Marketing Function Roles and Responsibilities Report (Unit 2)

This report, prepared by a student for a BTEC HND in Business, Unit 2 Marketing Essentials, analyzes the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within an organization. The report begins by defining marketing concepts and explores the impact of the external environment, including micro and macro factors, on marketing activities. It then delves into the role and responsibilities of marketing, including understanding the market and customer needs, designing customer-driven marketing strategies, and preparing an integrated marketing plan. The report also examines the interrelationship between marketing and other functional units within a business, highlighting the importance of marketing in the broader organizational context. The student utilizes various marketing definitions, frameworks like the marketing mix, and real-world examples to support the analysis. The assignment showcases a solid understanding of marketing principles and their practical application in a business setting. The report aims to persuade the Board of Directors about the importance of the marketing function.

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ASSIGNMENT 1 FRONT SHEET
Grading grid
Qualification BTEC Level 4 HND Diploma in Business
Unit number and title Unit 2 Marketing Essentials
Submission date 18th Mar 2020 Date Received 1st submission 18th Mar 2020
Re-submission Date Date Received 2nd submission
Student Name NGUYEN NHUT HAO Student ID BSAF190022
Class BSBF20011 Assessor name TRAN THANH BICH TRA
Student declaration
I certify that the assignment submission is entirely my own work and I fully understand the consequences of plagiarism. I understand
that making a false declaration is a form of malpractice.
Student’s signature HAO
P1 P2 M1 M2 D1
Achieved Achieved Achieved Achieved Unachieved

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 Nominative Feedback:  Resubmission Feedback:
The assignment has fully achieved all necessary requirements, demonstrating the student’s understanding of the
topic and relevant key concepts and theories.
Assignment’s advantages and disadvantages
- The key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function are well defined (P1)
- Roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context have been demonstrated,
including the impact of micro and macro environment, the role and function of internal departments and their
interrelationship with marketing (P2)
- The roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing environment are demonstrated in
detail (M1)
- The significant interrelationship between marketing and other functional units are well analysed (M2)
- The student has shown his further individual analysis of the topic, which is a plus.
- The paper is well structured, well contented, showing good writing and research skill.
- Reference list is fully equivalent to Harvard Reference System.
- A bit less in-text citation as well as resources.
- Hard-to-read sentences at some points: complex sentences make reader difficult to understand what an author
want to express
It would be improved if:
- Reference sources need adding more to increase conviction.
- Split the complex sentences using suitable punctuation to over come hard-to-read errors.
- The student is encouraged to complete D1 criteria.
Grade: MERIT Assessor Signature: TRATTB Date: 07 th April 2020
Internal Verifier’s Comments:
Signature & Date:

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Contents
Task 1. Explan the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing funtion: ........................................................ 4
1) Marketing concepts: ........................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Definitions: .................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Nature of marketing: .................................................................................................................................... 5
1.3 The marketing orientation development: ................................................................................................... 5
2) External environment impacts upon marketing activity: ............................................................................... 6
2.1 Micro factor: ................................................................................................................................................. 6
2.2 Macro factors: ............................................................................................................................................... 6
3) The role and responsibility of marketing: ........................................................................................................ 7
Task 2. Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context:......... 9
1) Marketing as a business function: ..................................................................................................................... 9
2) The different roles of business units and the interrelationships between these functional units and
marketing: ............................................................................................................................................................. 12
2.1 The role of business units: .......................................................................................................................... 12
2.2 The interrelationship between marketing function and other functional units of a business: ............ 12
References .................................................................................................................................................................. 15

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Introduction
I am the Head of Marketing Department of Company X. Because my company is in a downturn situation
and facing many difficulties. Hence, the Board of Director have been trying to cut down the costs as much
as they can. One of their decisions is to cut down the expense as well as human resources for Marketing
function as they think it’s not as important as the other functions in their business. Therefore, a meeting is
held next week to finalise this decision. So as the Head of Marketing Department, I will prepare a report,
which clarify the important role of Marketing function and its relationships with other functions of the
company, in order to persuade the BOD to change their decision.
Task 1. Explan the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing funtion:
1) Marketing concepts:
(Phuong Thao, 2018)
1.1 Definitions:
There are many marketing definitions by different organizations:
Marketing is the management process which identifies, anticipates, and supplies custmer
requirements efficiently and profitably (UK Chartered Institute of Marketing).
Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, pro-motion and
distribution of ideas, good and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and organisational
objectives (American Marketing Association 2004).
Commented [D1]:Vocab: “explain”, “function”
P1, achieved!

