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Abstract
In emerging countries like Brazil, the economy and market scenario has changed
substantially over the past twenty years presenting new challenges to companies. Formerly
recognized as primarily an agricultural and raw material supplier, Brazil is now much more
economically diversified therefore attracting investors from many different industries and
countries according to Forbes, in its report “Best Countries For Business (2013)”. The growth
and economic changes have influenced consumer habits, driven extreme growth in industrial
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and service sectors, created recent and ongoing improvements of infrastructure and changes in
regulatory policies.
According to the report “Emerging markets at the intersection of technology and the
middle class”, from Nielsen, Brazilian consumers have become extremely savvy in their
demands increasing the need for high technology and innovative products in the region. The
business leaders, in Brazil as well as other locations, looking for ways to improve
performance while meeting customer demand and delivering value. The context of Brazil
provides evidence for business practices that improve operations in a relatively complex and
learning to “march to the beat of the same drummer” which is helping to meet the ever-
with different agents along the supply chain (Mollenkopf et al., 2000; Alam et al., 2014).
interaction with consumers, demanding joint collaboration internally and across the supply
chain (Ellinger et al., 2000; Daugherty et al., 2009). The integration between these functions
can help maintain an efficient balance between demand and supply and enhance supply chain
performance (Esper et al., 2010). Without effective integration, Marketing managers can lose
credibility with customers due to poorly performed Logistics tasks, such as late deliveries,
delivery errors and losses (Stank et al., 1999). Alternatively, logisticians often protest about
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the lack of integration, and insist that the Marketing function devotes little attention to issues
related to other functions (Swink and Song, 2007). The lack of integration between these two
functions creates internal conflict primarily because of the incongruity of goals and
misperceptions of responsibility.
Existing literature indicates that there are specific activities that generate integration,
and correlates the resulting integration with improved functional and organizational
performance (Kahn, 1996; Stank et al., 1999; Ellinger, 2000; Chimhanzi, 2004; Schramm-
Klein and Morschett, 2006, Daugherty et al., 2009; Foerstl et al., 2013; Fain and Wagner,
2014). However, the existing literature does not characterize how integration processes
a more detailed level – such as the project level – to fully understand the related managerial
challenges" (Turkulainen et al., 2012 p.9). There is a theoretical and managerial gap in
understanding the integration processes, the key elements that integrate functions and the
theoretical gap, with limited research on the inner-workings of the actual integration process.
This gap includes the fundamental elements involved in this cross-functional process. The
research is how can the processes of cross-functional integration between Marketing and
Logistics be better characterized? The ultimate goal of this research is to characterize the
managerial framework that classifies the five tenets into a process-oriented model is
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developed. Using data from in-depth case studies of five Brazilian companies, an illustration
An in-depth literature review follows and helps to set the stage and uncover the key
the methodology used to illustrate and develop the managerial framework. The paper ends
Literature review
Integration can be defined as "the quality of the state of collaboration that exists
among departments, which is necessary to work together and meet the demands of the
environment" (Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967, p.11). Initially the theory of organizations
showed functional structures organized by tasks (Galpin et al., 2007). This characteristic of
Lorsch, 1967). Such individualistic behavior is inherent to the complexity and specificity of
Employees within different functions have different behavior guidelines, or are also
influenced by values and objectives relevant to their function (Swink and Song, 2007).
Therefore, the existence of activities that need to be accomplished through the participation of
more than one function (boundary spanning activities) represents a challenge that managers
must face in order to synchronize actions and objectives between functions. Several authors
Another element, mentioned in the literature, refers to the integration factors. Several
authors mentioned the integration factors as mechanisms used to generate integration within
the various boundary spanning activities (Dawes and Massey, 2001; van Hoek et al., 2008;
Daugherty et al., 2009). Table 1 highlights several integration factors found in the literature
Integration factors are primarily formal or informal. Several authors share this view
(Ruekert and Walker, 1987; Kahn, 1996; Gimenez and Ventura, 2005, Daugherty et al.,
2009). Kahn's (1996) model separates the integration processes into collaboration and
departments, sharing visions, goals and resources (Kahn, 1996; Kahn and Mentzer, 1998).
