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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/eb008102. When citing the article, please cite: Ronald D. Michman, (1984), “LINKING FUTURISTICS WITH MARKETING PLANNING, FORECASTING, AND STRATEGY”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 1 Iss: 3, pp. 17 - 23.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/EUM0000000002740. When citing the article, please cite: Ronald D. Michman, (1990), “Managing Structural Changes in Marketing Channels”, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 5 Iss: 2, pp. 5 - 14.

Considers the shift of marketing functions from the perspective of the wholesaler rather than from the traditional point of view of the manufacturer or retailer. Examines the vertical integration of marketing functions by manufacturers and the use of synergistic strategies which could cause a reallocation of marketing functions among wholesalers and manufacturers. Discusses the potential new roles of the small industrial distributor in an ever‐changing marketing environment characterized by functional shiftability.

Throughout the 1960s the marketing concept was a dominant guideline that became a pervasive force within the entire organization. Strategic planning, with its emphasis on the formulation of the business mission, the identification of strategic alternatives, and contingency planning, became the direction of the 1970s. Therefore, it is surprising to find, after all this emphasis on the identification and satisfaction of customer needs and the necessity for planning and strategy, that few organizations have found a way to link future planning with marketing planning and strategy. Futuristics is the science or art of anticipating and planning for the future. In most firms, strategy is still developed for less than a threeyear period. There are only a small number of companies that have been able to link planning with the development of strategy in a time frame of more than five years. These firms have come to realize that: Business decisions have grown more complex as a result of a changing marketing environment, The only way to ensure profitability and survival is to provide an organizational structure that can develop long‐range planning.

Too often, long‐range environmental forecasting is ignored in order to cut costs. But long‐range forecasting can actually reduce costs and win new markets ahead of the competition. For example, Sears removed flammable nightwear and substituted nonflammable nightwear long before government action made this a requirement. S. C. Johnson and Sons eliminated environmentally risky fluorocarbons from its aerosol sprays three years before the government forced competing firms to comply. Both firms were able to reduce substantially their costs of compliance and avoided the criticism from public‐spirited groups that was directed toward their competitors.

A survey of Fortune 500 vice‐presidents of marketing and planning reveals their views of the business environment in 1995 along with their expected changes in corporate and marketing strategy. These perspectives can serve as a catalyst to other executives for thinking about future business environments as well as possible corporate responses to the shape of the future. Whether the predictions of the organizational managers we surveyed materialize or not, their views are worthy of careful scrutiny by any organization that takes strategic planning as a serious and important exercise in plotting a firm's future.

The article attempts to synthesise major developments in global retailing and presents a scenario of important global trends since the 1960s. Implications are also offered for international retailers.

Seeks to fill some of the gaps in the business literature regarding the consumer market in Japan. Accomplishes this through a replication of the classic 1974 work of Davis and Rigaux relating to family purchase decision making. An egalitarianism scale was included for the final analysis to allow for differences in couple perceived traditionality‐modernism. Finds that the heavily patriarchal orientation of Japan still exists with husbands exerting heavy influence in the final stage of the decision‐making process and offers suggestions for management.