Impacts of process and behavioral planning factors on the quality of marketing plan in China

Abstract

A marketing plan involves aligning marketing goals with the organization's mission and overall goals and serves as the basis for all marketing strategies. Although there has been much academic discussion on the procedures and format for marketing planning both in China and abroad, comparatively little attention has been focused on the antecedents to and consequences of effecting marketing planning. The aim of the present study is to understand some the impacts of process and behavioral planning factors on the quality of marketing planning in China. The present study utilizes data collected from China to validate a set of scales and other critical constructs rooted and developed in the western context in order to understand not only the immediate construct itself, but also what affects its intensity as well as its effects on other variables in a integrated model of marketing planning. The work is being undertaken in four phases. Phase one concentrated on the current practice of strategic marketing planning in China. A discovery-oriented multiple-case study method was adopted. In phase two, key informants from 91 enterprises, which currently marketed their products in the China market, were recruited purposedfully from Shenzhen (Southern China), Wuhu (Central China) and Xi'an (Western China) to ensure the specificity and precision of the questionnaire and to identify that will affect the administration of questionnaire survey. In phase three, self-administered questionnaires with a covered letter were distributed in three representative regions across China in order to enhance the generalisability of the findings regarding the antecedents and consequences of marketing planning. In phase four, another round of survey interviews in the same sampled cities with an extended questionnaire were taken to test the level of government support obtained when executing the selected marketing plan. Work on the scales has demonstrated that those concepts and measurement instruments rooted and developed in the western culture cannot be simply applied into China owing to the enormous differences between East and West, although they were proved to possess some reliability as well as validity in the west. In summary, this study represents an initial step toward resolving the properties of marketing planning, its antecedents and consequences. It also highlights the importance of empirical study in this subject.