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MARKETING INFORMATION A FACTOR IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING

FIRST MARKETING INFORMATION SYMPOSIUM

1st -2nd June, 2010, Imperial Royale, Hotel, Kampala ByKavuma John BoscoEconomic Analyst, NPAbokavuma@yahoo.com

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OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION

1. Description of key concepts• Marketing• Marketing information• Development planning• Development programming

2. Role of Marketing information in Development Planning

3. Conclusions

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Marketing information and related concepts

The term Marketing refers to:1. The process by which companies

determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development (Kolter P et al (2008) "Marketing defined" Principles of marketing (5th ed.)

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Marketing information and related concepts

The Management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably (Chartered Institute of Marketing)

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What we know about Marketing

A business management tool - used to: identify the customer keep the customer satisfy the customer.

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What we know about Marketing

Management process - that seeks to maximise returns to shareholders by: developing relationships with valued

customers creating a competitive advantage.

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Marketing Information defined Marketing information is distinct from

market information. Market information is provision of

facts and statistics about a certain market Physical market Price of a given commodity/service. Other aspects of a commodity/service

that are of interest to customers

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Marketing Information defined

Marketing information is process of providing relevant, accurate, reliable, valid, and current information to support marketing activities or aid marketing decisions.

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Marketing Information defined Marketing information is a process of

conducting marketing research, interpretation and communication of information for decision making.

Its difference from marketing research, which is the systematic gathering, recording and analysis of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services (American Marketing Association)

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Marketing Information defined A Marketing information System (MKIS) can

be established to electronically data enter/post, analyse, store and query the information.

MKIS defined by American Marketing Association as a set of procedures and methods for regular, planned collection, analysis and presentation of information for use in marketing decisions.

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Development Planning

Development planning is deliberate process of determining sets of strategies and actions to achieve a predetermined goal about the desired future.

It is a public policy instrument that involves basing on current situations to hypothesize about a desired future and setting strategies to assist in attaining set development goal.

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DEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROCESS

• Development planning typically attempts to answer the following questions, which determine distinctive phases of planning:1. Where are we as a country or community?

(Situational analysis phase) - prioritizing key issues about the current situation, - problems or outcomes

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DEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROCESS

2. Where do we want to be? - developing objectives and goal about a

desired future; 3. How to we get there? - developing strategies, activities and

projects; - developing budgets to achieve the

plans.

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DEVELOPMENT PLANNING PROCESS

4.How do we know that we have got there? - developing monitoring indicators

and targets

All these phases are supported by statistics and figures just as market/marketing research activities.

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ROLE OF MARKETING INFORMATION IN NATIONAL PLANNING & PROGRAMMING

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning

1. Sustain the debate on the need for development planning/ Paradigm shift.

The debate on the need for development planning has been around for decades.

Neither did the collapse of Soviet union nor end of cold war succeed to end this debate.

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning cont…

The need for planning has recently been rekindled by the ‘global economic crisis’

The argument is that planning has a role to play even under private sector–led development/ free market economy hence the concept a’ quasi market economy’.

This debate can only be sustained by evidence of good practices on performance of govt strategic interventions (economic stimuli).

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning

2. Ideological rivalries by liberalism theorists Proponents of free market

economies/liberalism still have strong views against interference with invisible forces of the market

The argument is that direct Public interventions distorts free operation of market

Thus, to counteract liberal theories and convince them to embrace developing planning in a liberalised environment requires an evidence-based social marketing strategy.

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning

3. Competition among planning instruments

Today, just as businesses must compete for survival, growth, and market space, development planning must assume a more proactive role to cope with increasing competition.

i. Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)ii. Medium Term Expenditure frameworksiii. Public Finance/Fiscal Programming systemsiv. Budget strategies (Budget framework papers)

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning Cont..

4. Volatile and erotic planning environment

Many emerging developments in internal and external environment influencing plans.

Predicting on what the future will be and what it should be is becoming more and more uncertain.

This can be addressed through proper and sustained analysis of the planning environment similar to marketing research.

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning Cont..

5. Clientele/beneficiary focus in planning. For development planning to be meaningful,

beneficiaries must be the centre of the development planning process just as customer is to a business.

Planning should be driven by needs of the clientele (beneficiaries)

Beneficiary involvements and ownership in the development process does not come automatically.

It entails systematic identification and mapping of who the beneficiaries are, where they are and what their expectations about the plan are like?

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning Cont..

6. Priority identification, setting and ranking.

Choice of development priorities must be informed by science

Beneficiaries should be convinced on the choice programmes and projects of the plan and how they will create a change in their lives.

It requires rigorous process of stakeholder identification, involvement and empowerment as well as building relationships and synergies with clientele on sustainable basis.

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning Cont..

6. Translation of plans into actions/deeds Effective implementation of policies and

strategies into actionable programmes and projects is a scientific process that requires lots of information on needs of clientele.

Implementation of programmes/projects may meet some resentments from implementers

A social marketing strategy can help to a make a plan a truly ‘household brand’.

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Role of Marketing Information to National Planning Cont..

7. Customer care notion of planning. Achieving organizational goals depends on

knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions.

Planning should therefore ideally be driven by needs of the clientele

A good plan should not only be response to customer needs, concerns and feelings but be able to satisfy.

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CONCLUSIONS For Planning agencies to be proactive to

addressing development challenges, there is a need to enhance their forecasting and predictive capacities.

Development planning is facing competition from both ideology and practice.

Marketing information is therefore, not only a factor but a key factor in national development planning and programming of development priorities.

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END

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