The document discusses marketing strategy and its importance for businesses. It explains that a marketing strategy provides an in-depth view of a company's strengths, weaknesses, and long-term goals, and how to implement ideas to improve customer base. The primary internal objective for any business is to create and increase profitability to enhance shareholder value. An effective strategy balances interests of stakeholders like employees, customers, suppliers, and shareholders. It also guides resource allocation to help the organization meet its goals.

1. Marketing Strategy
Q1) Explain the „Internally Driven Objectives‟ and their role in Strategy Guideline
A marketing strategy is a way to clearly define a plan for business goals and customer or
client outreach projects. Deciding on a few marketing techniques is a fast and casual way to
market your business, but a marketing strategy provides a more in-depth view of a company's
strengths, weaknesses and long-term ambitions. Then it summarizes how to implement ideas
that will improve and increase a client/customer base.
The primary internal objective
For any business, the primary internal objective is to create, maintain& increase profitability
thereby enhance the shareholder value.
In recent years, a growing number of companies have concluded that the organizations
ultimate objective should be to increase its shareholders economic returns as measured by
dividends plus appreciation in the company’s stock price. To do so, the management must
balance the interest of various corporate constituencies, including employees, customers,
suppliersdebt holder, and stockholders. The firms continued existence depends ona financial
relationship with each of these parties.
It’s a multidimensional structure, wherein on one hand employees want competitive wages,
on the other the customers want high quality product at competitive price, the suppliers and
debt holders have financial claims that must be satisfied with cash when they fall due, and
shareholders look for dividends and appreciation in the stock market price thereby increasing
prospects for future dividends
To satisfy the financial claims of its constituents and to enhance the stakeholder’s value, the
company has to strive and enhance its ability to generate cash from the operation of its
business which will also enable it to gain the confidence of external debt and equity
financiers
A well thought out mission statement guides the managers of an organization as to which
market opportunities to pursue and which fall outside the firm’s strategic domain. A clearly
stated mission can help instill a shared sense of direction, relevance and achievement among
employees as well as a positive image of the firm among the customers, investors and other
stake holders. To provide a useful direction, the corporate statement should have clear
answers for certain fundamental questions like
1) What is our business?
2) Who are our customers?
3) What kinds of value can we provide to these customers?
4) What should our business be in the future?
Like any other strategy component, an organization mission should fit both its internal &
external – Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats. The firm’s mission should be
compatible with its established values, resources and distinctive competencies. Not stopping
with that, it should also focus efforts on markets where these resources and competencies will
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2. generate value for customers, create a synergy across the stable of offerings by the company,
thereby leading it to financial profitability and stability.
For example, PepsiCo broadened its mission several years ago to focus on - marketing
superior quality food and beverage products for households and consumers – such clearly
defined mission guided the firm’s managers towards acquisition of several related companies
& brands like Frito-Lay, Pizza Hut etc. As an outcome of it, the company was able to
enhance its stakeholder’s value at a global level.
An effective strategic plan includes all of the following
 Mission Statement: To define the organization’s core purpose. Why do we exist?
 Vision Statement: To explain where you are headed your future state. To formulate a
picture of what your organization’s future makeup will be and where the organization
is headed. What will your organization look like 5 to 10 years from now?
 Values Statement or Guiding Principles: To clarify what you stand for and believe
in.
 SWOT: To assess the particular strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that
are strategically important to your organization.
 Competitive Advantage: To define what you are best at. What can your organization
potentially do better than any other organization?
 Strategic Objectives: To connect your mission to your vision. Strategic objectives
are long-term, continuous strategic areas that get you moving from your mission to
achieving your vision. What are the key activities that you need to perform in order to
achieve your vision?
 Strategies: To establish a guide that matches our organization’s strengths with market
opportunities to position your organization in the mind of the customer. Does your
strategy match your strengths with how you will provide value to and be perceived by
your customers?
 Short-Term Goals/Priorities/Initiatives: To set goals that convert the strategic
objectives into specific performance targets. Effective goals clearly state what, when,
how, and who and are specifically measurable. What are the 1 to 3-year goals you are
trying to achieve to get to your strategic objectives?