Interaction involves the structural issues of relations between the organization's functions, i.e.,
activities and hierarchies that are formally coordinated (Kahn, 1996; Kahn and Mentzer,
1998).
Integration level refers to the intensity of the integration between functions. The
intensity is indicated by the presence or absence of certain integration factors that provide the
capability to carry out tasks, which require integration. The level of internal integration is
related to the presence of factors such as joint planning, process problem solving, goal setting
and teamwork to avoid conflicts (Gimenez, 2006; Ellegaard and Koch, 2014). Higher levels
of integration between Marketing and Logistics depend on factors such as: top management
support, information sharing, group spirit and establishment of goals common to functions
(Murphy and Poist, 1994). The level of internal integration between Marketing and Logistics
also depends on the quality of the employee's personal relationships (Topolšek and Čurin,
2012).
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The integration initiatives are motivated by the achievement of desired impacts related
to organizational performance and to its role on external integration with other companies in
the supply chain (Moorman and Rust, 1999; Krohmer et al., 2002; Flint et al., 2008;
Daugherty et al., 2009; Horn et al., 2014). When integrated, internal functions can quickly
reach a better understanding of technical and market issues as well as customer needs
(Johnson and Fillipini, 2013). Moreover, there is a synergistic effect, which facilitates the
The integration between Marketing and Logistics positively impacts the organization
as a whole: alignment between demand and supply (Esper et al. 2010), firm wide integration
(Daugherty et al., 2009), market orientation (Whybark, 1994) and external integration
reaching all of the supply chain (Gimenez, 2006; Horn et al., 2014). Some authors mention
characteristics (Lambert and Cook, 1990), avoiding delivery delays (Zacharia and Mentzer,
2007) and reducing trade-offs (Morash et al., 1996). Finally, there are impacts on Marketing:
increasing customer satisfaction level (Stank et al., 1999), increasing market share (Mentzer et
al., 2008), improving new product development performance (Fain and Wagner, 2014) and
integration, and impacts of integration. When boundary spanning activities between at least
two functions exist, it provides a lens to better characterize the activities and processes that
ensure effective managerial integration efforts. Boundary spanning activities are defined as
points of contact in which internal functions relate to each other in fulfilling business
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processes, i.e. require the participation, information or at least the opinion of other functions
organization. Formality and informality are present because of the organizational culture.
Some companies may have far more formal processes and interactions due to the high
organizations may have more informal integration, due to some cultural characteristics related
to group spirit and mutual understanding of people about each other's activities.
and appears as a consequence of the effectiveness of the integration factors. The application
of integration factors within boundary spanning activities, and the formality or informality of
represent the benefits and outcomes obtained by departments and by the firm as a whole, as
consequences of the existence of integration. An example of this might be to reduce the costs
for inventory storage and help facilitate a company wide vision that establishes levels of
represented in the literature. This effort enabled the identification of these five primary tenets
of the integration process. The next section presents the methodology used to characterize
these elements in five companies located in the rapidly developing country of Brazil.
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Methodology
systematic literature review based on peer review journals, conferences, theses, dissertations
and books was performed. Five in-depth case studies of Brazilian organizations were then
completed and managers interviewed about the integration process between Marketing and
Logistics.
Glaser and Strauss (1967) noted that the researcher, instead of seeking homogeneous
cases may instead try to maximize the differences among the cases. The researcher is then
more likely to find different elements/categories and also various semantic definitions for
these. For this reason, the Brazilian companies in five different industries were purposefully
Table 3 summarizes the main features of the five organizations covered by this
research. Information about the, sector to which the organization belongs, annual revenue,
In-depth, open ended interviews lasting approximately one hour were conducted with
38 people in the five Brazilian companies. The interviewer followed a protocol, through with
the five primary tenets of cross-functional integration discovered in the literature review were
explored. Open-ended questions were used to get information about boundary spanning
formality/informality, all integration factors found in the literature were assessed using a 5-
point scale, where respondents were instructed to choose from (1) never occurs to (5)
frequently occurs. After each selection, they were asked to briefly illustrate an example in
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their organization. The interviews were conducted and analyzed in Portuguese and then
translated into English. The interviewees’ quotes were then submitted for validation in terms
of meaning. After the first translation into English, some sentences were difficult to
understand and required rewording. The authors returned in the original transcription to check
the meaning of each sentence, one author is a native English speaker, and helped to validate
rich, in-depth data was used to illustrate the framework, determine how these elements
interact, and the relationship of the elements to one another. Characteristics of the
The interviews were recorded in audio and transcribed and subjected to content
analysis, thus allowing the researchers to compare, observe differences and categorize factors
in the text (Bauer and Gaskell, 2002). Coding was performed by the primary author but then
validated by a second author. Any differences in the coding were discussed until there was
agreement. First the authors looked at those items that were most frequently mentioned.
