What is Marketing Planning?

Formal, Informal and Behavioral Approaches to Marketing Planning.

There is no commonly accepted definition or approach to marketing planning. This is because of a number of problems that pepper the marketing planning literature relating to the size of an organization, the market or sector in which it exists, its culture, and the human beings that work within it.
There is a huge body of research that has considered marketing planning and its models, structures and processes, theory and typologies. The only one thing that is certain is that, after considering the findings of a number of studies and as the output of many informed views, there is no common agreement on a single definition or approach to marketing planning.
After considering the marketing planning literature in depth, it was concluded that marketing planning falls into three broad categories:

• A. Formal marketing planning
• B. Informal Marketing Planning
• C. Behavioral marketing planning

By considering the array of perspectives and themes on the subject of the marketing planning process, the three aforementioned categorizes develop to form a contemporary typology of the marketing planning process that subcategorizes the marketing planning process as either formal or informal, and the marketing manager as a functional role or as an individual. See the table below for a summary of marketing planning research from 1968 until 2005.

Author(s)	Date	Medium	Subject
Wensley et al	2002 ongoing	Study	The state of marketing knowledge and skills within UK organisations.
Lancaster and Waddelow	1998	Paper	Use of learning logs as a means of marketing planning in SMEs
Hooley et al	1996	Paper	Marketing Planning in Central/Eastern Europe
Greenley and Bayus	1996	Paper	Comparison of marketing planning decision making between UK and US companies
Piercy and Morgan	1994	Paper	Behavioral problems and analytical techniques in marketing plan credibility
McKee, Varadarajan and Vassar	1990	Paper	Recommended a taxonomy of marketing planning styles.
McDonald	1989	Paper	Barriers to marketing planning
Martin	1987	Paper	Human element of marketing planning systems
Carter	1985	Paper	Learning styles and learning environment of marketers (no LSI was used).
Hooley, West and Lynch	1984	Study	Market orientation (including marketing planning)
McDonald	1984	Thesis	Marketing planning in industrial companies
Piercy and Thomas	1983	Professional Magazine	Integration of long-term strategy with short-term budgets
Greenley	1983	Paper	Marketing Planning in UK Service Companies
Greenley	1982	Paper	Marketing Planning in UK Manufacturing Companies
McDonald	1982	Paper	International Marketing Planning.
Cosse and Swan	1982	Paper	Strategic Marketing Planning by Product Managers
Hopkins	1981	Paper
Stasch and Lanktree	1980	Paper	Improving Marketing Planning
Ames	1968	Paper	Marketing Planning for Industrial Products
A Summary of Marketing Planning Research (1968 - 2005) by study

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