The Best of Both Worlds

首席營銷官必須發(fā)揮總公司和業(yè)務單元的能力來徹底改造營銷功能。

CMOs need to leverage corporate and business-unit capabilities to reinvent the marketing function

By Mike Leiser

2000年營銷領導力委員會進行的一項調(diào)查中，高達95% 的被調(diào)查者預計營銷功能會集中化。5年之后，集中化的進展參差不齊，有的公司實現(xiàn)了引人注目的轉變，而更多的公司仍然還掙扎在起跑線上。

營銷集中化的吸引力在于兩個關鍵需求∶實現(xiàn)組織內(nèi)部更高的一致性；充分發(fā)揮營銷的主動性和品牌的力量。實現(xiàn)這兩個目標越來越迫在眉睫。

巨額并購案導致巨型公司的出現(xiàn)，造成公司內(nèi)角色、職責、流程和系統(tǒng)的重疊和混淆。品牌組合日益龐大、復雜，管理的難度不斷提高�？蛻魧ζ放萍捌浔澈蟮臉I(yè)務的期望也越來越高。

那么究竟是什么阻礙了營銷功能集中化的步伐呢？許多公司根本沒有評估如何通過強大的業(yè)務單元營銷力量加強公司實力來實現(xiàn)價值，而是直接匆匆踏上了集中化營銷的道路。
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集中化的關鍵是必須根據(jù)公司業(yè)務總需求來權衡公司的營銷結構，把資源部署到最需要的地方，以期實現(xiàn)品牌和業(yè)務目標。這一舉措的最終目的是什么？就是創(chuàng)造能夠服務于整個業(yè)務和所有品牌的結構。

這個過程自上而下開始。公司高管層必須向各方明示公司整體業(yè)務目的及其實施戰(zhàn)略。做到了這一點，一個集中的、放眼全公司的營銷團隊就能夠鑒別出哪些戰(zhàn)略能在各個品牌和市場中發(fā)揮最佳效果，進而執(zhí)行戰(zhàn)略并評估進展情況。

業(yè)務單元的作用同樣重要，他們必須制定各自的戰(zhàn)略和增長計劃，并將其納入到更廣泛的公司議程中去。他們還必須找出各自單元或各個品牌成長的驅動因素，確定各自單元成功的標準，制定取得成功的最佳營銷戰(zhàn)術。

總公司營銷應該超脫于紛爭之外，發(fā)揮咨詢指導作用。總公司營銷的一部分戰(zhàn)略價值體現(xiàn)在有能力客觀地在全公司創(chuàng)造機會，而這些機會往往是個體業(yè)務單元所看不到的。總公司營銷具備相當?shù)馁Y源支持公司各部門的集體合作。

正如可口可樂公司一位前營銷官所說∶“我們會從跨部門或全球的角度來深度考察客戶的需求，這很有意義，而各個業(yè)務單元不用操心這件事。但是，我們真正的價值體現(xiàn)在我們有能力協(xié)調(diào)各個業(yè)務單元，把對客戶的深入洞察應用到他們各自的業(yè)務當中去，并帶來實質性的變化。”

這是個極大挑戰(zhàn)。對營銷集中化具有影響力的人必須清楚，有形增長是一個多方面的過程，公司文化也必須有相應改變。不同的公司在重新創(chuàng)立營銷結構時采取了不同的方法。通用電氣是獲得成功的公司。

通用電氣要證明，只有公司和各個業(yè)務單元的營銷人開展合作，才能夠使雙方的最佳想法發(fā)揮效力。通用電氣并沒有強制性地在11個分散的業(yè)務單元中推行公司新的品牌總戰(zhàn)略（圍繞“發(fā)揮工作中的想像”這一主題展開），而是由總公司和兩家業(yè)務單元合作試行這個新戰(zhàn)略，然后制定了戰(zhàn)略實施指南，以保證這個戰(zhàn)略對全公司都有意義。這種合作取得了豐厚的回報∶外界對通用電氣公司的看法有了很大提升，公司的創(chuàng)新形象人氣提升了35%，業(yè)內(nèi)活躍程度提升了50%。

企業(yè)不僅認識到品牌和營銷對組織轉型的巨大影響力，還認識到要發(fā)掘這種力量，必須建立恰當?shù)慕M織結構（并由有能力的合適人員支持）。也就是說，公司要通力合作，協(xié)調(diào)、整合兩股力量—總部和各業(yè)務單元的最佳營銷團隊—建立能夠最好地支持業(yè)務模式和戰(zhàn)略的組織結構。

 (王欣紅　譯)

In 2000, an overwhelming 95 percent of respondents to a

 Marketing Leadership Council survey said they anticipated centralizing aspects of their marketing functions. Five years later, progress against this objective is spotty. While some businesses have achieved noteworthy transformations, many are still struggling to take the first steps.

The appeal of a centralized approach to marketing has its basis in two critical needs: to gain greater consistency across the organization, and to better leverage marketing"s initiatives and the power of the brand. And the pressure to achieve both is only intensifying.

Megamergers mean megaorganizations, creating overlap and confusion in roles, responsibilities, processes and systems. Brand portfolios are growing larger, more complex and more difficult to manage. Customers are increasingly demanding in their expectations of the brand and the business behind it.

So what’s holding back true progress? Many companies jumped too fast into centralized marketing without evaluating how its power could be coupled with a strong business unit marketing force to deliver value.

At issue is the need to weigh an enterprise marketing structure against the total needs of the business and identify where best to deploy resources to deliver on brand and business objectives. The end goal? Creation of a structure that serves the overall business as well as its brands.

The process begins at the top. Senior management needs to articulate to all parties the company’s overall business goals and the strategies to achieve them. With that in hand, a centralized, corporate marketing team, with its companywide perspective, can take on the challenge of identifying which strategies are best implemented across brands or markets and how to get there and evaluate progress.

The business units also have a critical role to play. They must develop a strategy and growth agenda for their individual businesses while integrating with a broader corporate agenda. They must also identify unit-or brand-specific growth drivers, determine what success looks like for the unit and find the best marketing tactics to achieve it.

Corporate marketing must take on a consultative role that keeps it above the fray. Part of the strategic value corporate marketing brings to the organization is its objectivity and ability to generate opportunities across the company that are usually blocked from the individual business units’ view. Marketing also has considerable resources to help fuel collaborative efforts.

As a former corporate marketer with Coca-Cola recalled: °∞When we came through with customer insights on a cross-unit or global basis, it was great-it was one less thing the business units had to worry about. But where we really proved ourselves was in the ability to collaborate with them to apply these insights to their specific business and make a material difference.°±