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CHAPTER 14
Building a Marketing Plan
The following questions lie at the heart of any marketing
and strategic planning process:
Where are we now?
How did we get there?
Where are we heading?
Where would we like to be?
How do we get there?
Are we on course?
— Source: www.tutor2u.net
The questions posed above are a good way to start a class discussion on building a marketing plan. You could
talk about how a small local business would answer these questions and how a large business, such as Apple
or Lexus, might answer them. The point you want to make is that a marketing plan will help a business
understand where it is now and how it can get to where it wants to go.
Introduction
Starbucks’ marketing plan includes a mission statement to position Starbucks as “the most respected and
recognized brand of coffee in the world.” The company’s objective is to achieve sales of $12 billion by 2010. To
achieve this goal, Starbucks’ marketing plan calls for growing its U.S. distribution from 7,102 U.S. stores (in
2007) to over 10,000 stores (by 2010) and expanding aggressively in international markets.
Discuss the factors Starbucks would need to consider in a situation analysis of its market and its position in
that market. Build the discussion around market size, market growth, Starbucks’ position, the competition,
and distribution channels.
What factors should a business include in developing an index of market attractiveness and what factors
should it include in an index of competitive position? Create a subjective strategic marketing planning
portfolio using market attractiveness and competitive position, and place Starbucks in it. Then add to the
discussion the kind of strategic marketing objective Starbucks might pursue.
Discuss the main roadblocks to Starbucks’ sales objective. Explain how the roadblocks become the key issues in
developing a marketing mix strategy.
Teaching Objectives
Discuss the various benefits of a marketing plan, as well as the dangers of highly formalized marketing plans.
Present a process for developing a marketing plan that enables openness and creativity while retaining the
degree of structure needed to reconcile marketing strategies with performance objectives.
Review and illustrate each of the key steps in developing a marketing plan
Harvard Business School Case Studies
Twitter (2009). HBS Case 710455-PDF-ENG.Twitter is a micro-blogging company that enables people to
send short text messages to others. The site is used by celebrities, government officials, business people,
and the general public. A widely used communications platform, Twitter has become a venue for raising
money for nonprofits, providing first-responders with information during natural disasters, and other
purposes. Even though almost 10 million people had visited the site by early 2009, the company had no
strategy for monetizing the traffic. The case presents an opportunity for students to examine possible
monetizing strategies for Twitter.
Market-Based Management Copyright © 2012
Sixth Edition –39– Pearson Education, Inc.
Instructor’s Manual– Chapter 4 Publishing as Prentice Hall
Saturn Corp. HBS Case 90797-052. This case describes Saturn’s 1996 competitive position in the
automobile market and a marketing plan to introduce a mid-sized model under the Saturn brand name. The
marketing mix strategy for the new marketing plan is discussed along with Saturn’s small-car position.
Hurricane Island Outwater Bound School. HBS Case 9-588-019. Hurricane Island Outwater Bound, a
small nonprofit school that helped pioneer experiential education in the U.S., has recently recovered from a
financial crisis. Students assume the role of the school’s new marketing manager who is preparing his first
marketing programs by evaluating the school’s past performance and future potential. Alternately, students
may shift pricing or the course mix to generate additional marketing funds. The case explores the
appropriateness of marketing tactics relative to pricing, service mix, and managing demand in an extremely
seasonal business. Teaching Note: 5-589-049.
Mary Kay Cosmetics: Asian Market Entry. HBS Case No. 9-594-023. Executives at Mary Kay Cosmetics
are reviewing opportunities to enter the Japanese and Chinese markets. The comparative opportunities must
be assessed and guidelines for entry strategies must be determined.
Millipore Corporate Strategy. HBS Case No. 9-594-009. Millipore, with $750 million in combined sales from
its three divisions in the 1980s, grew 20 percent annually during the 1970s, but its growth rate has slowed
considerably. The company is looking for ways to reenergize the organization and redirect its strategy to
achieve a 15 percent annual growth rate for the next 10 years. Teaching Purpose: to highlight the challenges
in strategy formulation and corporate reorganization–both structure and process.
Market-Based Strategic Thinking
1. How would the process of developing a marketing plan help Stericycle achieve a higher level of
sales growth and profitability?
