REDUCING CONFLICT BETWEEN MARKETING AND MANUFACTURING

The competitive strategies of an industrial firm may be jeopardized by interfunctional conflict and myopic functional-level decisions. Conflict and misunderstanding can be particularly intense between the marketing and manufacturing functions. This article presents a typology of decisions where strong potential exists for friction between marketing and manufacturing. Company examples are included to provide a degree of face validity for the frequency of such problems. Four major facilitating mechanisms suggested by past research are discussed. Finally, the potential of group decision support systems as a fifth mechanism for facilitating interfunctional cooperation and understanding is examined. Several applications of group decision support systems are presented to illustrate their promise as linking mechanisms.