Spanning Silos: The New CMO Imperative
By (Author) David A. Aaker
Harvard Business Review Press
Harvard Business Review Press
20th October 2008
United States
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
658.8
Hardback
217
Width 165mm, Height 241mm
510g
Powerful product, country, and functional silos are jeopardizing companies' marketing efforts. Because of silos, firms misallocate resources, send inconsistent messages to the marketplace, and fail to leverage scale economies and successes--all of which can threaten a company's survival.
As David Aaker shows in Spanning Silos, the unfettered decentralization that produces silos is no longer feasible in today's marketplace. It's up to chief marketing officers to break down silo walls to foster cooperation and synergy.
This isn't easy: silo teams guard their autonomy vigorously. As proof of their power, consider the fact that the average CMO tenure is just twenty-three months. How to proceed Drawing on interviews with CMOs, Aaker explains how to:
Strength your credibility with silo teams and your CEO
Use cross-functional teams and other strategic linking devices
Foster communication across silos
Select the right CMO role-- from facilitator to strategic captain
Develop common planning processes
Adapt your brand strategy to silo units
Allocate marketing dollars strategically across silos
Develop silo-spanning marketing programs
In this age of dynamic markets, new media, and globalization, getting the different parts of your organization to collaborate is more critical--and more difficult--than ever. This book gives you the road map you need to accomplish that feat.
David A. Aaker is Vice-Chairman of Prophet, a marketing consultancy, and has published more that one hundred articles and thirteen books, including Brand Portfolio Strategy, and Brand Leadership.