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As from two defined concepts, marketing is the process of creating strategies from market research
to creating the necessary products and then marketing products to customers in terms of information, price,
quality and origin to meet customer needs in order to profit the company and promote the brand.
1.2 Nature of marketing:
Today in the business sector is facing many difficulties, so for the company to survive long, we
must research the market, customers, find new directions for businesses to come up with marketing
strategies suitable to make a profit for the company.
1.3 The marketing orientation development:
Production orientation: In the nineteenth century, people would buy everything as long as
they were cheap, they did not care about the quality because the demand for their goods was greater than
the supply of the business because manual production took too long to create product. When the steam
engine was born, it helped businesses create more products and was one-tenth cheaper than previous
manual products.
Product orientation: Each person has different product needs, so manufacturers will create a
product that can meet all those needs but requires customers to pay a lot of money for the product, it
included features that customers do not need.
Sales orientation: Mass production will lead to oversupply, so the product will be in stock to
be able to solve this problem, the business needed a sales consultant to convince customers to buy the
product by all means.
Marketing orientation: At this stage, customers became too smart to know what they need so
that the business cannot sell without any control. Therefore, businesses created a marketing department to
understand customer needs, created relationships with customers to be able to sell products to customers
in the long run.
Societal marketing orientation: Businesses was not only interested in selling products to meet
the needs of customers but also about the social benefits such as environmental protection, propaganda
and protection of rare animals. For example, Coffee House used paper straws instead of plastic straws.
Sustainable marketing concept: Currently, marketing has met the needs of customers, in the
future if marketing wants to thrive, it needs to focus more on market research, customers because customer
needs will change over time. In addition, we need to make marketing plans more and more diverse to suit
different types of customers. In particular, we need to create and maintain a long-term relationship with our
customers, turning them into potential customers because we need quality customers that is potential
Commented [D2]:..to bring profit to the company…
Commented [D3]:Rewrite the sentence for better
understanding

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customers, they will buy products in quantity big instead of having many customers but products selling
less.
2) External environment impacts upon marketing activity:
The influence of these factors will be clarified by the following analysis:
2.1 Micro factor:
It includes the company, supplier, marketing intermediaries, customers, competitors and
publics.
The company: If the company needs to create a product that is reasonably priced and
affordable to the environment, then they will need a marketing and marketing department that will
research the market, trends and customer needs, and then create devise a sensible marketing plan
and it will coordinate with other parts of the company such as finance and design, to unify the
creation of affordable products and nice designs.
Supplier: After researching the market, the marketing department will find suppliers of good
quality raw materials, prices suitable for the company's finances and maintain relationships with
suppliers for a long time.
Marketing intermediaries include: reseller, physical distribution firms, marketing servives
agencies, financial intermediaries. It makes marketing more convenient for branding by the media,
wholesale and retail stores, it has a warehouse to store products for distribution everywhere. In
addition, support to borrow money to overcome difficulties in business.
Customers: It helps marketing classify customers, understand their needs and then create
different marketing plans to gain more profit.
Competitors: Competitors help marketing be more creative about their marketing plans,
finding strengths and weaknesses for long-term development.
Publics: Businesses must pay attention to the benefits of the public.
2.2 Macro factors:
It includes: Demographic forces, economic foces, natural forces, techlogical forces, political
forces, cultural forces.
Demographic forces: population, age, education level.... It affects the growth of businesses,
For example, when the population grows rapidly, businesses will lack the products they provide to
customers.
Commented [D4]:Too many “and” → split the sentence
Commented [D5]:No capitalization after a comma

