The latter is not always compatible with the corporate structures and must be adapted to the requirements of each situation. Marketing pioneeers the way and explores new avenues for promoting sales. It is based on trade, commerce, communication and public relations and uses them to devise its techniques. Marketing often becomes an art. There is no pre-established concept. Each client is unique and needs persuading. Marketing must find its place when faced with an enterprise culture.

Enterprise culture is a set of behaviours and prejudices which new employees tend to adopt after six months or so working within the company. It is the stamp of the company or sometimes the illusion of belonging to a particular group. The job of marketing is to tame a structure with which it is unfamiliar.

There are four types of enterprise culture:

1. The spider's web or network structure. This is typified by having a boss with a strong personality, often the person who founded the company. He runs it in a paternalistic way and attaches great importance to the family. He bases his trust on blood ties. For him, his word is his bond and a handshake is worth more than a signed contract. The boss has a strong personality which makes it possible to construct networks. He is the company. The problem is that he operates on intuition and can thus quickly change his mind. There is a great risk of error. This situation is one that is often found either in very small or very large corporations or in associations. Faced with this type of boss, marketing has an attractive but also a conflictual relationship with him. Since the corporate flow chart fluctuates wildly, it hard to establish a long-term strategy. The marketing concept is reduced to that of the personality of the boss. Here, marketing becomes a passion and the good customer a personal friend. No need to make long speeches to win him over.
     
2. A very rigid hierarchical structure. In this case, job titles are very important: director, deputy director, manager, etc. Form and relationships within the hierarchy are essential. The language is formal, style is codified and strategy planned for the long term with clear objectives. Individuals are interchangeable and decision-making is a slow process. This is typical of military and banking institutions. Here, marketing can be summed up as survival. The budget is fixed and the employees are happy to implement the planned strategy without any creativity or divergence. The structure is set in stone and the external customer is often forgotten.
     
3. The team, commercial structure. In this case, the emphasis is on skill and enthusiasm. The business plan, projects, variety and respect for know-how are the key words. Top-quality teams, with great technical ability, work in a relaxed atmosphere but without losing sight of the objective. There's plenty of creativity and little respect for the pecking order. Yield is high but then so are the costs, and sometimes the volatility. So in the end, the actual profit may be small. In this atmosphere, there is fertile ground for the development of marketing in company with people who are serious about it but who don't take themselves too seriously. The products are new and sophisticated and the customers are A-list. This is the current fashion.
     
4. A structure based on pleasure and excitement. The main thing is partying and having fun. People don't work here, they have fun working. This attitude is characteristic of small, simple structures that are free to act as they please. The classic example is a fund management company for high net worth individuals or a firm of architects. The excitement consists of working on behalf of the client. People can be creative by proving that they have individual initiative. In this case, marketing is just one of the departments. Often, it is considered that there is no need for a marketing department at all, because only one service is offered and the customer is knowledgeable and captive.

To summarize, there are multiple enterprise cultures to which marketing needs to adapt itself.

But a company ought not to be monotheistic and in order to be able to incorporate productive marketing, it needs to be tolerant and take account of all the factors—budget, sensibilities, fashion, etc.

Switzerland has too much of an engineering mentality. We manufacture a perfect product then try to sell it, although the technical aspect ought to be tied in with the sales side. Marketing sells dreams. Experience in the various sectors is important and lessons need to be drawn from failure.

You need to have the willpower to test out new ideas and listen to the market. Finally, it's a company's reputation that ensures its long-term survival.