Fonned in , The Chartered Institute of Marketing is now the largest professional marketing management body in the world with over 60, members located worldwide. Its primary objectives are focused on the development of awareness and understanding of marketing throughout UK industry and commerce and in the raising of standards of professionalism in the education, training and practice of this key business discipline. The series titles are written by CIM senior examiners and leading marketing educators for professionals, students and those studying the CIM's Certificate, Advanced Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma courses.
Now finnly established, these titles provide practical study support to CIM and other marketing students and to practitioners at all levels. Books in the series. Mi lton Park. Abillgdo tl.
New York. NY No part of lhis publication may be reproduced in any material form including photocopying or stori ng in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use o rthis publication wi thout the written permission orthe copyrigh t holder except in accordance with the provisions o f the Copyright , Designs and Patents Act or under the terms of a licence issued by th e Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W IT 4LP.
Applications for the copyrigh t holder's written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. In recent years the rise of global competition and the prevalence of continuous innovation have combined to redefine market structures, reshape industries and give customers unprece- dented value and choice. In this area of consumer sovereignty there is a tremendous amount of pressure on organizations to adopt the principles of the marketing concept and to develop a much sharper strategic focus.
For most companies, however, this strategic shift involves rad- ical changes in fundamental business processes and profound transformations in organiza- tional design and culture. To address this marketing 'fact of life' firms readily express their desire to become 'market driven' and they often demonstrate a strong determination to act 'strategically'. There is little doubt that companies are aware of the organizational challenges this entails and no claim is made that their strategic aspirations are not genuine.
