Correspondence: David Soberman, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario E-mail: david.soberman@rotman.utoronto.ca

¹is Professor of Marketing at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from The Birla Institute of Technology, a business degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and a PhD from Duke University. His current research is oriented towards substantive topics such as firms announcing bestsellers, designing sweepstakes and purchase of extended warranties. He has published or has forthcoming articles in Marketing Science, Management Science, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Consumer Research. He won the O'Dell Award from Journal of Marketing Research and was a finalist for the John Little Award. He was also given the John Leland Bach award for teaching excellence at Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently on the Editorial Board of Marketing Letters.

²is a professor of Marketing at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Business and at INSEAD in Fontainebleau. He holds a PhD (Management) from the University of Toronto and an MBA and BSc in Chemical Engineering from Queen's University in Kingston. His teaching, research and consulting focuses are industrial marketing, consumer packaged goods marketing and retailing, with direct involvement in the beer industry, the market research industry and markets for durable goods. Professor Soberman's research consists of using applied microeconomics and game theory to analyse how the operation of markets is affected by the exchange of information between firms and customers, relationships within the distribution channel and the introduction of innovations to markets. Professor Soberman's research has appeared in Marketing Science, Management Science, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing and the California Management Review. His co-authored article in the International Journal of Research in Marketing 'The Economics of Quality-Equivalent Store Brands' was the 2006 recipient of the Best Paper Award. His co-authored article in Marketing Science 'Markets for Product Modification Information' was the 2000 recipient of the John DC Little Best Paper Award. Professor Soberman is an area editor for the International Journal of Research in Marketing and a member of the Marketing Science editorial board. Before undertaking his doctoral studies, Professor Soberman held positions in marketing management, sales and engineering with Molson Breweries, Nabisco Brands Ltd. and Imperial Oil Ltd.

Received 6 August 2009; Revised 6 August 2009; Published online 2 October 2009.

Abstract

In this article, we provide a new explanation for the poor return on marketing that seems to be a problem in many industries. The literature on errors in strategic decision making is focussed on the leaders of organizations. Yet most tactical decisions regarding marketing allocation and effort are made by brand managers, and not leaders. In this article, we explore how the context in which brand managers make decisions (time pressure, colleagues with similar skill sets and the desire to advance) can cause poor marketing performance. In particular, we show how training, the exchange of advice and the management of market research lead to decisions that are not profit-maximizing. In the corporate environment, insufficient attention is allocated to understanding how these activities affect marketing decisions; hence, our description of these activities as the 'Forgotten Side of Marketing'. We conclude by proposing a number of straightforward practices that firms can implement to better manage these activities and improve the return from marketing.