Analytical and Behavioural Elements of Marketing Planning Model – Empirical Evidence from Polish Firms

Abstract

The phenomenon of marketing planning has received considerable attention over the last decades. However, the traditional, synoptic approach predominates in the existing literature. Empirical research on behavioural aspects of marketing planning process is still scarce although there are some important theoretical achievement within the behavioural approach.

This paper aims to fill in this gap by addressing the problem of marketing planning system structure and relationships between its elements. The conceptual framework for our empirical model of firm’s marketing planning system is grounded on theoretical assumptions originated from both traditional, synoptic as well as behavioural perspectives.

Our empirical assessment, conducted in 101 large Polish companies, reveals the existence of significant correlations between analytical dimension of marketing planning (i.e. comprehensiveness, information and formalization) and its behavioural aspects (participation and attitudes). Our findings also prove that marketing planning process has impact on ultimate marketing effects (firm’s market orientation and performance). This paper contributes to the field of marketing management (particularly to its effectiveness stream) and supports the notion on manageability of both analytical and behavioural dimensions of marketing planning process.