These items were considered in terms of how they helped to define the framework. The
coding for these is summarized in Appendix 1. This first step was followed by a review of
the data around these factors to better understand the context of how the information was
presented. The goal was to better understand the importance of these elements to both the
organization and the interviewee. Based on the recommendations of Lindgreen (2001), Bauer
and Gaskell (2002) and Bardin (2008), the steps used to perform the content analysis are
outlined in Table 5.
After the analysis of each individual case, an in-depth within case descriptive
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document was created enabling a cross-case pattern analysis. This cross-case analysis helped
the researchers to look for patterns or heterogeneity between the elements. After the coding
of the elements found in the content analysis, they were characterized semantically
considering the context. The cross-case analysis was based on comparing and contrasting
(Yin, 2005; Barratt et al., 2011) the types and meanings of the codes found in each
organization.
Case overview
The key elements obtained in the case studies as well as their respective categories and
of each organization is presented and the different tenets of integration present in each
Organization 1
Logistics is mainly necessary because of the existence of the boundary spanning activities:
development of new products, delivery to the customer, customer service planning and
demand planning. These activities are mainly integrated through informally operated
integration factors: trust, working together to resolve conflicts and group spirit.
Its level of integration is considered average, because there is trust and teamwork to
solve problems. However, there are also conflicting cross-functional objectives and a lack of
mutual understanding of activities between people of the two functions. According to the
respondents, generating integration in these specific boundary spanning tasks may produce
these impacts: image improvement of the product in the market through avoiding delivery
Organization 2
Logistics is necessary due to the boundary spanning activities: demand planning and delivery
to the customer. Within these activities, three integration factors are operationalized: a cross-
functional team named MPS (Monthly Production Schedule), adequate communication and
organization and influences other informal factors which also uphold the integration.
The level of integration is considered average, since the MPS helps in the integration
effort and in general there is strong mutual trust across functions. However, there are
conflicting goals and delays due to cross-functional problems. Respondents understand that
the existence of integration on the mentioned boundary spanning activities can generate
positive impacts such as reduced storage costs and freight and minimization of lost sales.
Organization 3
The boundary spanning activities most mentioned are: demand planning, launching of
new products and delivery to the customer. Within these activities, a cross-functional team
called Integrated Planning (IP) acts as the main integration factor, followed by mutual
understanding of activities between the people of the two functions and proper
communication. The IP characterizes formality as the predominant form of integration, and
also influences the existence of other factors informally operated, such as teamwork to resolve
conflicts.
In this company, the level of integration is considered high, due to the actions of the IP
group and the support of senior management, which stimulate integration. There are
integration problems, but they are solved in a timely manner by management. Respondents
consider that when the integration is reached in the mentioned boundary spanning activities, it
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may generate impacts such as avoiding the disruption of product supply, reducing storage and
Organization 4
There is a perception at this organization that the main boundary spanning activities
between Marketing and Logistics are: delivery to the customer, development and launching of
new products and the marketing of supplies. Within these activities, there is predominance of
which allow the deployment of strategic planning at functional levels. Besides this integration
factor, there is adequate communication and a system of assessment and mutual rewards.
The level of integration at this organization was characterized as low, in which there is
minimal integration to maintain efficiency in short-term tasks that require contact between
Marketing and Logistics. Respondents perceive that there is no team spirit and that functions
seem to be closed 'boxes'. The respondents however indicated that with integration efforts
they perceived the potential of important organizational impacts such as increased market
share, avoidance of late delivery charges, and reduced cost of storage and shipping.
Organization 5
The primary boundary spanning activities between Marketing and Logistics in this
organization are: promotion, demand planning, development and launching of new products.
