Lin-AZ Simulation Listening Exam 03 – Level B2
Prof. Peter Cullen
Text
Spring/2015
The author’s own research has shown that, in looking into organizational behaviour
in relation to marketing planning, confusion reigns supreme – and nowhere more than
regarding the terminology of marketing. Few practicing marketers understand the real
significance of a strategic marketing plan as opposed to a tactical or operational marketing
plan.
Why should this be so? For an answer, we need to look at some of the changes that have
taken place during the past three decades. For example, the simple environment of the
1970s and the early 1980s, characterized by growth and the easy marketability of products
and services, has now been replaced by an increasingly complex and abrasive
environment, often made worse by static or declining markets. For most, the days have
gone when it was only necessary to ride the tidal wave of growth. There wasn’t the same
need for a disciplined, systemic approach to the market. A tactical, short-term approach to
marketing planning seemed to work perfectly well in such conditions. But, by failing to
grasp the importance of strategic orientation in plans that identify and develop their
distinctive competence, companies became casualties in the 1990s and continued to
become so in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The problem is really quite
simple.
Most managers prefer to sell the products they find easiest to sell to those customers who
offer the least line of resistance. By developing short-term, tactical marketing plans first
and then extrapolating them, managers merely succeed in extrapolating their own
shortcomings.
A strategic plan is a plan which covers a period beyond the next fiscal year. Usually, a
period of three to five years. A tactical plan covers in quite a lot of detail the actions to be
taken by whom during a short term planning period. This is usually one year or less.
Understanding this difference is key to successful marketing.
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Lin-AZ Simulation Listening Exam 03 – Level B2
Spring/2015
Prof. Peter Cullen
___________________________________________
Name, Date, and Registration Number
Questions: Answer all 5 of the following questions. SIMPLE AND CORRECT IS
BETTER THAN COMPLICATED AND WRONG. USE SHORT PHRASES AND
SENTENCES.
This exam requires interpretation and analysis. It is designed to test your ability to
apply what you hear to possible discussion areas.
1. What is confusing about marketing planning?
2. Why does the explanation for this confusion come from a historical perspective?
3. What is the relationship between growth eras and marketing planning confusion?
4. What is the problem of basing your marketing on a tactical plan?
5. What is the difference between a tactical plan and a strategic plan?
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Lin-AZ Simulation Listening Exam 03 – Level B2
Prof. Peter Cullen
Spring/2015
Answer Sheet
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