The Impact of Market and Organizational Challenges on Marketing Strategy

Journal of Business Research 51 (2001) 61 ± 72

The impact of market and organisational challenges on marketing strategy decision-making: a qualitative investigation of the business-to-business sector
Denise Jarratta,*, Ramzi Fayedb,1 a School of Marketing and Management, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst 2795, Australia b International Marketing Institute, Level 8, 25 Bligh Street, Sydney 2000, Australia Received 1 December 1998; accepted 2 December 1998

Abstract Technological advances, global competition, re-alignment of organisational processes with the markets they serve, new rules of corporate strategy and outsourcing to access or to extend organisational capabilities are influencing the nature of the client/organisational interface and are changing the nature of competition in today 's market place. This research describes how marketing strategy is evolving within the context of this new competitive and organisational environment. Specifically, it explains how those responsible for marketing activities in the firm view marketing strategy and how they approach strategy development. D 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Business-to-business sector; Marketing strategy; Competition

1. Introduction The generic marketing strategy options of low cost, differentiation, and focus (Porter, 1985) remain the dominant influencing strategy decision models presented in a range of frameworks for guiding strategy decisions (e.g., Aaker, 1994; Day, 1990). More recently, Sudharshan (1995) defines marketing strategy as a function of an organisation 's marketing relationships (with particular emphasis on customers and channel members), the nature of the product offer, the timing of the offer to the market and the resources that will be provided to effect market delivery. Others (e.g., Day and Wensley, 1988; Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Narver and Slater, 1990; Bharadwaj et al., 1993; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993, 1996; Slater and Narver, 1994) have

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