Page 3 - Harvard Business Review (November-December, 2017)

INTERACTION

In the past few years I’ve seen Most of the trouble I have seen
arguments that the CMO should around the CMO role begins with
be in charge of virtually every the company itself. If a company
aspect of the company. I still believes in a sales lead strategy, it
see that as the role of the CEO. is likely that the CMO will eventually
However, the issue of alignment have issues. But if a company is
raised in this piece is critical. truly market-driven, the CMO role is
I don’t know that it is reasonable pivotal. Success can be measured
to hold marketing accountable in a number of ways: Traction in the
for P&L in most scenarios. In marketplace, analysts’ rankings,
most B2B and consumer retail strategic partnerships, increased
business models, sales drives awareness, and thought leadership
performance far more powerfully. are all good indications of quality.
So the CMO role must be crafted In a market-driven company,
branding is absolutely essential,
to have authority, responsibility,
WHY CMOs and scope appropriate to both the along with proper competitive
industry vertical and the individual
positioning, unique value
NEVER LAST company’s distribution model. propositions, and vertically
focused go-to-market strategies.
Under the old 4 P’s model,
marketing should generally have Michael Antonucci, managing director
strong authority for promotion and market development specialist,
HBR ARTICLE BY KIMBERLY A. WHITLER AND NEIL MORGAN, across the board but will optimize EarlyStageProducts
JULY–AUGUST results when acting in concert Marketing has two very different
Something is amiss in the relationship with product and distribution roles. The first is leading the
between chief executives and their top management. Marketing should company to serve customers better
almost always have strong and
marketing officers. Four-fifths of CEOs than competitors do. The second is
say they don’t trust or are unimpressed early input on products, especially leading its communication efforts.
new-product development, on the
by their CMOs. Not surprisingly, CMOs CMOs have historically done the
have the briefest tenure in the C-suite, basis of market research (which latter. The former is a much bigger
should be powerfully informed by
and the churn can mean serious driver of sales and profits, but it
internal business disruptions. To sales). Pricing should be strongly is beyond the skills of most CMOs.
influenced by marketing in consumer
end this pattern, companies need to The result is disappointed CEOs and
understand the three main roles that goods and consumer markets; in B2B absurdly high CMO turnover. When
markets, sales will drive most large-
CMOs play: Some focus on strategy, CMOs are held accountable for
some focus on commercialization, order pricing. Marketing should profit (rather than for KPIs), they are
also strongly influence distribution,
and some do both. It’s crucial to figure better able to deliver the former.
out which type of CMO a firm needs especially when disruption of and Jim Schroer, president, Adagio on the
coordination with brick-and-mortar
and tailor the duties and success Bay; principal, EngageNextGen
metrics accordingly. outlets is required.
Terry Nugent, director, MMS
This is a great piece, one every CEO and The philosophy, function, and
practice of marketing are often
CMO should read—especially those in large
companies. I would add that sometimes you misunderstood. As a result, the role
of the CMO is misunderstood as well.
can’t discern the marketing department’s
functional boundaries simply by looking at In some cases the marketing function
INTERACT WITH US the org chart and budget distribution. A is its own worst enemy, focusing
The best way to on tactics instead of on the key
comment on any company might allocate large sums to a huge “In some cases the underlying principles—namely, value
article is on department that actually does little beyond
HBR.ORG. You can commercialization. It is imperative to know marketing function creation and value capture, which
also reach us via how much the marketing department actually happen elsewhere in the business.
E-MAIL hbr_ is its own worst Kheepe Lawrence Moremi,
letters@hbr.org influences the formation and evolution of enemy, focusing on partner, VC Capital
FACEBOOK corporate strategy. Fancy names and job
facebook.com/ titles can be deceptive; marketing will play no tactics instead of A CMO’s role and success are related
HBR strategic role if the CEO positions it merely as to the organization’s ability to invest
TWITTER twitter. a strategy interpreter fashionably seasoned on value creation in having a chief transformation
com/HarvardBiz with a graph-producing analytics team. officer and a chief technology officer.
Correspondence and value capture.”
may be edited for Po-Wei Chen, web designer, marketing and Heesun Yu, health care
space and style. branding department, Acer —KHEEPE LAWRENCE MOREMI marketing consultant

16 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017