A firm's competitive strategy is implemented through the day-to-day actions taken and decisions made at the operating level of the firm. The purpose of this research was to address three questions: (1) in what areas do marketing and manufacturing groups within the same firm tend to disagree, (2) do marketing and manufacturing groups tend to support the postures traditionally associated with their departments, and (3) does use of written strategic plans and MBO linked to performance appraisal encourage a common strategic vision. Investigation of the areas of disagreement indicated that differences were firm-specific rather than representative of fundamental differences between marketing and manufacturing groups. Agreement between groups was significantly higher in those firms where marketing and manufacturing managers perceived that written strategic plans and MBO linked to performance appraisal were relied on frequently.
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