Planning and a Project Management Office or PMO. The integration is operated by the figure
of the 'Demander', whose function is to adjust the forecast in the short run and coordinate the
demand chain, providing guidelines for Marketing, Sales, Production and Logistics. For new
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product projects, integration is also performed through the PMO, which is a function
responsible for project management. Between Demander and Marketing, the integration is
predominantly formal, through planning meetings, S&OP and product development. Logistics
mentioned boundary spanning activities generates impacts such as: avoid disruption of
product supply, achieve awards and organizational indicators and avoid loss of market share.
integration within each organization. A cross-case analysis was performed to better define
differences and similarities among the cases. Based on the information obtained from the case
participants and the literature review, the next section defines and describes the proposed
That incidences and the content of the qualitative interviews were used to explain how
integration occurs in the studied cases. The framework exposed in the Figure 1 synthesizes
the main characteristics used to describe the integration process between Marketing and
Logistics. Each element of the framework and the relationships between elements is explained
with a respective set of propositions that originated from qualitative data analysis. This
research considers existing theory on inter-functional integration along with empirical, case
study research to develop a process model that incorporates boundary spanning activities,
Impacts on Logistics
Boundary Spanning Activities represent those activities that require integration, i.e.
the locus where the other four elements of the framework act and react in order to provide
integration and respective impacts. These are the points of contact in which internal functions
interact to fulfill business processes. The interviewees expressed their opinion about the three
Demand planning: "Integration helps translate the Marketing and Demand forecasts
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Delivery Planning: "They must work together in order to understand the types of
vehicles needed to meet the needs of each client." (MT1); "Marketing cannot promise
Several Boundary Spanning Activities between Marketing and Logistics were found in
the studied literature: management of customer service (Rinehart et al., 1989); definition of
physical attributes to products (Coyle et al., 2003); new product development that requires
changes in the distribution network (Flint et al., 2008); and deliveries adequate to the client
expectation (Flint and Mentzer, 2000, Daugherty et al., 2009). However, the interviewees
suggested other boundary spanning activities and highlighted the connection with the other
Integration Factors
stimulate the existence of integration. These factors effectively generate integration within the
boundary spanning activities. Appendix I shows the integration factors mentioned by the
interviewees. The next section presents these factors sorted by the formality or informality of
application.
The case studies demonstrate that integration factors can be applied both formally and
informally, but some of them only presented formal implementation, others, only informal.
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These three situations were characterized according to the interviewees' perception in Table 6.
The following quotes from interviewees provide practical examples about three types
of integration factors according to the formality and informality of application. For example,
informally: "People are available to talk directly, you don't need to schedule, it facilitates
problem solving" (LM1). Cross Functional Teams are applied only formally: "The conflicts
between areas are solved by formal actions of the IP (cross-functional team) that promotes a
common perspective" (CONTM3). Alternatively, Group Spirit takes place only informally:
P1. Some factors provide integration only through formal processes, others only
through informal processes, but most can be applied both formally and informally.
The integration factors, as well as its relationship with formality and informality, were
mentioned in prior research, but not explored using deep qualitative insights while
generates common understanding of each other's tasks and problems, it facilitates a group
provided some support for the idea that the integration process is influenced by the level of
application for a large number of the integration factors found in earlier literature. The
processes are applied in the emerging business community but there are cultural differences
inherent in the application. It appears that there is more informal application and inter-
personal trust inherent in the surveyed organizations considering existing literature and data
from the cases. Characterization of the integration factors has helped to evidence a possible
relationship between the mutual existence of formality and informality and the achievement
Integration Level
their level of formality or informality influences the level of integration. This particular tenet
corresponds to the engagement intensity of one function with another function. According to
the case study data, the level of the integration is determined by the presence or absence of
certain integration factors that provide the ability to carry out the tasks requiring integration.
Three levels of integration were defined according to their intensity characteristics based on
the literature and the case data. These levels helped to define Proposition 3a, Proposition 3b
The interviewees from companies 3 and 5, noted that a high level of integration
formally established by senior management, together with team spirit, trust and other informal
elements that contribute to the integration of functions and are an apparent cultural nuance in
these organizations.
