The Job of a Fast Moving Consumer Goods Marketing Manager - Case Study Example

Table of contents 1.0 The Job of a FMCG Marketing Manager……………………………………………...…….2 2.0 Individuals or persons that the Marketing Manager interacts with…………………………..3 3.0 Principle characteristics of groups and individuals that the Marketing Manager interacts with……………………………………………………………………………………..4 4.0 Nature of interdependence………………………………………………………………….…6 5.0 Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………...7 References………………………………………………………………………………………..9 1.0 The job of a FMCG Marketing Manager In this particular assessment, the focus is on a marketing manager of a growing fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company in Australia. The names of the manager and the company remain anonymous as agreed upon by me and the company’s management. Marketing is a very vital component of any business due to the nature of the competitive markets we have today. Consumers are also changing tastes and preferences every day (Taylor and Jelen, 2006). To maintain or increase market share, companies have to employ competent and effective marketing managers. According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2009), a marketing manager is an all rounded person with the chief aim of ensuring that are companies sales volumes and revenue generation are moving in just one direction, up. To do this, there are specific responsibilities that the manager has to assume to achieve his objectives. In our case, the marketing manager is concerned with determining the demand for fast moving consumer goods product offered by the firm and its competitors and identify potential customers. This calls for technical marketing skills, an efficient marketing information system, a good team and knowledge of the company’s products. Developing and maintaining effective marketing strategies is another key responsibility of this FMCG marketing manager. According to Ferell and Hartline, (2010) this is the only way he actively ensures that the company achieves its objectives through profit maximization for the company and customer satisfaction on the other hand. It’s a tough balancing act that involves constant studying of the market. The FMCG marketing manager is required to be proactive enough to oversee product development and monitor market trends to predict future demand for new products. He also analyses possible partnerships that can increase sales for the company. In essence, he is also involved in marketing budget management to ensure maximum utilization of marketing funds in activities such as advertising. 2.0 Individuals or persons that the Marketing Manager interacts with Marketing is one field where you can not achieve the goals and objectives desired all by your own. You have to formulate a formidable team inside the company to work with and coordinate all your efforts. You have also to build essential alliances and contacts with people outside the company who you work with or who are useful in the marketing efforts of the company. It can therefore be true to say that a marketing manager is an individual who interacts with so many people on a day to day basis unlike other professionals such as finance manager. Internally, a marketing manager will most certainly interact with the CEO or top management of the company regularly. Marketing is a key function of any company; its performance is a major concern for the top management (Murphy and Willmott, 2010). He will interact with staff in the marketing department to communicate the objectives and plans set out for his team. He will also need important information from his officials that will determine the decisions he makes. The marketing manager of the FMCG regularly meets with the research and development team in the company to assess new product development activities and provide useful ideas on product improvement. He has to meet with the finance department to arrange for marketing department funding issues. Externally, the marketing manager regularly meets with retail outlet managers as they are the business customers. This way he knows of the inefficiencies that can be acted upon as far as delivery of goods is concerned. He also meets with conferences and event organizers who provide an avenue to advertise the company’s products. Logistics solution experts are important links who assist in product distribution management. The FMCG business needs constant advertisement and the manager has to interact regularly with marketing firms to devise new marketing ideas that are working in the industry. He also interacts with peers in the industry to share common experiences and work out common industry objectives like lobbying for favorable industry regulations. 3.0 Principle characteristics of groups and individuals that the Marketing Manager interacts with The principle characteristics of these groups are diverse and distinct to some level. How the internal environment impacts on the job of the marketing manager is different from how the external environment impacts. Top management This group is composed of result oriented individuals who are concerned with delivery of results by each and every department. Their position in the organizational hierarchy is above the FMCG marketing manager’s and are constantly piling pressure on the marketing manager to deliver even better results. According to Thomson (2009), top management believes progress in sales department can only be measured by growth of sales and disregard market consolidation. The mode of interaction between the top management and the marketing manager is through regular weekly meetings to analyze progress