Interrelationship between marketing and other functional areas
1
Marketing is not a standalone function; the Marketing function is involved in various
departments associated with the firm. Ultimately, every department in the firm is working
towards providing customers with a reliable, user-friendly product. Based on research with
specific journals, I have narrowed down the various department's functions and their relationship
with marketing:
Research and Development:
Research and Development is the most vital team in the firm, bringing innovation to the table.
One of the steps in R&D is researching to see if people are willing to be interested in using what
comes out to market. The data is gathered by conducting surveys, focus groups, one-on-one
interviews, etc. The bottom line is that innovation suitable for the people who can solve an
existing problem at a cost-effective rate is the challenge for development personnel (Seno et al.,
2019). One example of an effective R&D is the mobile phone industry. The biggest revolution
happened when Steve jobs from apple integrated the touch feature, music, call, maps, mail, and
internet browsing feature into the same product called iPhone 4, which solved people's problems.
Still, at the same time, he also launched iPod, which did partial features that an iPhone could do.
Due to this, iPod was not a success compared to iPhone, So It is essential to know which product
is necessary before investing in Development.
Production/ Operations/ Logistics:
Interrelationship between marketing and other functional areas
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Hereafter, research, and Development, the products get approved for mass production. This
department's functions include manufacturing, assembly, quality control, packaging, and
shipment to customers or distributors. It is the responsibility of the marketing team to conduct
campaigns for the existing product available in stock and attain orders for items that are not
currently available in stock but which are expected to be back in stock within a considerable
period. Lack of communication between the marketing team and the production/ logistics
department can cause chaos.
Human Resources:
This department is the most vital department, which is involved in recruiting the right talent,
training the skill about the company's operations, employee well-being, employee motivation,
performance management, and assisting employees on any legal aspect related to the firm.
When a marketing manager is looking for the right talent to delegate the task to an assistant, HR
helps sort raw talent from the existing database and sets up an appointment with the manager for
an interview. HR also does play a strategic role within the firm. HR does implement stringent
work culture within the firm. They advise the employees on the company's goal and mission,
communicate with firm members about intranet marketing activities, maintain social networking,
publishing newsletters. (Seno et al., 2019)
IT:
There is three division that can fall under IT: Website, Intranet, and Extranet. As a marketing
person, to conclude the right marketing product, we need to know how to collect data, process
the data, and extract out via graphical format or tabular format. Websites are objects placed on
the internet to provide self-service to customers regarding the products. The company can offer
user-friendly interactions with the users to see what is available to order. Websites help markets
Interrelationship between marketing and other functional areas
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to maintain customer relationship management. Intranet is available for internal purposes for
stakeholders and other key management personnel to view the internal metrics before the public.
Extranet services are primarily used for existing customers/ clients and organization members to
see group job postings, inventory, and stocks. (Akroush & Mahadin, 2019)
Customer service:
Customer service is the most integrated department with the marketing, Exchange process,
customer satisfaction, and marketing process; thus, customer service is involved with the
customers to facilitate the exchange process. The customer service department need not be
located at the headquarters. Big MNCs go to third-world countries like India, Bangladesh, and
Sri Lanka, where easy and cost-effective training (Akroush & Mahadin, 2019). Thereby, the
companies can provide the customers with 24 hours service without wait time. The customer
service team works with the IT team to provide hassle-free service to the customers. Customer
service can help customer inquiries reach the upper management in no time compared to oldfashioned methodologies. (Seno et al., 2019)
Finance department:
The finance department is where the money flows within the firm. Every department is asked to
perform their due diligence with the allocated budget. Even though it is easy for other
departments to quote their budget, the Marketing team always likes to spend over the budget if
they see good marketing opportunities available for their product. The marketing team is
primarily focused on sales volume, whereas the financial department focuses primarily on cash
flow, profit, and loss.
Interrelationship between marketing and other functional areas
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Marketing department is the most vital department which is interlinked with any business be it a
manufacturing facility or service-oriented sector, marketing department needs to work closely to
maintain the process flow within the firm. Right marketing members with appropriate knowledge
is necessary to sell their products to the customers, Marketing members should be aware of the
capabilities the product can perform so they can provide demonstration whenever necessary.
Marketing strategies are obtained based on raw data obtained and processed by software which is
processed by the IT department.
Reference:
Akroush, M. N., & Mahadin, B. K. (2019). An intervariable approach to customer satisfaction
and loyalty in the Internet Service Market. Internet Research, 29(4), 772–798.
https://doi.org/10.1108/intr-12-2017-0514
Berthon, P., Pitt, L., & Katsikeas, C. (1999). Marketing and technical managers. European
Journal of Marketing, 33(7/8), 772–793. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090569910274465
Seno, J. P., Pimenta, M. L., Hilletofth, P., & Eriksson, D. (2019). Cross-functional
interconnectedness as an enabler of customer value. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing,
34(4), 821–835. https://doi.org/10.1108/jbim-04-2017-0101