team or to decentralize their marketing team to operate
independently for efficiency in marketing. As directed, I have researched and established both
the pros and cons of either establishing a virtual team or embracing decentralized marketing
teams operating independently in the market locations for XYZ company. This memo, therefore,
analyses first what constitutes a virtual team and its effectiveness, secondly, it compares virtual
teams against decentralized independent marketing teams and finally proposes the most feasible
approach to our company's marketing strategy.
Virtual team
Lipnack and Stamps (2000) define a virtual team as a team stationed in different geographic
areas and international barriers using technology as a means of collaboration and reporting of
outcomes. A company’s virtual team is constituted of skilled employees, have a commitment to a
common goal, have goals which are interdependent, and are mutually accountable for their work
approaches.

Management Communication 2
The effectiveness of a Virtual team
Dua (2017) notes that first, having a virtual team is a great approach to companies which seek to
have and maintain best talents at a workplace globally. In conjunction with this, constituting a
virtual team also saves an organization costs of having physical structures in different locations
in the universe as the team can operate remotely and still deliver desired outcomes. In the wake
of political instabilities in countries that a company operates, requirements such as visas may be
a huddle for a foreign worker, hence having a virtual team who are natives of such places may
save the company this great deal of hustle (Kirkman et al, 2004).
Rawson (2018) asserts that virtual teams increase productivity greater than a decentralized team
of employees. Working from home, employees are focused in their deliverables and eliminate
any kind of distraction of the office environment and frequent traveling. This team can also
significantly make a company access many markets without necessarily having a physical
representation in such locations, this comes with low costs of operating in foreign markets.
Further, a virtual team ensures greater work flexibility as a company can easily choose to scale
down or up depending on the performance.
Virtual team versus decentralized marketing teams
Both approaches come with advantages and disadvantages towards the marketing of a company's
profile and the actual product. A virtual team is cost-effective as compared to a company having
branches in every geographic location. It saves the company the cost of having assets such as
offices and production units for instance. Decentralizing a company to have representation in
various geographic locations comes with a cost of setting up offices and sometimes even
incurring costs of transferring employees from one location to another.