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corresponds to an organizational environment where people are very willing to help other
functions in solving conflicts and problems of conflicting objectives, but do not have large
The inverse of this situation may also exist where efforts are formalized by
management for cross-functional integration, but the willingness to interact and cooperate
between functions is reflected in the low confidence among the people who make up the
Interviewees from Company 4 perceive a low level of integration, because there are
meetings and committees, but these do not follow the authority balanced between the
also perceive a lack of both trust and group spirit, stating that the contact between the people
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from the two functions is primarily transactional and occurs to solve short-term operational
issues.
There is no need for integration, Logistics only has to deliver what I plan
to sell (MC4). Each person stays inside your own 'little box' (SOC4).
There are formal initiatives toward integration, but the departments seem
like distinct and locked 'boxes' (LA4). I do not perceive high levels of
confidence (LC4).
cross-functional meetings and committees, but these do not follow the authority balanced
between the functions, generating an isolation of interests in the decision making process.
There is perceived isolation among employees who work within the department and contact
between people of the two functions occurs mainly for the solving of short-term operational
Companies 3 and 5 presented high levels of integration and their respondents perceive
Company 4, there is a perception of a low level of integration due to the absence of informal
factors, such as trust and group spirit. Therefore, cross-functional integration levels may
increase when both formal and informal integration factors are present. Another important
finding from cross-case analysis lies upon a possible relationship between cross-functional
Prior research defined that the integration level can be influenced by the presence of
certain integration factors (Murphy and Poist, 1994; Gimenez, 2006; Topolšek and Čurin,
2012). This paper advanced this issue as it provides a form of characterization with three
integration levels: high, medium and low. These variations of intensity are characterized
according to: 1) the presence or lack of certain integration factors and 2) the mutual existence
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Integration Impacts
together as a team when the points of contact require multiple functional perspectives. The
Integration Impacts may emerge as the results of the cross-functional integration process.
From that perspective, the other four elements of the proposed framework are considered
The interviewees from the five case studies were asked to answer freely about the
primary consequences of the integration between Marketing and Logistics in the mentioned
Although this proposition was partially mentioned in the literature, several impacts,
over different functions, were identified through the interviewing process. The participants
identified eight different impacts on Logistics, six on Marketing and eleven related to the
organization as a whole, as shown in the right side of Figure 1. The following quotation
Personal motivations of employees with regard to their functional groups showed that
integration could generate a feeling of well-being among people and prevent psychological
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distress:
Another insight, derived from the cross-case analysis, is related to the impacts of using
cross-functional teams. The interviewees MO5, DM5, MM3 and LM3 mentioned that
Companies 3 and 5, have a high level of integration and adopt cross-functional teams with the
average, this same factor is applied, but here aiming for cost reduction and short term
The comparison among Companies 2, 3 and 5 denote conditions in which the presence
of integration factors may influence the integration level, and the desired impact for its
application. These differences could be the reason for the existence of conflicting goals and
lack of mutual understanding between functions in Company 2. The analysis of these three
cases indicates that the mere use of cross-functional teams does not ensure a high integration
P5. In the context of demand management, the use of cross-functional teams, aiming
to improve demand fulfillment tends to increase the level of integration.
There are some influences of integration impacts over the mutual existence of
formality and informality. Companies 1 and 4 do not use cross-functional teams and their
characteristics are contrasting in terms of formality and informality. In spite of this, they have
a common characteristic: their main Integration Impacts seem to be more related to functional
Company 4's primary aimed Impacts are increasing sales and market share. "Integration may
help increase sales by improving deliveries in the supermarkets" (MA4). According the
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interviewees SOC4, LA4 and LC4, Company 4 has a lack of informal factors, such as trust
that informal occurrences are key elements involved in the integration of Marketing and
Logistics. However, the interviewees PE1, SO1, LM1, MT1 and MM1 agree that there is a
goal: improving the company image. Notwithstanding, the LM1, PE1 and MT1 perceives that
Impact as an effect of reaching the functional goals: avoiding delivery delays and sales above
Logistics capacity.
These Companies' main desired impacts are related to functional goals. They neither
have high levels of integration nor present mutual existence of formal and informal
occurrences of integration factors. These examples helped to develop the final proposition:
P6. A holistic strategic approach to integration (in which impacts on the company as
a whole are perceived as more important than functional impacts) increases the level
of integration and improves integration impacts.
