Helping R&D and marketing get along
Relationships between a company’s R&D and marketing departments aren’t always cordial — but they can be improved, according to a new article.
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Relationships between a company’s R&D and marketing departments aren’t always cordial. According to a survey conducted by Philip Kotler, Robert C. Wolcott and Suj Chandrasekhar, only 34% of mid-level managers describe the relationship between their company’s R&D & marketing departments as collegial.
The researchers describe their findings in their article “Playing Well With Others,” which is part of the new edition of Business Insight, a collaboration between MIT Sloan Management Review and The Wall Street Journal.
What are the complaints? Among other things, Kotler, Wolcott and Chandrasekhar found that R&D employees complained about poor data from marketing, while marketing folks felt the R&D people did not include them in the early stages of product development. To address the problem, the authors suggest a number of approaches:
- Make sure people understand each department’s value — and how they complement one another.
- Prevent one group or the other from dominating the company’s new product development process.
- Develop a common language for both groups to use.
- Avoid having people stay strictly in their silos.
- And, finally, stay focused on the customer.
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