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The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges and marketing executive development needs of the future as revealed in surveys of senior marketing executives, chief marketing officers and CEOs of major corporations in the USA and globally.

A historical analysis of the marketing function, its importance and emerging needs was conducted.

Within this paper, the two questions of key importance that will be explored to manage marketing in tomorrow's world are as follows: what emerging trends present challenges to the marketing executive of the future? And what skills and knowledge trends and changes demand that the effective marketing executive acquire? The conclusion of this study indicate that the marketing executive of the future must have the needed skills in managing innovation and change, educating and developing leaders, understand technology, formulate and implement strategy, apply new leadership concepts, collaborate with government, anticipate social and technological advances, become more customer oriented and be more flexible.

The paper is valuable in that it highlights the challenges and needs of senior marketing executives going forward in a changing world.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the differences in organizations that choose to have a sales executive versus a marketing executive on the leadership team.

Our study examined 315 marketing and sales executives across 246 US firms taken from the S & P 1500.

Our findings suggest that the company choice of marketing or sales executive positions is driven by its customer base, branding strategy, investment in product development, and industry. The choice of executive is also associated with its firm valuation and cash flow performance.

Further research might want to examine companies that include both a sales and marketing executive as part of the leadership team and explore industry characteristics and customer base surrounding that decision.

Research has looked at the relationship between the marketing and sales functions but has rarely taken into account the performance of companies that emphasize sales and/or marketing leadership in its executive team. This paper analyzes the differences in organizations that choose among marketing versus sales executives or an executive overseeing the dual sales and marketing function.

This paper aims to explore how chief executive officers (CEOs) and C-suite marketing executives (chief marketing officers [CMOs], chief customer officers [CCOs], chief branding officers [CBOs], etc.) talk about marketing concepts to better understand how marketers can more effectively articulate their value and increase their strategic influence within the firm.

Artificial intelligence-enabled computerized text analysis was used to identify and weight keywords from 266 CEO and C-suite marketing executive interviews. Custom marketing concept dictionaries were used to gauge overall marketing focus.

The analysis revealed opportunities for C-suite marketers to align specific marketing concepts with that of CEOs for increased strategic influence. Comparisons between C-suite marketing roles showed that CMOs are more focused on marketing strategy than specialized C-suite marketing positions, such as CCO and CBO. This points to a potential decrease in strategic impact for marketing executives dependent on the specialization of their position.

Using IBM Watson’s black-box artificial intelligence may limit the ability to replicate results from the content analysis; however, the results identify important ways that marketing executives can use to increase their ability to articulate their value within the firm.

C-suite marketing executives who want to increase the strategic alignment of their role with their firm must pay close attention to the marketing concepts they talk about, and how those align with their CEO’s marketing knowledge. The creation of specialized C-suite marketing roles may unintentionally limit the strategic thinking and firm-level impact of marketers.

This paper represents the first use of artificial intelligence-enabled computerized text analysis to explore and compare executive speech acts to help increase marketing’s influence in the firm. It is also the first to explore differences in marketing concept use between C-suite marketing roles.

Reports part of the results of an investigation of marketing organization structures in the British textile industry. Looks particularly at textile engineering, wool textiles and clothing sectors through results obtained from a survey carried out among 322 companies. Determines the extent to which the marketing concept is accepted by managers and implemented within their companies. Identifies the factors associated with acceptance and implementation focusing mainly on the chief marketing executive and the organization in which he/she works.

The purpose of this study is to understand one portion of the sales ecological system. This paper focuses on the mesolevel or intra-organizational system that includes the sales and marketing functions. This paper examines distinct tensions at three levels of the firm’s hierarchy and the mechanisms used to manage the tensions.

The authors use a qualitative data collection. A discovery-oriented process is used to understand the interconnections that exist among marketing-sales dyads at three organizational levels across several firms.

