CONCEPTUAL/THEORETICAL PAPER
Strategic marketing and marketing strategy: domain, definition, fundamental issues and foundational premises
Rajan Varadarajan
Received: 20 April 2009 / Accepted: 24 September 2009 / Published online: 28 October 2009 # Academy of Marketing Science 2009
Abstract This paper proposes a domain statement for strategic marketing as a field of study and delineates certain issues fundamental to the field. It also proposes a definition for marketing strategy, the focal organizational strategy construct of the field, and enumerates a number of foundational premises of marketing strategy. The domain of strategic marketing is viewed as encompassing the study of organizational, inter-organizational and environmental phenomena concerned with (1) the behavior of organizations in the marketplace in their interactions with consumers, customers, competitors and other external constituencies, in the context of creation, communication and delivery of products that offer value to customers in exchanges with organizations, and (2) the general management responsibilities associated with the boundary spanning role of the marketing function in organizations. At the broadest level, marketing strategy can be defined as an organization’s integrated pattern of decisions that specify its crucial choices concerning products, markets, marketing activities and marketing resources in the creation, communication and/or delivery of products that offer value to customers in exchanges with the organization and thereby enables the organization to achieve specific objectives. Chief among the issues that are fundamental to strategic marketing as a field of study are the questions of how the marketing strategy of a
business is influenced by demand side factors and supply side factors. Keywords Strategic marketing . Marketing strategy . Competitive marketing strategy . Market strategy
References: Abell, D. F. (1980). Defining the business: The starting point of strategic planning. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. Ahuja, G., & Lampert, C. M. (2001). Entrepreneurship in the large corporation: a longitudinal study of how established firms create breakthrough inventions. Strategic Management Journal, 22, 521–543. Armstrong, J. S., & Schultz, R. L. (1992). Principles involving marketing policies: an empirical assessment. Marketing Letters, 4 (3), 253–265. Bagozzi, R. P. (1975). Marketing as exchange. Journal of Marketing, 39(4), 32–39. Barney, J. (1996). Gaining and sustaining competitive advantage. Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing. Boulding, W., & Staelin, R. (1995). Identifying generalizable effects of strategic actions on firm performance: the case of demand-side returns to R&D spending. Marketing Science, Special Issue on Empirical Generalizations in Marketing, 14 (3, Part 2 of 2), G222–G236. Brown, J. R., & Dant, R. P. (2009). The theoretical domains of retailing research: a retrospective. Journal of Retailing, 85(2), 113–128. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2010) 38:119–140 Buzzell, R. D., & Gale, B. T. (1987). The PIMS principles: Linking strategy to performance. New York: The Free Press. Carpenter, G. S., & Nakamoto, K. (1989). Consumer preference formation and pioneering advantage (pp. 285–298). XXVI: Journal of Marketing Research. Carpenter, G. S., Glazer, R., & Nakamoto, K. (1997). Toward a new concept of competitive advantage. In S. Gregory, S. Carpenter, R. Glazer & K. Nakamoto (Eds.), Readings on market-driving strategies: Towards a new theory of competitive advantage. Reading: Addison-Wesley. Cravens, D. W. (2000). Strategic marketing (6th ed.). Sydney: Irwin McGraw-Hill. Crawford, M., & Di Benedetto, A. (2008). New products management, 9th edn. McGraw Hill/Irwin. Cunningham, W. H., & Robertson, T. S. (1983). From the editor. Journal of Marketing, 47, 5–6. Day, G. S. (1984). Strategic market planning: The pursuit of competitive advantage. St. Paul: West Publishing Co. Day, G. S. (1990). Market-driven strategy. New York: The Free Press. Day, G. S. (1992). Marketing’s contribution to the strategy dialogue. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20, 323–330. Day, G. S., & Montgomery, D. B. (1999). Charting new directions for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 63, 3–13. Day, G. S., Weitz, B., & Wensley, R. (eds). (1990). The interface of marketing and strategy. Greenwich: JAI Press. Dickson, P. R. (1992). Toward a general theory of competitive rationality. Journal of Marketing, 56(1), 69–83. Durant, W. (1961). The story of philosophy. New York: Pocket Books. ELMAR (2009). “2009 Mahajan Award for Lifetime Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research,” http://ama-academics.community zero.com/elmar?go = t990773 Financial Times (2005). The big gamble: Airbus rolls out its new weapon in its battle with Boeing. Financial Times (January 17), p. 11. Ghemawat, P. (1991). Commitment: The dynamic of strategy. New York: Free Press. Ghoshal, S. (1987). Global strategy: an organizing framework. Strategic Management Journal, 8, 425–440. Gundlach, G. T. (2007). The American Marketing Association’s 2004 definition of marketing: Perspectives on its implications for scholarship and the role and responsibility of marketing in society. