This framework can be particularly useful in anticipating implementation problems or barriers early on in the strategy formulation process when firms are planning market orientation strategies. Ideally, this framework should be ‘institutionalized’ in the formal planning system of the firm.
One of the most successful ways of reducing implementation problems is to make the people who will have to actually implement the plan, i.e. those whose behaviour, roles, jobs, etc. will have to change as a result of-the plan or strategy developed, create and write the plan themselves. This can create the vital ‘ownership’ which is critical to making plans and strategies actually happen in organizations.
The internal marketing activities at both a tactical and strategic level can impact upon a professional service firm’s ability to become market oriented and upon the successful implementation of plans and strategies that are designed to make a firm more market oriented. The strategic internal marketing framework is particularly useful in terms of strategic marketing and corporate planning in the case of a firm that wishes to become market oriented. Actually achieving a market orientation means that a firm is committed to being responsive throughout its organization to changes in the marketplace and business environment.
Since the evidence is that the marketplaces and business environment for professional service firms are becoming ever more complex and changing with increasing rapidity, then a commitment to a market orientation is a commitment to regular internal change within the firm. Market orientation in these terms is a form of continuous change and innovative behaviour within professional service firms. Thus strategic internal marketing as a framework for managing internal change is vital in both achieving and implementing a market orientation.