Introduction

The aim of the research is to understand collaboration between marketing and logistics, increasing knowledge about perceived barriers in organizations, in order to addressing functional silos in organizations by inter-functional collaboration as a solution. The author questions the advantages of inter-functional collaboration in the scope of organizational performance. The significance of this research is that collaboration is one of the remaining cost cutting advantages that are impeccable for organizations in the following decade.

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to understand collaboration between marketing and logistics department, focusing on the instruments that facilitate improved collaboration.

Method

The question of how collaboration in organizations takes place, the author used an inductive, qualitative approach to come up with a theoretical framework to improve collaboration. The author reflected on the history of both marketing and logistics functions in organizations and discussed the common responsibilities of the two. Then, the framework was set to study organizational performance in theory, and to aggregate and review possible methods - so called instruments - to improve collaboration within organizations. To accomplish this, the author listed the key instruments for collaboration purpose and defines the important instruments to perform the implementation of collaboration in organizations. Empirical information acquired with interview sessions with the CEO of Nivea Seoul ltd. Contributed to the validity of the concepts and extended the knowledge about instruments.

Conclusion

The outcome of theoretical research is that collaboration between marketing and logistics, 'logistics leverage' - positive result by planning, coordination and integration responsibility, and marketing intelligence seem to have positive relationship on organization performance. This implication increases the relevance of the study, the author argues that performance gains might also be observed with the key instruments for inter-functional collaboration facilitation, almost 20 were selected and placed in three categories The instruments under the categories can be used for future research or managers to understand collaboration better and could also provide a basis for empirical research in the future.