Historically, organisations have developed by dividing tasks into manageable working units, with individual departments taking on specific roles. In all of this, organisations tended to fall into one of two positions... Sales orientated, and marketing orientated, where marketing orientated was essentially all about branding. One then needed to consider how best to integrate the separated functional groups. Much literature has grown out of the debate to help achieve better cross-functional and more centralised roles. Lim & Reid (1992) note that the professional responsibilities of marketers, cross many functional areas, and the achievement of marketing objectives, would be dependent on such integration. While Gummesson (1991) believed everyone within an organisation should to one extent or another be in the business of marketing to further their organisations objectives.
But what do we mean when we talk about cross-functional marketing?
…