I. CORPORATE MISSION AND OBJECTIVES

A. Does the mission statement offer a clear guide to the product-markets of interest to the firm?

B. Have objectives been established for the corporation?

C. Is information available for the review of corporate progress toward objectives, and are the reviews conducted on a regular (e.g., quarterly, monthly) basis?

D. Has corporate strategy been successful in meeting objectives?

E. Are opportunities or problems pending that may require altering marketing strategy?

F. What are the responsibilities of the chief marketing executive in corporate strategic planning?

II. BUSINESS COMPOSITION AND STRATEGIES

A. What is the composition of the business (business segments, strategic planning units, and specific product-markets)?

B. Have business strength and product-market attractiveness analyses been conducted for each planning unit? What are the results of the analyses?

C. What is the corporate strategy for each planning unit (e.g., develop, stabilize, turn around, or harvest)?

D. What objectives are assigned to each planning unit?

E. Does each unit have a strategic plan?

F. For each unit what objectives and responsibilities have been assigned to marketing?

III. MARKETING STRATEGY (FOR EACH PLANNING UNIT)

A. Strategic planning and marketing:

1. Is marketing's role and responsibility in corporate strategic planning clearly specified?

2. Are responsibility and authority for marketing strategy assigned to one executive?

3. How well is the firm's marketing strategy working?

4. Are changes likely to occur in the corporate/marketing environment that may affect the firm's marketing strategy?

5. Are there major contingencies that should be included in the strategic marketing plan?

B. Marketing planning and organizational structure:

1. Are annual and longer-range strategic marketing plans developed, and are they being used?

2. Are the responsibilities of the various units in the marketing organization clearly specified?

3. What are the strengths and limitations of the key members of the marketing organization? What is being done to develop people? What gaps in experience and capabilities exist on the marketing staff?

4. Is the organizational structure for marketing effective for implementing marketing plans?

C. Market target strategy:

1. Has each market target been clearly defined and its importance to the firm established?

2. Have demand, industry, and competition in each market target been analyzed and key trends, opportunities, and threats identified?

3. Has the proper market target strategy been adopted?

4. Should repositioning or exit from any product-market be considered?

D. Objectives:

1. Are objectives established for each market target, and are these consistent withlannin -unit objectives and the available resources? Are the objectives realistic?

2. Are sales, cost, and other performance information available for performance available for monitoring the progress of planned performance against actual result?

3. Are regular appraisals made of marketing Perfc

4. Where do gaps exist between planned and actual result? What are the probable causes of theperformance gaps?

E. Marketing program positioning strategy:

1. Does the firm have an integrated positioning strategy made up of product, channel, price, advertising, and sales force strategies? Is the role selected for each mix element consistent with the overall program objectives, and does it properly complement other mix elements?

2. Are adequate resources available to carry out the marketing program? Are resources committed to market targets according to the importance of each?

3. Are allocations to the various marketing mix components too low, too high, or about right in terms of what each is expected to accomplish?

4. Is the effectiveness of the marketing program appraised on a regular basis?

MARKETING PROGRAM ACTIVITIES

A. Product strategy

1. Is the product mix geared to the needs and preferences that the firm wants to meet in each product-market?

2. What branding strategy is being used?

3. Are products properly positioned against competing brands?

4. Does the firm have a sound approach to product planning and management, and is marketing involved in product decisions?

5. Are additions to, modifications of, or deletions from the product mix needed to make the firm more competitive in the marketplace?

6. Is the performance of each product evaluated on a regular basis?

B. Channel of distribution strategy:

1. Has the firm selected the type (conventional or vertically coordinated) and intensity of distribution appropriate for each of its product-markets?

2. How well does each channel access its market target? Is an effective channel configuration being used?

3. Are channel organizations carrying out their assigned functions properly?

45* How is the channel of distribution being managed? What improvements are needed?

5. Are desired customer service levels being reached, and are the costs of doing this acceptable?

Pricing strategy:

1. How responsive is each market target top rice variations?

2. what role and obj

3. Should price play an active or passive role in program positioning strategy?

4. How do the firm's pricing strategy and tactics compare to those of the competition?

5. Is a logical approach used to establish prices?

6. Are there indications that changes may be needed in pricing strategy or tactics?

D. Advertising and sales promotion strategies:

1. Have a role and objectives been established for advertising and sales prtising and sales promotion in the marketing mix?

2. Is the creative strategy consistent with the p that is being used?

3. Is the budget adequate to carry out the objectives assigned to advertising and sales promotion?

4. Do the media and programming strategies represent the most cost-effective means of communi-cating with market targets?

5. Do advertising copy and content effectively communicate the intended messages? 6. How well does the advertising program measure up in meeting its objectives?

E. Sales force strategy:

1. Are the role and objectives of personal selling in the marketing program positioning strategy clearly specified and understood by the sales organization?

2. Do the qualifications of salespeople correspond to their assigned roles?

3. Is the sales force of the proper size to carry out its function, and is it efficiently deployed?

4. Are sales force results in line with management's expectations?

5. Is each salesperson assigned performance targets, and are incentives offered to reward performance? 6. Are compensation levels and ranges competitive?

IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT

A. Have the causes of all performance gaps been identified?

B. Is implementation of planned actions taking place as intended? Is implementation being hampered bti marketing or other functional areas of the firm (e.g., operations, finance)

C. Has the strategic audit revealed areas requiring additional study before action is taken?