The Marketing Function: Roles, Responsibilities, and Interrelations

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the marketing function within an organizational context. It begins by defining marketing and its core concepts, emphasizing the importance of understanding and satisfying customer needs. The essay then delves into the specific roles and responsibilities of the marketing function, including market research, product development, promotion, and distribution. It highlights the significance of adapting to a changing business environment, illustrated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on marketing strategies. Furthermore, the essay examines the marketing concept, detailing the evolution from production-oriented to customer-centric approaches. It explores the marketing function's relationship with other departments, emphasizing the need for interfunctional coordination to achieve organizational goals. The essay also analyzes the influence of the marketing environment, including micro and macro factors, on marketing decisions. Finally, it provides a critical analysis of how the key elements of the marketing function interrelate with other functional units of an organization, underscoring the importance of a cohesive approach to marketing. The essay concludes by summarizing the key takeaways and emphasizing the dynamic nature of marketing in the modern business landscape.

1
Table of Contents
List of tables and figures ............................................................................................. 1
1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 2
2.0 The marketing concept ......................................................................................... 4
3.0 Roles and responsibilities of the marketing function ............................................. 5
4.0 Roles and responsibilities of marketing in relation to the wider organisational
context ........................................................................................................................ 6
5.0 Impact and influence of marketing environment on the roles and ........................ 7
responsibilities of the marketing function .................................................................... 7
6.0 Significance of interrelationship between marketing and other functional units
of an organisation ..................................................................................................... 11
7.0 Critical analysis of how the key elements of the marketing function interrelates
with other functional units of an organisation ............................................................ 12
8.0 Conclusion ......................................................
List of tables and figures
List of tables:
Table 01: Evolution of concepts...........................................................................2
Table 02: Factors of micro environment and interrelation to
marketing..............................................................................................................9
Table 03: Factors of the macro environment and interrelation with marketing....10
List of figures:
Figure 01: Classification of marketing environment..............................................8

2
1.0 Introduction
Overview of marketing
“Marketing is the management process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying
customer requirements profitably.” (Chartered institute of marketing cited in
Baines, Fill and Page, 2013). Similarly Twin, (2020) refers to marketing as the
activities that a company undertakes to promote the buying and selling of a product
or service, this includes advertising, selling and delivering products to customers
or other businesses. McDonald and Wilson (2011) indicate that the central idea of
marketing is of a matching between a company’s capabilities and the wants of
customers in order to achieve the objectives of both parties. In contrast Lendrevie
et al (2006) cited in Baines, Fill and Page ( 2013) claims that
“Marketing is the endeavour of adapting organisations to their competitive markets
in order to influence, in their favour, the behaviour of their publics, with an offer the
perceived value of which is durable superior to that of the competition” (Baines, Fill
and Page; 2013)
Effective marketing is essential because consumers tend to be rational and are
always on the look for affordable products that satisfy their needs and wants.
Customer tastes and preferences are also constantly changing. The ability to
identify and offer products and services that provide consumer benefits and satisfy
their needs determine the success of the business in the market in terms of
profitability and revenue. Failure to do so leads the firms to lose market share and
profits. (Marcouse, Hammond and Watson; 2015)
The purpose of this essay is to take a glance into the marketing aspect of
organisations, primarily by understanding the concept of marketing and the roles
and responsibilities of the marketing function as well as its relation to the wider
organisational context. Moving on the impact and influence of marketing
environment on marketing decisions is identified. Further the significance of
interrelationship between marketing and other functional units of an organisation is
highlighted. Finally a critical analysis of how the elements of marketing interrelate
with other functional units of an organisation is provided.