In order to summarize the content of this topic, Figure 2 demonstrates the relationships
presented by the set of propositions, including tenets, originated from literature (white), and
practical issues emerged from the field data analysis (gray). Considering that Figure 2 brings
about several different elements and respective relationships, a summary of the propositions is
presented below that aligns with the Figure thereby facilitating comprehension of the inter-
relationships.
results.
Holistic
Strategic
P6.
Approach
High levels P4.
of Impacts
Cross- P5.
integration
Demand +
functional
(objeto ex teams P3a., P3b.,
planning and P3c.
Formality Performance
Boundary Integration P1. Mutual existence Improvement
Spanning factors P2. of formality and
Activities informality
Informality
Figure 2 - Propositions and respective connection with theoretical and empirical issues
Implications
Managerial Implications
The propositions 1, 2 and 3 bring about the primary managerial contribution of this
paper that is the detailed characterization of the role of Formality and Informality in the
implementation of cross-functional integration. The case studies showed that companies with
a high level of integration seem to have a mutual existence of these two modes. For example,
a company with low integration between Marketing and Logistics may present an absence of
factors applied informally, such as trust and group spirit. This may happen because these
manager may face the existence of conflict of objectives and a lack of understanding among
teams and meetings, could help to improve trust and group spirit. Consequently, integration
level tends to increase, providing a more aligned vision toward the company's organizational
A second implication is that this research helps managers identify the necessary
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processes between functions. One single example that was observed in the cases 2 and 5 is the
identify which of the integration factors might be better employed within their organization.
Using case study data, one implication of this research was to understand how integration
In addition, the research helps managers understand which impacts can be produced
through the application of these factors. The cases studied evidenced that, in the most
integrated organizations, the primary integration factor was cross-functional teams. The
primary impact related to these teams was the alignment of demand and supply rather than
increasing sales, reducing costs or reaching functional level results. Therefore, integration
factors should be implemented with the primary intent of generating impacts on the
organization as a whole, in order to avoid conflicts of goals and lack of mutual understanding
improve service quality with regard to balancing availability with customer needs, improve
service levels and decrease costs. These improvements may positively impact the financial
results.
Theoretical Implications
processes between Marketing and Logistics. The characterization of the five tenets of the
framework can help to explain the processes, roles and impacts within organizations. This
framework makes it viable to analyze the integration phenomenon, considering a large range
presents these elements in a complete process view, instead of only disconnected elements or
parts of such process. This perspective may be useful for further research that aims to validate
Literature and case studies oriented and contributed to a better understanding about how
many integration factors with many not included in the four elements of the proposed
framework. The extensive review of the literature helped to identify those elements that were
seemingly more important and then the use of the case studies helped to exemplify them. Also
Brazil was the specific context of this research, but it brings managerial and
theoretical implications that cross several organizations and geographies, due to the
connection between the constructs and current international literature. Such implication may
also be reinforced by the high level of heterogeneity of the sample, and because they are
multinational companies.
and integration impacts. This research characterizes these five elements and emphasizes the
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way they interact in the processes of integration. Through the analysis of literature and the
Among the six propositions, mentioned in the results, P2, P4, and P6 should be
specifically highlighted due to the capacity to illustrate relationships among several tenets of
the proposed framework. The analysis of Companies 3 and 5 denotes that cross-functional
integration levels may increase when both formal and informal integration factors are present
which showed strong support for Proposition 4. Another idea that emerged from these
companies' interviews is that cross-functional teams are formal initiatives that generate
informal factors, balancing formality and informality of the integration, and consequently,
increasing the level of integration. This idea supported Proposition 2, where the use of cross-
functional teams only increases integration levels when the application of this factor is
highlight that when functional impacts are perceived as more important than impacts on the
organization as a whole, a lack of mutual existence of formal and informal efforts may exist,
These proposed relationships are in an exploratory stage. Future research might aim at
This research was descriptive and used the classical content analysis technique in the
interviews to identify and characterize elements of integration. Although it is the basis for
several other techniques of qualitative analysis, the classical content analysis technique is
limited to identifying elements, their meaning and their categories, without a critical or
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and argument analysis, could be applied in future research in order to generate more
The research results denote that the degree of formality/informality may play a
specific role in Brazilian culture that surrounds studied organizations. However, the data that
is collected does not allow for a specific comparison of this issue with other geographies.
