Issues and Challenges of Traditional Marketing Management Accounting : Focusing on Customer Value

This paper explains why traditional marketing management accounting systems can no longer effectively manage marketing activities. It is widely accepted that Anthony's (1965) influential framework contributed to the control of traditional marketing activities. Typically, traditional marketing management was carried out by the company hierarchy comprising upper level managers, marketing controllers, and middle managers. Anthony's management control also assumed that managers would implement marketing strategy. Therefore, it was well suited to providing guidelines or indicating norms for marketing management.
However, with a change in the underlying premise of marketing, it was widely recognized that traditional management control systems were ill-suited to the management of new forms of marketing activities. In particular, reinforcing customer value was recognized as one of the important ways in which a competitive advantage could be attained. This consensus was no longer consistent with the assumptions of traditional management control. It resulted in the phenomenon of “relevance lost.”
It has become apparent that a strong need now exists for the establishment of new management control systems for managing customers. It is also necessary to discuss what framework(s) or perspective(s) are appropriate for managing customers.