Like many businesses, Stericycle has limited resources and desires to invest them wisely in achieving the
highest possible return on shareholder value. In the Situation Analysis section of the Stericycle Sample
Marketing Plan (Figure 14-5, page 1.2 of the sample plan), we can see that Stericycle faces a growing
2. Why would a business like Coca-Cola with a strong market orientation do a better job of preparing
a situation analysis than a business with a poor market orientation?
With a strong market orientation at its core, Coca-Cola has an good knowledge of its customers,
competitors, and changing market conditions. This, coupled with a cross-functional team approach to
3. How could a business that does no strategic market planning and one that engages in highly
formalized strategic market planning both miss meaningful market insights?
With no marketing plan, a business is without a roadmap for the future. Marketing decisions are reactive
and unplanned, versus proactive and planned. In addition, there are no measures for success. Businesses
Market-Based Management Copyright © 2012
Sixth Edition –40– Pearson Education, Inc.
Instructor’s Manual– Chapter 4 Publishing as Prentice Hall
4. How would a company like Apple with a sound marketing planning process differ from a business
with no marketing plan in the following?
Discovering opportunities
Discovering opportunities – A business with no marketing planning process would most likely develop
Leveraging existing systems, assets, and core capabilities – A business like Apple with a sound, systematic
the process focused on their products and manufacturing capacity. Instead, they start with market conditions,
and opportunities. For Apple, specific problems identified with the iPhone were addressed with extra
specific internal (financial) and external (marketing) performance metrics are applied. Without a timeline and
periodic measurements of performance, it would not be possible to track performance and take corrective
5. Why does the first step in the strategic market planning process involve a situation analysis?
Referring to Figure 14-4, we can appreciate those aspects of a business’s current situation that must be
6. What is the role of a SWOT analysis in the strategic market planning process? What is the role of
key issues in the SWOT analysis?
A SWOT analysis is a summary of issues uncovered in the situation analysis and categorized as strengths,
7. For each product-market opportunity, how is a strategic market plan determined?
On the basis of the level of market attractiveness and competitive advantage, an appropriate portfolio
position is established for each product or market being considered in the planning process, as illustrated
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Sixth Edition –41– Pearson Education, Inc.
Instructor’s Manual– Chapter 4 Publishing as Prentice Hall
8. How does the strategic market plan for a given product-market influence the marketing mix
strategies for that product-market?
Defensive strategic market plans are going to require corresponding defensive marketing tactics to either
9. How are key performance issues identified in the SWOT analysis used in selecting a strategic
market plan and building marketing mix strategies?
The key issues represent areas that need actionable strategies. The nature of the key issues influences
10. Why is the development of a marketing budget so important to the success of the marketing plan?
Inadequately resourcing the marketing effort is a leading cause of marketing plan failure. Businesses do a
11. What are the various ways that one could develop a marketing budget for a given strategic market
plan and the supporting marketing mix strategies?
The three approaches to building a marketing budget for a market plan and its supporting marketing mix
strategy, as presented in Chapter 14 of Market-Based Management, are briefly summarized here.
defensive market strategies. Especially when products are in a mature market, the marketing budget is
customers, then all marketing and sales expenses need to be assigned to one or the other. Knowing the
per-customer cost of each allows for the development of a meaningful marketing budget that is based
cost, an overall marketing budget can be determined. For example, when McDonald’s enters a new
12. How should the resources needed to support a marketing plan be logically linked to the key issues,
the market strategy, the marketing mix strategies, and expected performance?
For each key issue, a marketing tactic needs to be developed and appropriate resources allocated to
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Sixth Edition –42– Pearson Education, Inc.
Instructor’s Manual– Chapter 4 Publishing as Prentice Hall
13. What is the purpose of the performance plan? What role should it play in the successful
implementation of a marketing plan?
It is critical in a market-based management system to establish performance benchmarks against which
progress can be measured. Financial performance metrics establish internal benchmarks, while marketing
Market-Based Management Copyright © 2012
Sixth Edition –43– Pearson Education, Inc.
Instructor’s Manual– Chapter 4 Publishing as Prentice Hall
