The marketing audit: Its use by South African companies

The use of marketing audits is regarded as an integral part of the strategic marketing management process. The marketing audit is a comprehensive, systematic, independent, and periodic examination of a company's marketing environment, objectives, strategies, and activities with a view to determining problem areas and opportunities and recommending a plan of action to improve the company's marketing performance. This article reports the results of a study of marketing-audit practices in listed South African companies. More than half the respondents do not use the marketing audit and their reasons for not doing this are regarded as being indicative of a lack of strategic orientation. Independent auditors are used by the majority of companies utilizing the marketing audit, and objectivity and expertise are given as the main reasons for this. Those companies using the marketing audit generally regard it as important and as an integral tool of strategic marketing management. The conclusion is drawn that if the results of this study are indicative of the South African situation, the marketing audit has not been accorded its rightful place in business.