Marketing capabilities and market orientation

Question 1

Competitive Advantage =

Answer 1

A condition or circumstance that puts a company in a favourable or superior business position.

Question 2

Elements of competitive advantage:

Answer 2

1. Sources of advantage (VRIO?)
   
   • Superior skills
   • Superior ressources (tangible+intangible)
2. Positional advantages
   
   • Superior customer value
   • Lower relative cost
3. Performance outcomes
   
   • Satisfaction
   • Loyalty
   • Market share
   • Profitability
4. Investment of profits to sustain advantages

Question 3

Assessing competitive advantage: what are the issues with using market share, profitability or loyalty as a measurement?

Answer 3

Market share:

Using market share would imply that the market has fixed boundaries but the market can expand (i.e. new competitors). Furthermore, it doesn’t predict the future.

Profitability:

Companies can be “successful” but not profitable (i.e. Amazon)

Loyalty:

If a customer buys a product over again and again, it doesn’t mean that he’s loyal. Could be for example that the alternatives are too expensive (switching costs)

Question 4

Assessing competitive advantage:

Answer 4

Question 5

Assesing competitive advantage (developped):

Answer 5

Question 6

Assesing competitive advantage (checklist):

Answer 6

Question 7

Dynamic pricing =

Answer 7

Prices that change according to demand

Question 8

Key success factors =

Answer 8

Factor that has a disproportionate impact on the competitive advantage

Question 9

Value Chain =

Answer 9

How you can get the products to the customer.

Inbound Logistic => Operation => Outbound Logistic => Sales and Marketing => Servicing

Question 10

Problem with SWOT as a measure:

Answer 10

When doing a SWOT analysis you need to focus on 3-4 metrics. The more doesn’t mean the better.

But a SWOT analysis is very biased and doesn’t reflect reality. It looks at the strategies that worked in the past but doensn’t mean it’s gonna work in the future.

Question 11

Market maps =

Answer 11

Look at similarities (i.e. how Samsung Galaxy is similar to Apple iPhone)

Question 12

Market driven organisation =

Answer 12

• “Firm’s policy or strategy guided by market trends and customer needs instead of the firm’s productive capacity or current products.”*
• “Using market knowledge to determine the corporate strategy of an organization. A market driven organization has a customer focus, together with awareness of competitors, and an understanding of the market.”*

They have 4 characteristics:

• Culture (norms and values of the organisation)
• Capabilities (understanding of the market + key relationships i.e. w/ governments)
• Configuration (functionment)
• Shared knowledge base

Question 13

Classifying capabilities:

Answer 13

Question 14

Illustrative differences of values and norms (market-driven VS self-centered):

Answer 14

Culture is more important than strategy “culture eats strategy for breakfast)