3
The Impact of covid-19 on businesses around world
The 2019 corona virus disease (COVID-19), first identified in Wuhan, China has
expanded across borders leading the World health Organisation to declare it as a
pandemic on 11 March 2020.
As the outbreak continues governments across the world have taken strict
measures such as movement restrictions, nationwide curfews, travel bans and
border closures to handle the situation, which has in turn had a huge impact on
people and notable consequences on national economies and global trade. The
purchasing managers’ indices data globally as well as in Sri Lanka has recorded
the steepest contractions which indicate a high possibility of a global recession.
Despite of the overall impact on all businesses, some industries may be at risk
more than others. To point out the tourism, apparel and textile, retail and consumer,
construction and engineering as well as the banking and finance industries of Sri
Lanka are at a comparatively higher risk. (PwC Sri Lanka, 2020) With the economic
downturn, consumer behaviour is expected to change drastically as consumer’s
ability to spend may be affected especially for those without significant disposable
income
The overall situation has created many challenges for marketing in terms of
changes in priorities and objectives. As a result of the pandemic marketers expect
a notable increase in virtual content, webinars, social media, blog content and
video production. In short the online media is becoming the go-to alternative as the
pandemic continues. (Newscred, 2020)
Businesses should ensure to remain in the positive light by taking a compassionate
approach to advertising and also being resourceful towards their employees,
customers and key stakeholders, this would lead to long-term consumer trust,
satisfaction and loyalty. Also as consumers spend most of their time at home,
marketers can reach their target consumers by investing heavily in television,
digital and direct mail advertising.
Therefore considering the situation, marketers will have to adapt to the latest trends
and gain insight to understand changing consumer behaviours in order to develop
successful marketing strategies moving forward. (Advantix Digital)

4
2.0 The marketing concept
After understanding the market, marketing managers move on to develop
marketing strategies, in order to develop successful strategies marketing
managers have to first decide on the customers that they wish to serve ( target
market) through market segmentation and then on how they are going to optimally
serve these customers ( differentiation and market positioning). There are 5
different concepts using which organisations design and carry out their marketing
strategies; the production, product, selling, marketing and societal marketing
concepts. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018)
Table 01: Evolution of concepts
Production concept Focuses on improving production and distribution
efficiency. (availability and affordability of products)
Product concept Focuses on continuous product improvements in
terms of quality, performance and innovative
features.
Selling concept Focuses on large-scale selling and promotional
efforts.
Marketing concept Focuses on identifying and satisfying the needs and
wants of target market better than competitors.
Societal marketing concept Considers consumers wants, company’s
requirements and long term interests of consumers
and society when making marketing decisions.
Author developed (2020) based on Kotler and Armstrong (2018)
The marketing concept (also referred to as market orientation) implies that all the
activities of an organisation are driven by a desire to satisfy customer needs.
(McDonald and Wilson, 2011)
Market orientation focus on developing:
• Customer orientation: concerned with creating greater value for
customers by continuously developing and improving products and services
to meet the customer needs and wants in order to provide customer
satisfaction on a continuous basis.
• Interfunctional coordination: all the functions within an organisation
including employees work together to gain customer satisfaction in order to
achieve organisational goals and long-term profitability.
(Baines, Fill and Page; 2013)

5
3.0 Roles and responsibilities of the marketing function
Marketing involves managing markets to create profitable customer relationships;
this requires marketers to search for and engage buyers, identify their needs,
design good market offerings, set prices for them, promote them and store and
deliver them. Therefore activities such as consumer research, product
development, communication, distribution, pricing and service are core marketing
activities. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018)
The key goal of marketing is to attract new customers by promising superior value
and to retain and grow current customers by delivering value and satisfaction.
(Kotler and Armstrong, 2018) In order to achieve this marketing performs certain
activities and functions. One of the most important marketing activity is market
research.”Market research gathers information about consumers, competitors and
distributors within a firms target market. It is a way of identifying consumers’ buying
habits and attitudes to current and future products”. (Marcouse, Hammond and
Watson; 2015) Marketers have to constantly monitor and scan the marketing
environment to identify potential opportunities that the business could benefit
from; and threats it has to overcome. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018) Market research
is conducted by the marketing function as it is responsible to identify customer
needs and wants before making any decision, as identifying and satisfying the
needs of customers, in terms of current and future trends, customer tastes and
preferences ; is the basis of the market orientation approach.(Marcouse, Hammond
and Watson; 2015) Marketers also play a role in dividing a larger market into
segments in order to choose an appropriate target market that it wishes to operate
in. After successfully identifying the needs and wants of the target customers,
marketers will then have to, design and develop new products or services or
maintain and improve existing products and services to satisfy the demand or
desire of their customers.(West, 2017) Cargills introduced the “Cargills 2 home
delivery service”, Sri Lanka’s first ever mobile supermarket as an initiative to serve
their customers by providing them with essentials delivered right to their doorstep
during the curfew imposed as a result of covid-19. (Cargills Ceylon PLC) The
marketing function also focuses on attracting or creating awareness of the
products/services and persuading customers to buy them, which is also known as
promotion/advertising. “Communication between the business and its customers
where messages are placed in the media to encourage the purchase of a
product”(Jones, 2011) The marketing function of a business has to anticipate and
predict the needs and wants of customers in advance and respond to changes very
quickly. McDonalds adapted to the situation created by COVID-19 by introducing
a no-contact food delivery approach in all its branches around the globe while
Commercial bank of Ceylon announced that its deploying its “Bankon-wheels”
mobile ATM units in areas where curfews are in force, to provide urgently needed
access to cash to members of the public (Commercial Bank of Ceylon). As
businesses operate in a changing business environment, marketers have to keep
up with the latest designs, trend, fashions and technology. (Jones, 2011) This along

