THE NATURE OF STRATEGY Flashcards
•Derived from the
ancient greek
word “strategos”,
which means
“the general start”
STRATEGY
is a fundamental pattern of present
and planned objectives, resource
deployments, and interactions of an
organization with markets,
competitors, and other environmental
factors.
Strategy
Components within a well-developed strategy
●Scope
●Goals and objectives
●Resource deployments
●Identification of a sustainable competitive advantage
●Synergy
the extensiveness of its strategic sphere such as the number and types of industries, product lines, and market segments it competes in or plan to penetrate
Scope
to specify preferred levels of accomplishments on one or more facets of performance such as volume growth, profit contribution, etc…
Goals and objectives
a decision how resources are to be acquired and apportioned, across businesses, product markets, functional departments, and activities in every business or product-market
Resource deployments
to how the company will participate in each business and product-market within its industry
Identification of a sustainable competitive advantage
is present when the company’s businesses, product-markets, resource
deployments, and competencies balance and strengthen one another.
Synergy
makes possible the overall performance of the related businesses to be greater than it would otherwise be
Synergy
HEIRARCHY OF STRATEGIES
●Corporate Strategy
●Business Level Strategy
●Functional Strategies
focus primarily on profitability
CORPORATE STRATEGIES AND MARKETING
include creating an organizational structure, debt reduction to improve the company’s balance sheet, diversifying the product or service line to increase profits or decrease dependence on one product, merging or buying with another business to create economies of scale, accessing new technology and increasing sales volume, reducing overhead costs to increase profit margin, retooling to decrease production costs, and
reducing overall operating expenses.
CORPORATE STRATEGIES AND MARKETING
concerned with the issues of entire company
Corporate Strategy
•consists of smaller units within the whole organization
•where competition happens against competitor business units and not corporate levels
Business Level Strategy
•marketing level
•promotion, sales, distribution, pricing strategy
Functional Strategies
•acted as a way to tell potential shareholders and investors more about a company and its purpose
•allow companies to define and establish their brand
CORPORATE MISSION
•should be concrete and include goal-oriented language
•include measurable objectives
MISSION
statement outlines the purpose, goals, and values of a company, guiding its actions and decision-making.
corporate mission
•its purpose or what it wants to achieve in a larger environment
•it explains why the organization does what it does
MISSION STATEMENT
clearly defines who are the customer is and what services and products the business intends to offer.
Effective mission
3 MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD MISSION STATEMENTS
- Focus on limited number of goals
- Highlight the company’s major policies and values
- Define the major competitive spheres within
MAJOR COMPETITIVE SPHERES OF A COMPANY
a) The RANGE OF INDUSTRIES in which a company will cooperate.
b) The RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND APPLICATIONS a company will supply
c) The RANGE OF TECHNOLOGICAL and the OTHER CORE COMPETENCIES
that a company will master and leverage.
d) The TYPE OF MARKET OR CUSTOMERS a company will serve
e) The NUMBER OF CHANNEL LEVELS from raw material to final
product and DISTRIBUTION in which a company will participate.
f) The RANGE OF REGIONS, COUNTRIES, or COUNTRY GROUPS in which a company will operate
Elements of the Mission Statement
- A purpose – Why does the business exist? Is it to create wealth for
shareholders? Does it exist to satisfy the needs of all stakeholders
including employees, and society at large. - A Strategy and Strategic Scope – A company’s strategic scope defines the boundaries of its operations.
- Policies and Standards of Behavior – A mission needs to be converted into everyday actions.
- Values and Culture – Business principles, loyalty commitment, and
guidance on expected behavior.
Characteristics of a Mission
1) It should be feasible.
2) It should be precise.
3) It should be clear.
4) It should be motivating.
5) It should be distinctive.
6) It should indicate major components of strategy.
7) It should indicate how objectives are to be accomplished.
seeks to outline where the company is headed and what values are guiding the journey
Corporate Vision
Set out what the business wants to achieve from its marketing activities
CORPORATE OBJECTIVES
What makes a good marketing objective effective?