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Economic foces: It affects the purchasing power of customers, for example when they are
unemployed, they will not need to buy many products.
Natural forces: The bad weather can affect agriculture, but people based on the weather to
create products that are both adaptive and profitable. For example, the climate in Vietnam is suitable
for growing rice, which not only meets the food needs of the Vietnamese but is also beneficial to be
exported to countries that cannot grow rice but need to use it.
Techlogical forces: Technology helps businesses grow. For example, a robot that can replace
5 people to get the job done.
Political forces: Business compliance with the law.
Cultural forces: Business must be culturally appropriate, there are some products that will
not be sold in some countries. For examle, In India, according to their culture, they will not eat pork
so if they want to trade pork it is not profitable.
3) The role and responsibility of marketing:
Firstly, understand the market place and customer needs:
Market: The market is a meeting place between buyers and sellers, they carry out the
process of exchanging goods with money. This is where businesses can capture the trends of their customers,
know their wants, needs and update new things to be able to create better products.
Customer needs: include three types:
Need: Need are products that meet the daily needs of people such as clothes, shoes, foods
and drinks. People always try to meet these minimum needs to support their lives.
Want: It is completely different from needs, it is product specific but it is not really
necessary. For example, a customer just needs to buy samsung A30 phone to meet their needs but they
choose to buy samsung A50 phone as they want because of its quality, beauty and functionality.
Demand: It is aggressive wish that people would fight for it. For example, customers want
to buy a Mer car but do not have enough money and they will work to earn enough money or other conditions
to buy this car in the future.
Secondly, design a customer driven marketing strategy:
Commented [D6]:Checked!

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After capturing the market as well as the needs of customers, the marketing department will
design a business strategy, they will have several methods of marketing: marketing through communication
or direct marketing with customers. They will have some questions, if the product is sold to children, what
is the marketing strategy? How can children be attracted to the products? If the product is sold to an older
person, should there be too much information on the product packaging? If products are sold to young
people, what trends are needed to attract them? From those questions, the marketing department will create
the right marketing strategy.
Thirdly, prepare an integrated MKT plan and program:
Marketing mix: The marketing mix is a tool for considering the different elements that go into
promoting a brand and its products. It offers broad guidelines for putting the right products in the right place,
at the right time and price. Originally comprised of 4 key categories known as The 4 P’s (product, place,
price and promotion), it lays out the foundation needed for marketers to determine a brand’s place within
the market, and build out the best marketing strategies from there (Sam Ernet-Jones, June 10, 2019)
Marketing strategy: Marketing strategy (IMC - Integrated Marketing Communications) is a
combination of closely linked communication activities, aimed at providing a clear, consistent and
convincing message about an organization and its products to customers. Integrated marketing is a tool to
carry out the communication function of Promotion (mixed promotion), an important component of the 4P
Marketing model, to meet customer needs (Phuong Thao, 2018)
Fourthly, building customer relationships:
Customers are always the top concern of businesses, businesses can develop long-term in part
based on customers. Therefore, creating relationships with customers is a really necessary task for
businesses and market departments to perform this task. They learn the needs of customers and then give
advice to customers enthusiastically, happily and sincerely, they make customers feel the interest of the
business for customers, gradually making customers feel satisfied, trust in the business and will become
potential customers of the business. Business will grow if there are many potential customers, we are not
only concerned about sales but also about customer satisfaction with the product by calling them. In some
business situations, it can take a long time to sell a product, the first thing marketing needs to do is to
understand and create relationships with customers. For example, the company A is working in real estate
business, customer B needs to buy a house for his son because after getting married, the son wants to be

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settled down on his own. So what is the best way to promote the product in this case? First of all, we need
to understand the psychology of customers, almost mothers want to live with their children because of the
love and happiness of her son so she is forced to follow his son's wishes. Therefore, we need to understand
her psychology, if we enthusiastically advise her product, she will be sad because she really wants to live
with her son, so we should listen to understand her thoughts and then explain to her about this problem. On
the one hand to help her not to be sad about her son's decision to buy a house, on the other hand to help the
company not lose customers, it may take a long time to advise clients but it is really necessary.
Finally, capturing values from customers:
Enterprises need to create appropriate quality products, many benefits consistent with the
amount of money customers spend to buy products to demonstrate the value of customers through the
product.
Task 2. Explain how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational
context:
1) Marketing as a business function:
Commented [D7]:P2, achieved!