6
with effective promotion is essential for marketing to carry out its role in terms of
creating demand, attracting new customers and retaining existing customers.
(Rychul, 2018) It is crucial for marketing to come up with ways to retain customers
during the covid-19 situation and lockdown. Dialog introduced a special usage
offer, the “7-day emergency reload relief” to customers in an attempt to retain the
users (Dialog). Marketers also have to make sure that the products and services
are available to target customers ‘at the right place at the right time’ by choosing
appropriate distribution channels. (Jones, 2011) The covid-19 situation has
proven to be very difficult for businesses especially in terms of distribution. Local
businesses operating in the food industry of Sri Lanka highly rely heavily on food
distribution networks such as Uber eats and Pickme food as means of getting their
products delivered to consumers during the curfew.
.
4.0 Roles and responsibilities of marketing in relation to the
wider organisational context
Once the marketing function has studied the market place and the target
customers, the marketing management can then design a customer value driven
marketing strategies, which would allow organisations to differentiate its products
and services from its competitors in the market.“Marketing can’t go it alone in
creating customer value”. Under the company-wide strategic plan marketing must
work together with other departments to form a successful internal company value
chain and with other companies in the marketing system to create an external value
delivery network that jointly serves customers. (Kotler and Armstrong 2018) As
everything is driven by customer need, the firm can set goals that are measures
according to customer-based outcomes. The marketing department offers services
to all departments; for example providing information about the market to help
develop products, advising departments and employees involved about providing
a better service for customers. Marketing plays a key role in the organisation’s
strategic planning in many ways. Firstly by providing a guided philosophy for the
entire organisation and all its employees - The marketing concept (which suggests
the company strategy should focus on creating customer value and building
profitable customer relationships). (Kotler and Armstrong 2018)
Market oriented organisations do not produce goods and services until they
understand the needs and wants of customers (Jones,2011), therefore the
marketing function provides a marketing plan which includes information regarding
target customers, competitors and the market; ways in which the organisation can
communicate to them and costs to such activities to strategic planners, helping
them identify market opportunities and analysing the ability of the firm to exploit
them to deliver maximum customer value.(Kotler and Armstrong 2018; Marcouse,
Hammond and Watson; 2015) It also establishes policies regarding products,

7
branding, production, delivery and so forth. Moreover the marketing function
develops strategies for separate business units to achieve their specific objectives
profitably. (Kotler and Armstrong 2018) The strategies contributed by marketing
help businesses develop a competitive advantage through superior customer
value. It is essential for the marketing function to work together with other
organisational departments or functions; such as finance, production, sales etc.
“Marketers must find ways to get all departments to ‘think consumer’ and develop
a smoothly functioning value chain” as engaging customers requires commitment
from the entire company. (Kotler and Armstrong 2018)
5.0 Impact and influence of marketing environment on the roles
and responsibilities of the marketing function
Kotler and Armstrong, (2018) defines the marketing environment as “The actors
and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build
and maintain successful relationships with target customers”. In order to be
successful the marketing function of an organisation should adapt its strategies to
the current trends and developments of the environment/market, therefore
marketers must regularly scan the environment to identify possible challenges and
available opportunities. (Camilleri, 2018; Kotler and Armstrong, 2018)
Figure 01: Classification of marketing environment.
Author developed (2020) based on Strong (2019).
Internal environment
“The internal marketing environment consists of all those factors and forces that
exist within a company, significantly affect marketing plans, and over which
management has direct control.”(Mahajan and Mahajan, 2015) This includes
Marketing Environment
Internal environment External environment
Micro environment Macro environment

