Total integrated marketing, Hulbert, James M. Capon, Noel Piercy, Nigel F.

Why are some companies able to focus on the important points, while others fight internal battles, obsess over trivia, and let opportunities pass them by? According to Hulbert, Capon, and Piercy, when companies succeed it is often because every single person in every department -- from Sales to Human Resources to Finance -- has one paramount goal: to win and keep customers. Many of todays companies, however, have not heeded this crucial message. When they falter, it is often due to the fact that different departments report to different executives: then short-term goals like sales drive out the long-term necessity of marketing. Despite lip service to the contrary, the marketing departments of most companies often fail to reach their most important customers. Drawing on their combined experience of three-quarters of a century advising corporations, Hulbert, Capon, and Piercy argue that marketing must be dragged out of the marketing department. Indeed, it must become the top priority of the CEO, who automatically sets the tone for the entire company.

The solution, the authors demonstrate, is to integrate the marketing imperative into every function of a corporation: finance, operations, sales, R&D, customer service, and human resources. This total marketing strategy has proven hugely successful for companies such as Intel, Canadian Pacific Hotels, Safeway, and Toyota.