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(Kotle, 2003)

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We can see that marketing is increasingly asserting its role with businesses through the
change in the image above. Model a: marketing accounts for an equal proportion of other functions
in the business. Model b: Marketing accounts for a larger proportion of the other three functions.
Model c: the business focuses on marketing. Model d: the business decided to be customer-centric
as a goal to develop the company. Model e: Businesses not only choose customers as development
goals, but aslo they choose marketing with the mission to understand needs, wants, create
relationships with customers and combine with other business functions to create products that meet
customer needs and make a profit to help the company grow for the long term.
When marketing appears as a business function, its position relative to the remaining
functions is similar to that we can see in model A of the functions in which marketing is divided into
4 equal parts because at this time marketing has just appeared, businesses only need to advertise to
sell products but over time the business market has changed a lot, this time marketing has proven to
the business that it not only plays an advertising role but also understands the market to adapt to help
it grow. Therefore, its position relative to the remaining functions occupies a larger proportion as we
can see in model B. Not stopping there, it has gradually risen to affirm the really important role for
businesses expressed by the C model businesses have chosen to market as the center for their
development. Coming to model D, many people wonder if the role of marketing is really important
for businesses, why in this model businesses choose customers as the development center instead of
marketing? The answer is as follows: customers' needs and wants can be changed at any time, so in
addition to understanding the environment as mentioned, customer factors are also important,
businesses will gain a lot of profits because they sell products to meet customers' needs, businesses
choose customers as growth targets but not so the role of marketing at this time becomes
insignificant. The purpose of the business is to change development trends when customer-centered
and marketing still plays an important role compared to the business, these two elements exist in
parallel and we can see in model E. This last model shows us that marketing has once again affirmed
its important role in business, it is still central to the growth of the business and help the business
understand all the wants and needs of its customers and coordinate with the remaining functions to
help the business grow. In summary, through this chart, we can realize that marketing has changed
significantly to affirm its important role for businesses. Commented [D8]:Good analysis!

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For me, I think that model E will suit the current business situation. Because today, the
needs and desires of customers are always changing, which will make it difficult for businesses to
grow, so businesses choose customers as development goals really reasonable, moreover, businesses
choose marketing to interact with customers because of their nature, roles and responsibilities, their
needs, desires, creating relationships with customers and responding to what they need. In addition,
the remaining functions will coordinate with marketing to create products according to customer
requirements, grasp the understanding of external factors and coordinate with the operation of
internal parts to create close coordination. Therefore, this business model will be increasingly
developed.
2) The different roles of business units and the interrelationships between these functional units
and marketing:
2.1 The role of business units:
Board of Directors: manage all other parts of the company, have a task to outline the
development direction for the company, set goals, regulations and rules for the company to follow
and all activities in the company are approved by the director.
Sales department: This department is responsible for contacting customers, consulting,
recommending, persuading customers to buy products, meeting their needs and bringing profits to
the company.
Financial department: manage all the company's capital, have task of monitoring cash flow,
Payment and tracking of corporate financial activities. For example, when the company needs to buy
2 tons of flour to produce cakes, the finance department is responsible for paying this bill. Every
month this department will have a summary of the criteria for revenue and expenditure for directors.
Customer Service department: It helps answer product information for customers, support,
collect feedbacks from customers, and especially in order to create and maintain loyal customer
relationship for the company.
Human Resource department: It manages all personnel, providing personnel for all activities of
the company. In addition, they will recruite, train and development a skilled labour forces for the
company.
2.2 The interrelationship between marketing function and other functional units of a business:
Commented [D9]:Good!
Commented [D10]:P2, achieved!

