The marketing function is one area that still suffers from an amount
of inefficiencies, both in deployment and use of the human and $$$
capital.  This is particularly at the production end of the equation,
with a myraid of marketing and communication suppliers, and the legacy
processes used to manage these relationships.

I would be looking to 1) have the marketing value chain defined, with
specific areas of inefficiencies highlighted, and 2) best of breed
examples of ridding the chain of these inefficiencies.

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Request for Question Clarification by answerguru-ga on 17 Feb 2004 22:50 PST

Hi bobbyyau-ga,

It seems the information you are seeking could very well be
industry-specific. Perhaps you could share the industry you are
concerned with in order to obtain a better answer. Also, what types of
sources would prove most valuable to you (ie. academic studies,
journal articles, etc.)

answerguru-ga

It seems to me there are a lot of grey areas connected to a formula.
ie How much are you willing to spend in bribes to get government and
the courts to allow you a menopoly? How much do you spend on hit men
to murder your competitors? How do value the prison sentences if you
are exposed and convicted? It is nieve to suppose that the marketing
would be done with complete truth and honor.  Neil

Hi Answerguru-ga,

The google definition for a value chain is defined as 'The sequential
set of primary and support activities that an enterprise performs to
turn inputs into value-added outputs for its external customers.' The
fragmentation of the marketing value chain involves many external
partners, from new product development teams, to communication groups,
to media production groups. This function is cross industry and can be
illustrated at quite a high level as quite generic.  Both McKinsey and
BCG have a few white papers on marketing efficiencies, taking academic
theories and applying them to real world scenarios.

R