Future research could use theory from Culture or Sociology fields in order to observe
Acknowledgments:
The authors are grateful for the financial support granted by FAPESP (São Paulo Research
Foundation) through the processes n°2009/05160-0 and n°2011/06008-8.
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Biographical Details:
Márcio Lopes Pimenta, Ph.D. is Professor at Management and Business College, Federal
University of Uberlândia, Brazil. He got his Phd in Production Engineering at Federal
University of São Carlos and his Msc in Business Administration at Federal University of
Uberlândia. Dr. Pimenta has published articles in The International Journal of Productivity
and Performance Management, Brazilian Business Review and Revista de Administração
Pública. His main research topics are: cross-functional integration between Marketing and
other internal functions and the influence of human values on consumer behavior.
in 1993 from Federal University of Santa Catarina. She teaches Marketing and Services
Operation Management and Research Methodology. Dr. Da Silva’s primary areas of research
are in Supply Chain Management, Marketing Channels and Services Operations. Her
research has been published in a number of Brazilian outlets including RAE/FGV, RAUSP
and Revista Gestão e Produção and also in Book Chapters. She has been also Scientific
Journal Referee for many Brazilian journals. She was Visiting Scholar abroad twice: at
ESSEC BUSINESS SCHOOL (France) between 1997-1998 and also at Department of
Marketing and Logistics of University of Tennessee at Knoxville during 2009-2010 academic
years.
Wendy L. Tate, Ph.D. is Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee in the Department
of Marketing and Supply Chain Management. Dr. Tate¹s research and teaching interests
include offshoring and outsourcing, services purchasing, the services supply chain, and
environmental supply chain management. Dr.Tate has published articles in California
Management Review, Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Supply Chain Management,
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Journal of Operations
Management, and others. She routinely presents at a variety of managerial and academic
forums including the North American Association for Research and Teaching Symposium,
the Institute for Supply Management (ISM),
Decision Sciences, and Frontiers in Services. Dr. Tate earned her Bachelors, Masters in
Business Administration, and Ph.D. from Arizona State University.
Appendix 1
Elements characterizing cross-functional integration in the organizations surveyed
Category Element Organization Number of
1 2 3 4 5 interviewees
mentioning it
Demand planning 2 6 7 2 5 22
Delivery / shipping for the customer 4 5 5 4 3 21
New products development and launching 5 - 6 3 3 17
Promotion 1 1 4 2 6 14
Customer service planning 2 - 1 1 2 6
Definition of Product Characteristics 1 1 1 - 2 5
Boundary Storage / inventory management 1 1 1 - 2 5
Spanning Transfers between distribution centers - 1 - - 3 4
Activities Identification of competitive advantages and market 1 - - 2 - 3
opportunities
(Qt.17) Marketing and Sales Planning 1 1 - 1 - 3
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Adequate communication 5 7 8 9 7 36
Work together as a team to solve conflicts 7 5 8 6 7 33
Trust 7 6 7 6 6 32
Consideration of the informal work groups 6 5 7 7 6 31
Cross-functional meetings 3 7 6 7 5 28
Support from senior management 6 5 7 4 6 28
Mutual evaluation and rewards system 4 6 5 8 4 27
Integration Group spirit 7 5 6 3 6 27
factors Information Sharing 6 4 6 4 5 25
Cross-functional teams 1 4 6 5 6 22
(Qt.18) Joint planning 4 4 6 3 5 22
Mutual understanding of each other's activities 4 4 8 3 3 22
Longevity of relationships 4 6 5 3 3 21
Non-conflicting objectives between the functions 5 3 4 4 4 20
Congruence between functional objectives with 5 3 3 3 5 19
organizational strategy
Recognition of functional interdependence 4 5 4 3 3 19
Physical proximity of workplaces 4 5 1 4 1 15
Cross-functional training 2 - 5 1 2 10
Integration Average 4 2 4 3 4 17
level
(Qt.3) High 2 3 4 - 2 11
Low 1 2 - 6 1 10
Non-conflicting objectives among functions Kahn (1996); Ellinger et al.(2000); Horn et al., (2014)
Congruence between functional goals and Shapiro (1977); St John and Hall (1991); Feger, (2014)
organizational strategy
Recognition of functional interdependence Lynch and Whicker (2008); Daugherty et al. (2009)
Table 1 - Integration factors and their authors
Criterion Definition
Medium or large companies The larger the organization, the more complex the cross-functional
actions tend to be, involving a larger amount of resources spent on
integration due to physical dispersion of activities (Dawes and Massey,
2001; Paiva, 2010).
