Marketing's integration with other departments

Interdepartmental integration is very much a part of a marketing department's activities, but what is meant by "integration" is not well defined. Some literature has ascribed to an interaction perspective, where meetings and documented information exchange predicate marketing's relationships among departments. Other literature has ascribed to a collaboration perspective, where teams and collective goals are prescribed. And a third group of literature has suggested that integration is a composite of interaction and collaboration. An empirical study of 514 marketing, manufacturing, and RGD managers was undertaken to investigate which one of these perspectives may be more valid for achieving performance success. Findings indicate that collaboration distinguishes successful performance and promotes marketing's satisfaction in working with other departments. Managerial and future research implications are discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.