8
organisational resources, financial departments, managerial and non-managerial
employees; human and financial capital as well as intangible assets such as brands
and patents. Marketing managers develop marketing plans on the basis of the
factors of the internal environment; each factor may have a positive or negative
influence in the process of creating value. Marketers focus on internal marketing
to communicate organisational policies and practices including the value and
expectations of the business to employees and internal stakeholders, this helps
create customer value and promotional possibilities when employees interact with
target customers/markets.(Michael, 2010)
External environment
“External environment of all those factors and forces which exists outside an
organisation, significantly affects its marketing plans and over which the
management has little or no direct control.” (Mahajan and Mahajan, 2015)The
external environment can be further classified into two categories; Micro
environment:
”The micro environment consists of those forces and factors which are specific to
the business of the company, with which the company works more closely and
which influence and are influenced by the actions of management.” (Mahajan and
Mahajan, 2015) In order to create customer value and satisfaction marketing has
to collaborate with other company department, suppliers, marketing intermediaries,
competitors, various publics and customers. These factors could have a positive
or negative influence on the company’s ability to create value for and relationships
with customers; as well as on the business’s ability to sell, distribute, promote and
develop products/services. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018 and Micheal, 2010)
Table 02: Factors of micro environment and interrelation to marketing
Suppliers
Suppliers provide resources required to produce goods
and services; supply shortages, delays, cost rises, quality
and consistency can affect products, sales, customer value
and satisfaction
Intermediaries
Includes wholesalers, retailers, distributors, advertising
and financial agencies that help company’s promote, sell
and distribute its products/services to final buyers. Is also
an important component of value delivery.
Competitors
Companies must provide customer value and satisfaction
better than competitors by identifying their strengths and
weaknesses before developing products and marketing
strategies.
Public
Includes local, financial and governmental groups which
has an interest in and who can impact the ability of the
organisation to achieve its objectives through their culture,
lifestyle, issues and many more. Therefore companies
must work towards their welfare

9
Customers
Marketers must identify changing customer trends,
preferences, lifestyle and characteristics in order to satisfy
customer needs and wants and deliver maximum customer
value
The market/demand
Marketers must study the target market in terms of
demand, consumption and impact of competitors in order
to make decisions regarding entering new markets and
expanding operations.
Author developed (2020) based on Kotler and Armstrong (2018) and Mahajan and
Mahajan (2015)
The covid-19 outbreak along with curfews and lockdowns imposed in many
countries around the world has made it crucial for businesses to sustain a good
relationship with their micro environment factors. During the situation marketers
much ensure that their interaction with suppliers is at its best in order to prevent
any shortages or delays in resources received to be able to consistently provide
the market with products and services. Marketers must also ensure that they retain
the customer base by identifying the differing needs and wants of customers during
the lockdown and satisfy them better than competitors. Macro environment:
“The macro environment includes societal forces that are essentially uncontrollable
and influence the micro environment of a business.” (Michael, 2010) This includes
political, economical, social, technological, legal and environmental factors.
(Strong, 2019) Companies must identify and adapt to the changing external
environment in order to minimise their impact and influence on marketing plans,
strategies, decisions and activities. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018)
Table 03: Factors of the macro environment and interrelation with marketing
Demographic
It is important for marketers to identify changes/trends in
demographics in terms of population size, density, location,
age, gender, race, occupation and other statistics as this
represents changes in the market/customers and
influences marketing plans.
Political/legal
Marketing decisions and strategies are affected by the
political/legal environment in terms of laws, government
agencies, regulations focused toward protection of
companies, consumers, employees, environment and
society as a whole
Economic
Marketers must study the economic environment in terms
of economic growth/ recession, income distribution,
employment levels, disposable income, interest rates and
many more as this can influence consumer spending,
buying behaviour; demand and profits of businesses

