The Marketing/Manufacturing Interface: Strategic Issues

Abstract

Most firms separate the marketing and manufacturing functions into distinct organizational groups without fully considering the interactions and conflicts between the two functions. These interactions can have very significant costs for the firm, if they are not recognized. We discuss situations in which strategy and policy in the two areas are not synchronized. They include issues such as capacity decisions, shift policy, and location in manufacturing; price-promotion policy, forecasting and market intelligence in marketing. These topics are discussed in the context of case examples which illustrate problems that can arise when interactions are not recognized