 Action Items/Plans: To set specific action plans that lead to implementing your
goals. Are your action items comprehensive enough to achieve your goals?
 Scorecard: To measure and manage your strategic plan. What are key performance
measures you can track in order to monitor whether you are achieving your goals?
 Financial Assessment: To determine whether your strategic plan makes financial
sense. Do the estimated revenue projections exceed your estimated expenses
The benefits of strategizing in line with the company’s internal objectives are
 Prepare for contingencies that could prevent it from attaining its goals
 Prepare a framework for the organization’s orderly growth and progress
 Have a strategy for the allocation of resources in a manner that will allow the
organization to meet its goals
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3. Q2) The Best Way to hold customers is to constantly endeavor to give them ”More for
Less” Explain Product Strategy with reference to this Statement.
Customer is the king. He is the central point for the brands; since it is the customer who’s
spending on the respective brands translates not only in the form of brands popularity &
equity but also contributes to the brands financial growth and stability.
The strategy of More for Less has a relation to both mass & growing markets, at different
context though, like for example
The potential competitor brand is aggressively pushing the consumer to switch from the
competing brand:- from a price point the possible marketing reactions to be Meet or Beat
lower prices or heavier promotional efforts by competitors or try to preempt such efforts by
potential competitors, when necessary to retain customers and when lower unit costs allow
(confrontation strategy)
The potential competitor is head-to-head with the leading/other brand in the given
market:- from a price point the possible marketing reactions to be Meet or Beat lower prices
or heavier promotional efforts by competitor, when necessary to retain customers and when
lower unit costs allow (confrontation strategy)
Suppose a competitor chooses to attack the leader head-to-head and attempts to steal
customers in the leaders main target market. If the leader has established a strong position
and attained a high level of preference and loyalty among customers and the trade, it may be
able to sit back and wait for the competitor to fail. In many cases, though, the leader brand is
not strong enough to withstand a frontal assault from a well-funded, competent competitor.
Case in point, the mobile handset trend in India now, when Apple Iphone was losing its
market share in Smartphones category to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab in India, since the later was
providing a product that was very competitively priced but offering the superior feature of the
leader. Sooner, the smartphone market in India moved towards a boom with the entry of
brands from the local market like Micromax, Karbon etc, who along with Samsung started
eating out on the market share of Apple Iphone.
In such situations, the leader may have no choice but to confront the competitive threat
directly. If the leader’s competitive intelligence is good, it may decide to move proactively
and change its marketing program before a suspected competitive challenge occurs. A
confrontational strategy, though, is more commonly reactive. The leader usually decided to
meet or beat the attractive feature of a competitors offering, by making product
improvements or increasing promotional efforts or lowering prices – only after the
challengers success has become obvious. With reference to the above example, Apple
countered Samsung Galax Tab in two ways, 1) it came out with it Operating System 5 with
superior technology & 2) it launched the Apple Mini Tab
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4. Another most obvious way a leader can strengthen its position is to continue modify and
improve its product. This can reduce the opportunities for competitors to differentiate their
products by designing in features or performance levels the leader does not offer. At this
point, the leader might also try to reduce costs to discourage low price competition – if not
for a permanent reduction atleast in the form of a promotional campaign.
Not stopping with it,
 The leader should continue taking steps to improve not only the physical product but
consumer perception as well
 The leader should continue to focus on increased attention to its post-sale service
For example, most recently, Blackberry has launched its new Operating System. The smart
phone has been strategically priced lower than the category leader Apple Iphone, inspite of
the fact that the features and offerings are at par of that of the category leader Apple Iphone.
The twist is, almost the same time of the launch, Apple Iphone moved into Guerilla Attack by
doing a limited period promotional campaign of Iphone at a low cost with EMI facility.
Moving down the experience curve is the most commonly discussed method of achieving and
sustaining a low-cost position in an industry. But a firm does not necessarily need a large
relative market share to implement a low-cost strategy. For instance, in advertising industry
in Tamil Nadu market, specifically in the creative services, there are well maintained &
profitable small set up’s, who has managed to offer competitive pricing for creative services,
below those of much larger global players in the market, by developing the right alliances
with the right suppliers & giving opportunities to new and good talents.
