In this hard-hitting white paper, Professor Malcolm McDonald delivers a sweeping diagnosis of the current state of marketing and sales — and a strategic roadmap for their revival. Drawing on decades of academic insight and industry practice, Malcolm argues that marketing has lost its strategic seat at the boardroom table — and must reclaim it through rigour, integration, and shareholder-value focus.
This paper is a must-read for CMOs, sales leaders, and strategy teams navigating organisational change, digital transformation, and KAM evolution.
Key Issues Identified
- Marketing is misunderstood — often reduced to a tactical communication function
- Digital’s dominance is distorting priorities — strategy must come first
- Sales and marketing are dangerously siloed — hurting coordination and effectiveness
- KAM is widely misapplied — misunderstood as just “enhanced selling”
Core Themes and Arguments
- Marketing’s reputation decline: blamed for poor ROI, tactical focus, and irrelevance to board-level decisions
- Digital is essential — but it’s a delivery tool, not a substitute for customer strategy
- Sales has become more professional, but remains underutilised by poor upstream marketing planning
- Marketing and sales must be fused under unified leadership — not organised separately
- True Key Account Management (KAM) is a strategic general management role, not just consultative selling
Standout Quotes
“Doing the wrong thing more efficiently is not a formula for success — it just increases the chaos.”
“It is customers, not products, that make profits — yet most firms still don’t know whether their biggest accounts make or lose money.”
Strategic Frameworks Discussed
- Market attractiveness vs. competitive strength matrix
- Ansoff Matrix sales effort multipliers
- Box framework: matching sales efficiency to marketing strategy
Malcolm’s Call to Action
- Reintegrate sales and marketing under one accountable director
- Train KAMs to act as business generalists, not product pushers
- Refocus on strategic customer management as a board-level driver of shareholder value
Download the Full White Paper
This summary captures the key message, but the full paper is packed with charts, real-world examples, research findings and strong recommendations for organisational reform.