Marketing Performance
Essay by s.zesch • March 27, 2012 • Essay • 420 Words (2 Pages) • 1,328 Views
1. Does marketing matter?
Does marketing matter? I know that the answer to
this question would certainly differ if the respondent
headed up a firm's marketing department or
the finance department. One of my Executive MBA
students (a finance person, naturally!) recently
asked, ''How can I know, I mean really know, that
a dollar spent on marketing is going to pay off?'' At
first, I gave a flip reply: ''How do you know, really
know, that a dollar spent on human resources is
going to pay off?'' Snark may be satisfying, but it
is not enlightening, and the student was quite serious
in this inquiry. To explore further, I asked the
class to discuss the issue in light of their own experiences.
The impact of marketing on firm performance
was unclear to many and dismissed by some;
suffice it to say, I did not go home that night feeling
affirmed as a marketer. Having played out repeatedly
in my head over the past several months, it is
fortuitous that recently there has been a wealth of
research in the marketing literature to address this
fundamental question.
In the introduction to a special issue of Journal of
Marketing titled ''Linking Marketing to Financial
Performance and Firm Value,'' editor Don Lehmann
(2004) said that if marketing wants ''a seat at the
table'' in important business decisions, it must be
able to demonstrate that marketing actions affect
financial outcomes. Since this special issue was first
published, it seems as if marketing researchers
have---to borrow a theme from the 2008 presidential
election---been reaching across the aisle to their
colleagues in finance to say ''Yes, marketing does
matter.'' The extreme stock market volatility of
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