1. Define Strategy and Define Marketing Strategy. Is Strategy Important for Marketers?
1. Define strategy and define marketing strategy. Is strategy important for marketers? Support with examples and references. Due 5 August (10%)
The term strategy has been succinctly defined by Walker, Boyd, Mullins, Lareche 2003 as a pattern of planned objectives, resources deployments and interactions in an organization with markets, competitors and other environmental factors. Mike Rukstad 2008, identified three critical components of a good strategy statement which are objective, scope, and advantage. Two other important factors covering strategy are resource deployments and synergy (Walker, Boyd, Mullins, Lareche 2003). The scope of a strategy covers its domain namely the type and number of industries, product lines and market segments. The strategy objectives detail levels of accomplishment or performance such as volume growth, profit contribution or return on investment over a period of time. The competitive advantage strategy must be sustainable and must examine market opportunities in each business and product for competencies and strength (Collins and Rukstad 2008). Resources be it financial or human, must be deployed across businesses, product markets, functional departments, and activities. Synergy exist when a firms business, product markets and resources and competencies reinforce one another (Walker, Boyd, Mullins, Lareche 2003).
Markides 2004 Page 8, illustrated that a company’s strategy should be distinctive, everyone in the company should participate in developing it, it should be flexible to change and create an environment that supports it. Strategy can also be classified into blue ocean ( a market that exist without competitors ) or red ocean ( a market full of competitors ) (Čirjevskis, Homenko, Lačinova 2010, Pg 162).
There is a hierarchy of strategies that exist at 3 major levels which are corporate strategy, business-level strategy and functional strategy ( Rajan, Clark 1994, Pg 94) . At corporate level the manager must
The term strategy has been succinctly defined by Walker, Boyd, Mullins, Lareche 2003 as a pattern of planned objectives, resources deployments and interactions in an organization with markets, competitors and other environmental factors. Mike Rukstad 2008, identified three critical components of a good strategy statement which are objective, scope, and advantage. Two other important factors covering strategy are resource deployments and synergy (Walker, Boyd, Mullins, Lareche 2003). The scope of a strategy covers its domain namely the type and number of industries, product lines and market segments. The strategy objectives detail levels of accomplishment or performance such as volume growth, profit contribution or return on investment over a period of time. The competitive advantage strategy must be sustainable and must examine market opportunities in each business and product for competencies and strength (Collins and Rukstad 2008). Resources be it financial or human, must be deployed across businesses, product markets, functional departments, and activities. Synergy exist when a firms business, product markets and resources and competencies reinforce one another (Walker, Boyd, Mullins, Lareche 2003).
Markides 2004 Page 8, illustrated that a company’s strategy should be distinctive, everyone in the company should participate in developing it, it should be flexible to change and create an environment that supports it. Strategy can also be classified into blue ocean ( a market that exist without competitors ) or red ocean ( a market full of competitors ) (Čirjevskis, Homenko, Lačinova 2010, Pg 162).
There is a hierarchy of strategies that exist at 3 major levels which are corporate strategy, business-level strategy and functional strategy ( Rajan, Clark 1994, Pg 94) . At corporate level the manager must
References: 2.Crawford, M., & Di Benedetto, A. (2008). New products manage- ment, 9th edn. McGraw Hill/Irwin. 3. Collis, David J., and Michael G. Rukstad. "Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?." Harvard Business Review 86, no. 4 (April 2008): 82-90. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 31, 2011). 4.Cunningham, W. H., & Robertson, T. S. (1983). From the editor. Journal of Marketing, 47, 5–6. 5.Ghemawat, P. (1991). Commitment: The dynamic of strategy. New York: Free Press. 6.Kalakota, R., & Robinson, M. (2001). e-Business 2.0: Roadmap for success (2nd ed.) 7.Marketing News. (2008). Marketing defined. Marketing News, 42, 28–29 8.Markides, Costas 9.Mintzberg, Henry. "The Strategy Concept I: Five Ps For Strategy." California Management Review 30, no. 1 (Fall87 1987): 11-24. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 31, 2011). 12.Varadarajan, P. Rajan, and Terry Clark. "Delineating the Scope of Corporate, Business, and Marketing Strategy." Journal of Business Research 31, no. 2/3 (October 1994): 93-105. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 31, 2011). 14.Webster, F. E., Jr. (1992). The changing role of marketing in the corporation. Journal of Marketing, 56, 1–17.