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 26, 243– 250. Heil, O., & Robertson, T. S. (1991). Toward a theory of competitive market signaling. Strategic Management Journal, 12(6), 403– 418. Henderson, B. D. (1983). The anatomy of competition. Journal of Marketing, 47, 7–11. Hofer, C. W., & Schendel, D. E. (1978). Strategy formulation: Analytical concepts. St. Paul: West Publishing Co. Homans, G. C. (1964). Contemporary theory in sociology. In R. E. L. Faris (Ed.), Handbook of modern sociology (pp. 951–977). Chicago: Rand McNally. Hunt, S. D. (1983). General theories and the fundamental explananda of marketing. Journal of Marketing, 47, 9–17. Hunt, S. D. (2002). Foundations of marketing theory: Toward a general theory of marketing. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe Inc. Hunt, S. D., & Morgan, R. M. (1995). The comparative advantage theory of competition. Journal of Marketing, 59, 1–15. Inkeles, A. (1964). What is sociology? An introduction to the discipline and profession. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. Jain, S. C. (2000). Marketing planning & strategy (6th ed.). Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing. Kalakota, R., & Robinson, M. (2001). e-Business 2.0: Roadmap for success (2nd ed.). Boston: Addison-Wesley Professional. Kaplan, A. (1964). The conduct of inquiry. Scranton: Chandler. 139 Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57, 1–22. Kinnear, T. C. (1999). A perspective on how firms relate to markets. Journal of Marketing, 63, 112–114. Kotler, P. (1997). Marketing management: Analysis, planning, implementation and control (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall. Little, J. D. C. (1979). Aggregate advertising models: the state of the art. Operations Research, 27, 629–667. MacKenzie, S. B. (2003). The dangers of poor construct conceptualization. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31, 323– 326. MacMillan, I. C., & McGrath, R. G. (1997). Discovering new points of differentiation. Harvard Business Review, 133–138. Marketing News. (2004). AMA adopts new definition of marketing. Marketing News, 38, 1. Marketing News. (2008). Marketing defined. Marketing News, 42, 28–29. Merwe, R. V., Berthon, P., Pitt, L., & Barnes, B. (2007). Identifying ‘theory networks’: identifying pivotal theories in marketing and their characteristics. Journal of Marketing Management., 23(3–4), 181–206. Meyer, A. D. (1991). What is strategy’s distinctive competence? Journal of Management, 17(1), 821–833. Mick, D. G. (2007). The end(s) of marketing and the neglect of moral responsibility by the American Marketing Association. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 26, 289–292. Mintzberg, H. (1987a). Crafting strategy. Harvard Business Review, 65, 66–75. Mintzberg, H. (1987b). The strategy concept I: five Ps for strategy. California Management Review, 30, 11–24. Nag, R., Hambrick, D. C., & Chen, M. J. (2007). What is strategic management, really? Inductive derivation of a consensus definition of the field. Strategic Management Journal, 28, 935–955. Popper, K. (1959). The logic of scientific discovery. London: Hutchinson and Co. Porter, M. E. (1987). From competitive advantage to competitive strategy. Harvard Business Review, 65, 43–59. Porter, M. E. (1996). What is strategy? Harvard Business Review, 74, 61–78. Reibstein, D. J., & Farris, P. W. (1995). Market share and distribution: a generalization, speculation, and some implications. Marketing Science, Special Issue on Empirical Generalizations in Marketing, 14 (3, Part 2 of 2), G190–G202. Reibstein, D. J., Day, G., & Wind, J. (2009). Guest editorial: is marketing losing its way? Journal of Marketing, 73, 1–3. Schendel, D. E. (1991). Editor’s comments on winter special issue. Strategic Management Journal, 12, 1–3. Winter Special Issue. Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (1999). Revisiting marketing’s lawlike generalizations. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27, 71–87. Slater, S. F., & Olson, E. M. (2001). Marketing’s contribution to the implementation of business strategy: an empirical analysis. Strategic Management Journal, 22, 1055–1067. Srivastava, R. K., Shervani, T. A., & Fahey, L. (1998). Market-based assets and shareholder value: a framework for analysis. Journal of Marketing, 62, 2–18. Suroweicki, J. (2009). Hanging tough. The New Yorker, (April 20), 35. Szymanski, D. M., Bharadwaj, S. G., & Varadarajan, R. (1993). An analysis of the market share-profitability relationship. Journal of Marketing, 57, 1–18. Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 509–533. 140 Varadarajan, R., & Clark, T. (1994). Delineating the scope of corporate, business and marketing strategy. Journal of Business Research, 31, 93–105. Varadarajan, R., & Jayachandran, S. (1999). Marketing strategy: an assessment of the state of the field and outlook. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27, 120–143. Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68, 1–17. Walker, O. C., Mullins, J. W., Boyd, H. W., & Larreche, J-C. (2006). Marketing strategy: A decision focused approach, 5th edn. McGraw-Hill/Irwin J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2010) 38:119–140 Webster, F. E., Jr. (1992). The changing role of marketing in the corporation. Journal of Marketing, 56, 1–17. Weick, K. E. (1989). Theory construction as disciplined imagination. Academy of Management Review, 14, 516–531. Wilkie, W. L., & Moore, E. S. (2007). What does the definition of marketing tell us about ourselves? Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 26, 269–276. Wind, Y. (1982). Marketing and corporate strategy. The Wharton Magazine, 6, 38–45. Wind, Y., & Robertson, T. S. (1983). Marketing strategy: new direction for theory and research. Journal of Marketing, 47, 12–25.