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Marketing and director: Marketing is responsible for creating marketing strategies that are then
presented to the director and approved by the director. In addition, the marketing department would
advise the director on development orientation, market trends, customer access plans and effective
marketing strategies.
Marketing and sales: Sales is the part of direct contact with customers to capture the needs of
customers and sales will provide customer information to the marketing department. After that, the
marketing department can then adjust its plans and create new marketing strategies to fit the needs
of the market and customers.
Marketing and financial: The finance department is responsible for sponsoring marketing
activities but the marketing needs a specific plan presented to the finance department, then if the
plan is suitable with the company's capital then the finance department will provide money for
marketing activities.
Marketing and customer service: Marketing will provide product information to customer
service to help customers understand the product when they want to buy products, help businesses
get more customers.
Marketing and human resource: Human Resources is responsible for providing personnel for
marketing activities, recruitment and training of personnel, the human resources department will
find personnel for the marketing plan according to the marketing department's personnel description
that makes the marketing plan successful. For example, the marketing department needs ielts 6.5 for
the company's upcoming plan, the human resources department will be responsible for recruiting
personnel according to the set goals.
The correlation between marketing and human resource is the most important. As we can see
customers are becoming more and more intelligent and fastidious in choosing products. Therefore,
marketing must continually update customers' new trends, needs and wants to create different
marketing plans. Marketing can communicate information to customers through advertising, news,
etc, but the problem is we don't know whether our customers are really satisfied with the product or
not so therefore, the solution to this problem is the direct marketing strategy with customers, such a
strategy requires a lot of activities and human resources to support this marketing activity. For this
marketing to be successful, this department needs dynamic, fun, sociable employees and if the
customer is a foreigner, they need good foreign language communication staff. The HR department
will then help the marketing team find the person they want to complete the marketing strategy. In
Commented [D11]:Checked!
Commented [D12]:Incorrect combination of words.

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a nutshell, this relationship is really necessary and important for a business, one side proposes the
idea and the other provides personnel to complete the idea, both of which create close relationships.
Human resources are also a factor in creating a business so the combination of marketing and human
resources is extremely reasonable and creative for the ultimate goal of helping businesses grow.
Conclusion
In summary, marketing plays an important role in business, marketing is not only advertising, but also has
many different roles to support other units in the business. It will create relationships with customers and
bring more customers to the business, constantly updating market trends and customers to be able to create
products suitable for the times to help businesses grow strong and lasting.
From the above analysis, as the Head of Marketing Department, I recommend that it should not be cut down
the expense as well as hurman resource of marketing department. We will find another way to help the
company out of recession and hardship.
Commented [D13]:…in the company.
Commented [D14]:Vocab, “human”
Commented [D15]:Well done!

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References
UK Chartered Institute of Marketing (n.d), Marketing definition, Reprinted by permission of Pearson
Education Inc, Upper Saddle River, NJ
American Marketing Association (2004), Marketing definition, Reprinted by permission of Pearson
Education Inc, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Kotler.P, 2003, Marketing Management, 11th end, 2003. Reprinted by permission of Person Education
Inc, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Phuong Thao (Mar 21, 2018), marketing la gi? 9 dac diem co ban ve marketing ban nen biet, viewed March
5, 2020, from https://marketingai.admicro.vn/marketing-la-gi/
Sam Ernet-Jones (June 10, 2019), What is the marketing mix and how can you use it? Viewed March 8,
2020 from https://blog.globalwebindex.com/marketing/marketing-mix
Phuong Thao (Mar 20, 2018) Marketing tich hop la gi? Nhung dieu can biet ve marketing tich hop, viewed
March 8, 2020 from https://marketingai.admicro.vn/nhung-dieu-can-biet-marketing-tich-hop/
Commented [D16]:…are fully complied with Harvard
Reference system.
A little less sources.
Commented [D17]:Doubled!