Corporate Governance
Get holistic and engaging, marketing-led leadership for long-run market dominance.
What Is Corporate Governance?
‘Corporate Governance is overseeing management, control, and coordination of overt and implied needs and wants of the organisation aligned to legal, moral, industry, cultural, and political expectations of all stakeholders with whom it transacts or effects, and the resources available transparently, responsibly, and diligently so as to engage and align with clarity and purpose.’ © Leigh Cowan 2010
Strategic Marketing Governance significantly lightens the burden on board members in terms of corporate governance responsibilities and leadership.
A: Remember “marketing” is the holistic and integrated management of exchange, that includes management of product and brand, price, channels of distribution, people, processes, perception and all uncontrollable aspects of exchange (like the economy, compliance, culture, technical issues, environmental aspects, demographics and more!).
Marketing Governance is building sustainable competitive advantage harmoniously in the context of the organisation’s purpose and ethically and optimally managing business and interactions with the market within the limitations of the resources available to the organisation. © Leigh Cowan 2010
A: Good marketing governance is having the wisdom, experience, understanding, and education to acknowledge the potency and impact of embracing advanced marketing science and proven business methodology for all marketing practices. Because this requires strategic marketing qualifications and specialist know-how, operational marketing executives sometimes recruit specialist advice to ensure quality marketing governance.
A: Usually, internal executives don’t possess the breadth of commercial knowledge as they are specialists in their fields of operational expertise. This is why it is sensible to solicit advice from specialist consultants with specific training, experience, and strategic skills that complement internal operational marketing skills.
A: The measure of a good consultant is their ability to generate more profit than they cost.
If you are a leader in business, you have decades of operational experience and intuitive strategic sense. You just need advisers who have the same level of strategic experience as you have operational experience, THEN you’ll soon see the value.
A: Strategic consultants don’t stimulate sales by a few percent. They double them. They don’t change a logo and call it a huge success. They change a corporation’s performance. They don’t launch a single new product and beat their chest. They launch a whole new category and only ask that you pay your bill on time. The problem is too few executives realize how vitally enriching strategic guidance is to the future of their company.
Is Corporate Marketing Governance Essential?
What is the secret to post-IPO success? Interestingly, from 2004 to 2007, a study was undertaken that monitored the progress of companies recently listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Consistently, those that failed and are no longer in business were led by board members who lacked any formal marketing qualifications. Boards with directors possessing formal marketing qualifications showed consistent higher-than-issue share prices.
ns showed consistent higher-than-issue share prices.
Searching for 'Blue Ocean' Strategies?
Once you understand the hierarchies of marketing, the relevance of strategic marketing management starts to become clear.
Strategy leadership can engage and align virtually any organisation to meet even the toughest demands of the market, shareholders, and the environment.
Good Marketing Governance Creates Employee Engagement
Globally, only 16% of employees in companies employing over 200 people are engaged. One-third of these cite their dissatisfaction with lack of direction.
Even in Australia, only 24% of staff are engaged employees, with the majority unengaged and over 18% actively disengaged (i.e., trying to sabotage your business).
Once you embrace market-led strategic management, laying down a purposeful mission and vision, you engage your people, giving them focus, purpose, and direction.
Key Issues in Strategic Leadership and Corporate Marketing Governance
All marketing expenditure should be completely accountable. Adopting disciplined managerial marketing methods help make a company’s marketing activities much more productive and efficient.
There is no reason that most businesses shouldn’t be able to accurately forecast next year’s earnings. They should achieve the goals they set for themselves every time!
Corporate Governance Is Coming Under More Scrutiny
It is often said that ‘finance is the fuel, but marketing is the engine’. Although accounting and finance have borne the blame for corporate failure in the past, focus is now turning to marketing governance.
Best Consultants to Mentor You in Corporate Marketing Governance
Of course we’re not the only consultants available, but think about these credentials:
- You’ll have a consultant who has sat on boards of management and KNOWS what you’re going through
- You’ll have a consultant who has been a director of a public company and is experienced and seasoned
- You’ll have a consultant who has delivered successful strategic direction for businesses worth $5M to $1B+
- You’ll have a consultant with sufficient levels of knowledge to lecture in marketing at an MBA level
As investors and backers develop more mature and professional understanding of marketing, abandoning the limited perception of marketing as just promotional communications, marketing governance is becoming a key focus point.