The client

An affiliate of a large multi-national company with a European parent wanted to instil rigour, insight and strategic thinking into its plans.
 

Challenges

• Cultural differences abounded.  The European associates tended to favour a command-and-control approach, whereas the American associates were used to having more latitude for local decision-making.

• Some of the existing marketing plans topped 275 pages … which nobody read.  It required 6 to 8 months to complete, and amounted to a list of product-focused tactics.

• There were differing opinions on the role of a marketing plan:  either, an internal selling tool of optimistic sales projections, best-case cost-of-goods estimates, and the like; or, a list of initiatives and activities for the coming year.  It’s neither.
   

Solution

• One-on-one and group coaching sessions and workshops on best-practices in strategic planning.
   

Results

• Comprehensive, insightful marketing plans were completed for each key area of the business.

• A recommendation for a worldwide marketing planning process was submitted, including how the strategic priorities and direction should be cascaded from the global level to the regions and finally to the product plans.

• A detailed recommendation which also included views on the marketing department structure was presented to the parent company.