Functions of Marketing and Logistics in Considered the need to collect information through different agents to
distinct departments cross reference each other to obtain reliable information.
Existence of points of contact and Identified through exploratory interviews with people in senior
integration factors between the management or persons that could indicate potential interviewees and
functions of Marketing and Logistics authorize the research.
Work with critical products and Extremely competitive markets require interfaces between Logistics and
processes in turbulent environments Marketing for the storage, handling and transporting, that are essential
tasks for adding value to the final product (Lynch and Whicker, 2008;
Hilletofh, et al., 2009).
Located 500 km up to a maximum of As a matter of time limit and budget. Therefore, it became feasible to
the research center (São Carlos-SP) carry out multiple visits within a time period limited to them.
Table 2 - Criteria for selection of participating organizations
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Denomination Sector Annual Number of People Headquarters State
Revenue employees Interviewed
Organization 1 Chassis and Wheels R$ 1,2 billion 6.000 7 São Paulo
Organization 2 Agrochemicals R$ 300 million 200 7 Minas Gerais
Organization 3 Beverages R$ 890 million 2.500 8 São Paulo
Organization 4 Soybean oil and derivatives R$ 1,4 billion 400 9 Minas Gerais
Organization 5 Toiletries and beauty R$ 22,8 billion Not identified 7 São Paulo
Table 3 - Characteristics of the surveyed companies
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Company Marketing Logistics Interviewees Support Areas Interviewees
Interviewees (n.10) (n.18)
(n.10)
1 Marketing Manager-MM1, Logistics Manager-LM1, Product Engineer-PE1,
Marketing Technician-MT1 Logistics Technician-LT1 International Sales Officer-SO1,
Investment Analysis Manager-IM1
2 Marketing Manager-MM2, Logistics Manager-LM2, Planning and Control Manager-PM2,
Commercial and Marketing Logistics Supervisor-LS2 Human Resources Supervisor-HRS2,
Analyst-CMA2 Technical Sales Representative-TSR2
3 Marketing Manager-MM3, Logistics Manager-LM3, Sales Manager-SM3,
Marketing Coordinator-MC3 Logistics Coordinator-LC3 Strategic Planning Manager-SPM3,
Human Resources Manager-HRM3,
Control Manager-CONTM3
4 Marketing Coordinator-MC4, Logistics Coordinator-LC4, Education Consultant-EC4, Planning
Marketing Analyst-MA4 Logistics Analyst-LA4 Analyst-PA4, Human Talents Analyst-
HTA4, Soybean Origination Coordinator-
SOC4, Procurement Analyst-PA4
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in interviews and this provided the perceived popularity of the concept among
respondents. For process safety and to keep such records in the research corpus,
we entered and added the units of analysis into a spreadsheet.
Table 5 - Stages of content analysis conducted in the research
Integration Factors Formal Application Informal Application
Adequate communication Adequate infrastructure of communication Personal willingness for communication as part
of organizational culture
Work together as a team to Functions work through formal joint Personal willingness for giving up of
solve conflicts planning and cross-functional teams functional interests to reach global results
Trust Politics of turn-over reduction improve People have trust and share information in a
mutual understanding and trust non formalized way, speeding up processes
Consideration of the Managerial incentives for people to have Spontaneous and collective behavior toward
informal work groups openness to contribute to the organization organizational positive impacts
success
Cross-functional meetings Formal and regular meetings with members Informal and quick meetings to tune short term
from different functions to deal with long processes with long term planning
and medium term issues
Support from senior Managerial adoption of joint planning and Managerial recognition to the spontaneous
management delegation of authority facilitate to solve efforts from informal groups toward
conflicts and avoid stress among people integration
Mutual evaluation and Functional yield indicators based or linked to -
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