Corporate directives, and trends, come and go. A notable corporate trend of late has centered on the need for accountability in corporate marketing departments, and that trend is expected to intensify.

Not long ago, many business sectors were booming and stock prices climbing, but the bullish 90`s are a long-faded memory. All the same, today`s restless shareholders are still intent on capturing profits, putting considerable pressure on corporations to deliver.

In response, companies are scrambling to bring new products to market, hoping for growth in top-line sales, and additional profits. They are also trying to better assess the value of that one last corporate department and initiative that defies easy quantification and ROI performance assessment: marketing. After all, this might be persuade them to make a case for trimming marketing budgets. Again.