and discuss matter arising. Research and development This is a group is in the same level with the marketing department. The relationship is not of the boss-subordinate arrangement but rather a team relationship. It maybe composed of younger and older staff members to incorporate as many ideas and knowledge as possible. This group should ideally have high energy people who are keen observers to know how product improvement will benefit customers and the company as well in terms of cutting costs and improving sales (Clarke, 2004). They might have radical innovations that do not conform to the company’s position and objectives. The marketing manager has a casual relationship with this department so that ideas can flow unrestricted without fear that innovations will be discarded. Marketing department staff The marketing manager is in charge of this department. Among other things, he ensures smooth implementation of marketing strategies, plans and budgets. He does this through the support of the staff in the department. They are junior to him and generally act on orders from him. They comprise of people from different age brackets and gender. Their personality is also diverse and they have unique attitudes. As noted by Murray and Grant (2006), a marketing manager has a hard task of understanding how to bring out the best from each one of them. Retail outlets managers This group is outside the company. It is a key partner in the activities of the FMCG business. Without these outlets the business will have a hard task of reaching the consumers. Retail chain managers always want to get favorable prices and will sometime frustrate a supplier. They are not at the mercy of the not unless the supplier’s product brand is very strong. The marketing manager interacts with them regularly to ensure smooth running of operations. 4.0 Nature of interdependence Between the marketing manager and the top management A sequential interdependence exists between the marketing office and the top management as the actions of the management is vital for the course of action a marketing manager makes. Consequently the impact of the decisions made by the marketing manager affect outcome and the top management function is affected in some way by the impact (Murray and Grant, 2006). The fact that management is strictly concerned with performance means this dependency is not bad off considering the large size of the company. Between marketing manager and research and development department These two department have to coordinate their efforts if innovations and product development is to be achieved. A sequential interdependence exists as the actions of the research and development department definitely impacts on the progress made by the marketing department. It is not the best as coordination is not achieved through regular exchange of ideas Between the marketing manager and the marketing staff This is a single department with a common objective. They have to coordinate their efforts and therefore a coordination relationship of interdependence exists where the management communicates directives and motivates staff to reach them and the staff have to give their recommendations and on how better results can be achieved. This dependency ensures effectiveness and efficiency in the marketing department Between the marketing manager and the retail chain managers These are two different companies with different objectives. They perform separately but have an overall goal of ensuring profitability for both. It is a pooled interdependence that creates an almost blind, indirect interdependence on the performance of others. It does not achieve maximum efficiency as objectives of the two parties are not similar and little coordination is achieved A: Top management X: marketing manager B: Research and Development C: marketing staff D: retail outlet managers 5.0 Recommendations For maximum efficiency to be achieved the dependency between the marketing department and the top management has to be coordinated so that the management can know the challenges experienced by the marketing department and also so that the marketing department can have clearly articulated goals and support from management. The coordination dependency in the marketing department is plausible but forma relations don’t need to be done away with to ensure everybody is delivering their part towards results and objectives. It will satisfy the staff and the marketing manager as well to work in harmony A coordination relationship has to be fostered between the research and development department and the marketing manager. This way proper product development will be achieved and improvement of the existing brands as well. Even though the retail outlets and the FMCG company are two different entities, they have common objective of profitability and there have to engage regularly to know how they can improve their business and partnership. Efficiency and effectiveness can only be achieved through coordination. References Certo .S., 2011, Modern Managemnt: Concepts and Skills, Pearson Education Clarke.T., 2004, Theories of Corporate Governance, Cengage Learning Ferell.O., Hartline.D., 2010, Marketing Strategy, Cengage Learning. Hellriegel.D., Slocum.W., 2009, Organizational Behavior, Cengage Learning Murphy.J., Willmott.H., 2010, Organizational Theory and Design. Cengage Learning Murray.P., Grant.J., 2006, Contemporary Issues in Management and Organizational Behavior, Routledge Taylor I., Jelen B., 2006, Excel for Marketing Managers, Tickling Keys Inc Thomson.D., 2009, Organization in Action: Social Science Bases of Administration Theory, Transaction Publishers Read More