10
Social/cultural
Marketers must study the changes in the environment in
terms of society, culture, beliefs, norms, customs, religion,
tradition and rituals; as this impacts consumption patterns
and buying behaviour of customers significantly. Marketers
must also focus marketing strategies and plans towards
social cooperate responsibility to gain the support of ethical
customers and critics.
Technological
Marketers must adapt and develop their strategies and
plans to align with the opportunities created by the rapidly
evolving technical environment so as to satisfy customer
needs and wants efficiently
Natural environment
Involves the physical environment and natural resources
that are used as inputs and are affected by marketing
activities. Marketers must prepare for unexpected changes
in the physical environment such as the covid-19 pandemic;
and also focus on environment sustainability to minimise
impact of environment legislations
Author developed (2020) based on Kotler and Armstrong (2018) and Mahajan and
Mahajan (2015)
Changes in the natural environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic has forces
businesses around the world to be more efficient and effective in providing products
and service as well as creating customer value. Businesses and marketers have
to pay more attention to technological aspects better than ever before during the
situation in order to effectively promote and distribute their products and services.
Businesses have taken it to social media networks such as facebook and instagram
to promote and create awareness of their products and services among customers.
Keells and Cargills foodcity chains in Sri Lanka are depending on their online sites
to attract and retain customers during this difficult situation. Moreover, Keells Super
launched Sri Lanka’s first super market mobile app in 2014, which it can now use
to help serve customers during this crisis. The usage of such online sites and apps
require businesses to provide customers the ability to pay through online methods
which again is an important technical aspect that has to be provided by all
businesses during the ongoing situation.
“Rather than simply watching and reacting to the marketing environment,
companies should take proactive steps.” Many companies consider and accept the
marketing environment as an uncontrollable factor to which they must react and
adapt; they do not attempt to change it. They study the environmental forces and
design strategies to help avoid the threats and take advantage of the opportunities
provided by the environment. Other companies take a stance toward the marketing
environment and develop strategies to overcome and change the environment and
affect the public and forces rather than being bounded by them. (Kotler and
Armstrong, 2018)

11
6.0 Significance of interrelationship between marketing and
other functional units of an organisation
Marketing has to take into consideration and work together with all the other units
of an organisation; namely finance, research and development, purchasing, human
resource, information technology, production and accounting, when designing
marketing plans, so as to understand customer needs and create customer value.
(Kotler and Armstrong, 2018)
Marketing and Finance
The growth and profits of a company depends on finance and marketing, while
finance department is concerned with all financial aspects such as profits, costs,
sales growth, financial performance at year end and ensuring that the business is
not at a loss; marketing is concerned with sales targets, sales volume in
comparison to competitors, advertising and publicity. The marketing function
works together with the finance department to price products and services in such
a way that; they are accepted by customers along with making profits for the
organisation. The financing department also analyses and funds the activities of
the marketing department such as market research, advertising and other
promotional activities. (Say, 2018)
Marketing and Research and Development (R&D)
The R&D function of a business is closely related to the efforts of marketing to
develop successful products and services that satisfy changing customer needs
and wants. The departments work together to combine the customer insights
identified through market research and product designs/innovations developed by
R&D during the entire product development process. (Wind, 1981) Ignoring the
links between R&D and marketing results in companies developing products that
are the engineer’s dream and the marketer’s nightmare.
Marketing and Production
Production capacities determine the number and type of products that can be
marketed and simultaneously a more accurate prediction of demand/sales forecast
for each product and product line through market research is essential for efficient
production operations. (Wind, 1981) Information provided through market research
help ensure that products that come off the end of the production line meet
consumer’s requirements. (Say, 2018)

12
Marketing and Human Resource (HR)
The HR department is concerned with the hiring, training and management of
appropriate marketing employees/staff. Hence marketing must collaborate with HR
to develop job descriptions, screen candidates and design training programs and
incentive systems. This would eventually help the marketing department have a
strong and productive team. (Wind, 1981)
Marketing and Information Technology (IT)
The IT department helps marketing in terms of website development and
ecommerce, database development and customer relationship management
(CRM), marketing automation and triggers, product enhancement and data
analysis. Marketing requires IT resources in order to successfully identify
customers and their interaction with a company’s product/service. (Heller, 2016)
Internet marketing using online advertising methods are more accurate ways than
traditional marketing in terms of finding target audiences, discovering their needs
and building a marketing campaign to persuade them to buy.
7.0 Critical analysis of how the key elements of the marketing
function interrelates with other functional units of an
organisation
Ideally, in order to successfully create customer value, the different functions and
departments of an organisation should work together in harmony. However in
reality interdepartmental relations are full of conflicts and misunderstandings. The
attempt made by marketing to take the customer’s point of view and improve overall
customer satisfaction can cause other departments to do poorer jobs in their terms.
(Kotler and Armstrong, 2018) For instance the marketing department may blame
their failures on the finance unit for not providing sufficient funds while the finance
department may accuse marketing’s inability to meet targets regarding demand
stimulation as the reason for declining revenue. A solution to this is may be the
integration of the two departments, which would boost productivity and bring about
similarities in their objectives as well as result in the financial department
considering marketing costs as an investment rather than a burden. (Naeem, 2014)
Conflicts may also arise between the production and marketing department; the