Essay About Likely Plan And Future Direction

Marketing Case
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As a student, you likely plan out much
in your life–where to meet for dinner, how much time to spend studying for exams, which courses to take
next semester, how to get home for winter break,
and so on. Plans enable us to figure out where we
want to go and how we might get there.
For a firm, the goal is not much different. Any company that wants to succeed (which
means any firm whatsoever) needs to plan for
a variety of contingencies, and marketing represents one of the most significant. A marketing
plan–which we defined in Chapter 2 as a written
document composed of an analysis of the current
marketing situation, opportunities and threats
for the firm, marketing objectives and strategy
specified in terms of the four Ps, action programs,
and projected or pro forma income (and other
financial) statements–enables marketing personnel and the firm as a whole to understand
their own actions, the market in which they
operate, their future direction, and the means to
obtain support for new initiatives.
Because these elements–internal activities, external environments, goals, and forms
of support–differ for every firm, the marketing
plan is different for each firm as well. However,
several guidelines apply to marketing plans in
general; this Appendix summarizes those points
and offers an annotated example.