This paper uncovers distinct tensions and defenses exhibited by managers at each hierarchical level and this paper presents mechanisms that can are used to reduce the tensions.

The multi-level perspective demonstrates the value of examining the intra-organizational aspect of the sales ecosystem. This paper uses a qualitative approach to highlight that sales-marketing tensions are unique to each of the hierarchical levels. This paper demonstrates that the tensions are a function of the unique roles each sales and marketing executive has within the organization.

To make the sales and marketing interface more effective, managers need to view tensions across the sales-marketing interface as complementary versus opposing forces. Managers must balance these tensions, rather than fight them and/or select one of the alternatives over the other. This paper suggests that paradoxical thinking may be a valued skillset for managers at each level of the organization.

The study uses a unique qualitative data set that examines the sales-marketing interface across three levels of an organizational hierarchy. Through this approach, this paper delineates specific tensions between marketing and sales within each level of the firm. This paper also describes mechanisms to manage the tensions common within the sales-marketing interface.

The implementation of marketing among bank executives has been late and slow. In recent years, deregulation, and resultantly, a more competitive environment have motivated the retail banking industry to be exceedingly market oriented and to implement marketing more thoroughly. This study explores the implementation of marketing by various sized Indiana banks and its relation with net income levels of banks after two succeeding deregulation waves. Implications of findings for both public policy makers and bank executives are discussed.

Reports on a survey carried out in the USA into the opinions of leading marketing managers and consumer advocates with respect to consumerism. Investigates, also the response of US business to consumerism. Offers several points to illustrate this, concluding that concepts of consumerism appear to have been institutionalized in the economic system of the USA.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the mental models of top executive team members in a selected retail bank. The focus is on how each executive team member makes sense of the market situation and changes with regard to customers and customer-bank interactions in the current situation where earlier bank practices are at risk of becoming obsolete.

All members in the executive team were interviewed individually in August 2014 on how they reason about challenges in the service business. The study uses an abductive research approach.

The mental models were largely dominated by internal bank issues, and adjusting the services to changing customer preferences was considered a main challenge. The research analysis showed that the executive team members identified the same business challenges, but their interpretations of the meanings and implications of the challenges were different. Mental models tend to be hidden and stable and are seldom explicitly elaborated. There was a distinct spread in mental models in terms of content. Limited focus was on customers as the starting point for business development and renewal.

The study was conducted in the retail banking setting, which is currently affected by many changes. The study, however, was limited to executive members in one bank.

The foremost implications of this study relate to sensitising executive members and teams to their mental models and exposing different core challenges related to customers and customer relationships in the retail banking sector.

The value of the study is it sheds light on top executives’ prospective sensemaking of current business challenges by addressing individual mental models. The study represents a novel approach in the strategic service management literature.

At the very core of Marketing Information Systems (MkIS) design is the identification of the marketing information needs of decision‐makers. Information needs can be defined as the user specifications of information characteristics involved in information seeking, and refer to those qualities of information perceived by managers to be “useful” to facilitate their decision making. Drawing on empirical results from three sets of literature and from studies of information systems design (particularly management and accounting information systems design), the authors review a framework for exploring the design of an MkIS. A qualitative study examining the information needs of senior marketing executives is also reported and discussed. The results, based on interviews with 20 senior marketing executives, indicate that marketing information needs can be defined using six information characteristics.

There are many interactive forces at work in our global economy that make it increasingly challenging for executives today to plan and prepare accurately for many dynamic business careers. Changes in demographics, economic cycles, technology, and social or political structures accentuate the challenge. To survive in a highly competitive job market, executives do well to set and achieve progressive goals in a variety of career, financial and life areas. Yet goal setting alone is not enough. Examines key interpersonal factors that contribute significantly to an executive′s career success. Provides examples of managers who have done well in their careers and who offer valuable advice to prospective career seekers. Offers concepts, suggestions, and examples to help executives to enhance their self‐marketing skills, and thus their competitive edge.