SMART
company and its products that are perceived by the target market as significant and superior
Competitive Advantage
company and its products that are perceived by the target market as significant and superior
Competitive Advantage
Forms of Competitive Advantages:
- Cost competitive advantage. 2. Product/Service differentiation
Product design
Reengineering
New Delivery method
A method a company uses to expand its business
Corporate Growth Strategies
are some common growth strategies in business?
- Intensive Growth Strategies
- Integrative Growth Strategies
When a company grows by expanding its product line or its market reach.
Intensive Growth Strategies
5 Intensive Growth Strategies
- Market Penetration
- Market Development
- Alternative Channels
- Product Development
- Diversification
4 Integrative Growth Strategies
a. Horizontal
b. Backward
c. Forward
d. Complete or balanced
buying a competing business
Horizontal
buying one of the company’s suppliers
Backward
merging or purchasing an organization involved in the distribution of its products.
Forward
controlling all components from raw materials to final delivery
Complete or balanced
A business needs to put in place to pursue its chosen strategy
Strategic Corporate Resources
Categories of Business Resources
Financial Resources
Human Resources
Physical Resources
a. Existing Finance Funds
b. Ability to raise new funds
Financial
a. Existing Staffing Resources
b. Changes required to resources
Human
a. Production Facilities
b. Marketing Facilities
c. Information Technology
Physical
endeavor to shield their market from new competitors.
Defender Strategy
are less pro-active
Defenders
are innovative, seek out new opportunities, take risks and grow.
Prospector Strategy
maintain an entrepreneurial attitude, and explore their competitive environment.
Prospectors
attempt to maintain their current businesses, and to be
somewhat innovative in new businesses.
Analyzer Strategy
Are corporations that operate in at least two
different product-market areas, one stable, one variable.
Analyzers
are characterized by inconsistencies and a
reactionary response to environmental change.
Reactor Strategy
are organizations in which top management often
identify change and uncertainty taking place in their
organizational environments but are incapable to respond
effectively.
Reactors
Serve as a foundation of a
marketing plan.
Marketing strategy
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF A MARKETING STRATEGY
- External Pressures of the company
- Internal Pressures on Marketing Function
- Pressures contained in marketing function itself.
This is about how well inputs are utilized.
Efficiency
This is about doing the right things.
Effectiveness
is a business document outlining the
marketing strategy and tactics
Marketing plan
This section merely summarizes each of the
other sections of a marketing plan.
Executive Summary
This section describes the customers a company
is targeting.
Target Customers
Having a strong unique selling
proposition USP is a serious as distinguishes a company from
competitors.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
The pricing and positioning strategy
must be aligned.
Pricing & Positioning Strategy
specifies how customers
will purchase from a company.
Distribution Plan
Offers are special deals a company put
together to secure more new customers and drive past customers back
to it.
Offers of the Company
Marketing materials ‘are the collateral used
to promote a business to current and prospective customers.
Marketing Materials
The promotions section is one of the most
key sections of a marketing plan and details how a company will reach
new customers.
Promotions Strategy -
Like it or not, most customers go
online these days to find and/or appraise new products and/or services
to purchase.
Online Marketing Strategy
four key components to a company’s online marketing strategy
are as follows:
a. Keyword Strategy
b. Search Engine Optimization Strategy
c. Paid Online Advertising Strategy
d. Social Media Strategy
Conversion strategies are the techniques a
company employs to turn prospective customers into paying
customers.
Conversion Strategy
Joint ventures and partnerships
are agreements a company forges with other organizations to help
reach new customers or better monetize existing customers.
Joint Ventures & Partnerships
A strong customer referral program could
revolutionize a company’s success.
Referral Strategy
In this section of the
plan, a company should think about ways to increase its transaction
prices such as by increasing prices, creating product or service
bundles/ packages, and so on.
Strategy for Increasing Transaction Prices
Too many organizations spend too much
time and energy trying to secure new. customers versus investing in
getting existing customers to buy more often.
Retention Strategy
the concluding part of a marketing plan is
to construct financial projections.
Financial Projections
