CHAPTER ONE

1: 1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Marketing plays a dominant role in the successful management of business in the world of Drucker [1973; 9] business enterprises have two basic functions, marketing and innovation. Only marketing and invocation produce results; all the rest are cost. Marketing as the only revenue generating functions; must make plan attempts to implement and control such plans to the extent that its objectives are achieved.

Developing good strategies and tactics, after analysis the marketing environment are only the beginning toward the successful managing of the marketing efforts, usually surprise occurs during the implementation of marketing department therefore must engage in marketing control system and essential in making sure that the company operate efficiency and effectively. As a plan implementation and control are related. All resource available to any business whether human or otherwise must be mobilized into a daily; monthly, yearly and even annual activities that will cause the strategic plan to work well. Management should develop its basics control process along the following step as suggested by Koontz and Weihrich [1988; 540

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-establishing standard

-measurement of performance and

-correct of deviations

Standards may be in the form of short term goal and long term objectives which should be measured against actual result and corrective action should be taken when necessary. When actual performances deviates greatly from annual plans, the corrective plans may be to adjust objectives and long term objectives which should be measured against actual result and corrective actions. Would be taken when necessary. Where actual performance deviates greatly from annual plans, the corrective action may be to adjust objectives and goals by making them realistic and attainable.

A number of techniques have been developed overtime and these are readily used in marketing management across the globe kotler[1980;640-644]broadly classified marketing control process into four categories namely;

1.                    Annual plan control; sales analysis; marketing ratio analysis; market share analysis and consumer attitude tracking.

2.                    Profitability control; consisting of effort to determining profitability of different products, territories, trade channel and consumer groups.

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3.                    Efficiency control; means determining more efficient ways of managing sales force advertising, sales promotion and distribution.

4.                    Strategies control; consists of efforts aimed at periodically examine whether a company basics strategratics marched to its opportunities.

Marketing control techniques as a component of the marketing information system must be able to provide information to management about performance. Interestingly, a good management will like to know which product sales and highest and why, whether the product is profitable; what is selling and at what cost. very often; the traditional accounting report are usually of little help to the manager ;a company account might be showing an overall profit arising from the business. Without specifying which of the centre is doing very fine and which is not?

A detailed breakdown of firm’s sales records can be very useful and informative such breakdown can update marketing executives who have been out of touch. Additionally, routine sales analysis prepared weekly; monthly or even yearly may show trend thus permitting marketing executing to check their basics assumptions about performances, [kotler1986].

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1.2       STATEMENT OF THE STUDY

The important of marketing control techniques in the efficient management of companies cannot be over stressed.

Thus in the word of Mocker [1972:2] marketing or management control is a systematic effort to set performances standard with planning objectives, to design information feedback system, to compare actual performances with those per-determined standard, to determine whether there are deviation and to measure their significance, and also to take any action necessary to ensure that all corporate resources are being used in the most effective and efficient way possible in achieving corporate objectives.

This view was also supported by Udeagha (1999:281) when he defined management control as consisting all the measures undertaken by an organization to measure performances against standard to ensure that the planned organization activities objectives and goal are achieved.

Notwithstanding the positive views; expressed by these two authors above, evidences abound that most of the companies do not apply marketing control in their day to day operations.

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This view was expressed when Kotler (1980:729) argued that in spite of the need for effective marketing control; many companies have inaugurate control procedures. He recent further to argue that many companies fall to compare them price with competition to analysis warehousing and distribution costs, to analysis the cause of returned merchandize, to conduct formal evaluation of advertising effectiveness, and to review their sales-forces reports.

The negative attitude of some companies towards the application of marketing techniques control for their operations as pointed in one of the major factors that stimulated to researcher to embark on this study. The ideas was to find out whether Enemite Limited as a roofing sheet manufacturing company based in Enugu applies the concept of marketing control in its operation and the findings of the study to make some recommendations.

1.3      OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The researcher work was embarked upon to achieve the following objective

i.                   To investigate to what extent manufacturing firm time formal plans for their activities.

ii.                 To determine whether the application of marketing control has any effect on the achievement of the corporate goals and objectives of their organization