I recently watched a great short video by Ichak Adizes about the difference between Marketing and Sales, Marketing and Sales, Engineering and Production, Human Resources and Development…whatever the combination is, we’re all guilty of merging “similar” departments. But, by doing so, you are inevitably putting one or the other in a supporting role. We often group the departments that satisfy present needs and project future needs.
Marketing is meant to project and bring in future leads (long-term), and sales are meant to bring in leads now (short-term). The problem is that marketing often falls into the supporting role because sales deal with what clients want now, not in the future. The same is valid for engineering and production. Engineering needs to be focused on new, future development. You are not fixing the current issues in production. If you're guilty of merging departments, it may be time to reconsider.