High versus low formality marketing planning in global industries: determinants and consequences

The competitive global market-place has made international companies increasingly aware of the need to upgrade the formality of their global strategic marketing planning systems. The objective of this research was to evaluate what factors contribute to firms' efforts to formalize their international planning systems and what benefits accrue from them. To accomplish this, 90 US global corporations were divided into high and low formality planners and analyses conducted to identify key differences in the factors contributing to planning formalization and the benefits gained from the process. The results showed that internal factors such as chief executive officer involvement and positive organizational climates were more important catalysts in planning formalization than external environmental elements. High formality planners perceived greater competitive and organizational benefits from their planning process than low formality planners.

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