Planning Cross-Functional StrategiesThe final step in the strategic planning process is planning functional strategies.1).Once the strategic plan is in place, more detailed planning must take place within eachbusiness unit.2).Each department (such as marketing, finance, et cetera) provides information for strategicplanning.Marketing plays a key role in the company’s strategic planning process by: 1). Providing a guiding philosophy.2).Providing inputs to strategic planners by helping to identify attractive marketopportunities and by assessing the firm’s potential to take advantage of them.3).Within individual business units, marketing designs strategies for reaching the unit’sobjectives.4). Marketers are challenged to find ways to get all departments to “think customer.”Strategic Planning, Implementation, and Control ProcessPlanningCorporateplanningDivisionplanningBusinessplanningProductplanningImplementationOrganizingImplementingControlMeasuringresultsDiagnosingresultsTakingcorrectiveactionThe process of developing andmaintaining a strategic fit betweenthe organization’s goals andcapabilities and its changingmarketing opportunities. It relies ondeveloping a clear companymission, supporting objectives, asound business portfolio andcoordinated functional strategies.Business plans are more customersand competitor-oriented and betterreasoned and more realistic thanthey were in the past The plan isvariously called a business plan, amarketing plan, and sometimes anoperating plan. Most marketing plans cover one year, but some cover a few years. The plansvary in their length from under ten pages to over 50 pages. Some companies take their plans veryseriously, while others see them as only a rough guide to action. The most frequently citedshortcomings of current marketing plans, according to marketing executives, are lack of realism,insufficient competitive analysis, and a short-run focus. Planning good strategy is only the start - itcounts very little if the organization fails to implement it correctly. Main reasons for the poorimplementation are isolated planning, Some organizations employ ‘professional planners’ whileothers leave the task of developing strategic plans to top management.