Some other means for obtaining a sustainable cost advantage include producing a no-frills
product, creating an innovative product design, finding cheaper raw materials, automating
and outsourcing production, developing low cost distribution channels and reducing
overhead.
Q3) CASE STUDY
CASE STUDY – Q1
Analyze the “Domestic Tourism Segment” and its attractiveness
Tourism in India is no more “the privilege of affluent”, is now becoming affordable for a
larger set of people particularly from the mid-income group, hence has become a SEC AB
target from the earlier SEC A target (HNI Indians, NRI’s and Foreigners)
Transcending across multiple SEC’s, tourism today has become a business model earning
additional revenues for the country & also a creator of employment, thereby providing scope
to better the living standards of its citizens
Though a newly discovered additional revenue generator, the sheer size of possible revenues
has given Indian Tourism high visibility within the government, thereby to influence policies
for its growth
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5. In order to keep up with the pace, so that the real development in the industry can be handled
constructively, the program is dovetailedwith Bharat Nirman Yojana. The Tourism
department has obtained a two level strategy, with meaningful research programs which will
be an enabler to analyze and understand the Indian Tourism market in terms of its earning
potential
 Efforts are made to create an accommodation pool by inviting all stake-holders to join
& participate in the growth of the industry
o Long term requirements in the form of various infrastructure development that
are connected to the Tourism industry
o Opportunity for Public Private Partnerships, wherein the government takes
care of the socio-cultural infrastructure & the private enterprises invest in
capacity building and service enhancement.
o Upliftment of hundreds of popular destinations, thereby increasing scope for
revenue generation within the available vast resources of the country
 While it helps in generating additional revenues to the government, it will also offer
incentives to attract investments in tourist projects, especially, those located in the
rural and semi-urban areas. This will also help inclusive development by increased
levels of economic activity and create jobs for the local populace.
CASE STUDY – Q2
What is the kind of Lifestyle and spending habits brought out in the case?
There are primarily four socio economic cultures from India & one from outside India has
been bought out in this case. Which are
SEC A & NRI’s & Foreigner – the affluent, High Networth Individual
SEC B – the middle class, who is now becoming the target audience
SEC C – the underprivileged, the ones who will be benefited by the job opportunities in tier 2
towns by this project
The Rural Aam Aadmi- who will be benefitted by the government’s investments in tourist
projects
CASE STUDY – Q3
What are the various strategies discussed in the case? Present details with your
comments?
There are two strategies approaches – Corporate Strategy & Business Strategy
Corporate Level Strategy
 Managers coordinating the activities of multiple business units, even separate legal
entities - at the corporate level
 Decisions about the organizations scope and resource deployments across its divisions
or businesses are the primary focus of Corporate Strategy
 Decision on
o Whatbusiness we are in?
o What business should we be in?
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6. o What portion of our total resources should we devote to each of these
businesses to achieve the organizational overall goals?
 Attempts to develop and maintain distinctive competencies at the corporate level
o on generating superior human, financial and technological resources
o designing effective organizational structures and processes
o seeking synergy among the forms various business
The following falls under the Corporate Strategy: Development of associated tourism infrastructure and connectivity
 Efforts to create an `accommodation pool' by inviting all stake-holders to join in and
participate in the growth of tourism
 Public private partnership
 Rationalizing the tax structure to make the hospitality and travel industry more
competitive and attractive for the consumer.
Business Level Strategy
 How a business unit competes within its industry is the critical focus
 What distinctive competencies can give the business unit a competitive advantage?
 Understanding which of the competencies best match the needs and wants of the
customers in the business target segments
 Business strategy will address appropriate scope, how many and which markets to
compete in, overall breadth of the product offering and marketing programs to appeal
to these segments
The following falls under Business Level Strategy: Analyses and report on if the infrastructure developments are of world-class airports,
quality hotel rooms, development of associated tourism infrastructure and
connectivity
 Hundreds of popular destinations must be given the face-lift needed to attract tourists.
 Offer incentives to attract investments in tourist projects, especially, those located in
the rural and semi-urban areas. This will also help inclusive development by increased
levels of economic activity and create jobs for the local populace.
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