Strategic Marketing is the process by which define the ways how business moves should be designed to have benefits from the market.

1. Strategic marketing

2. Interaction between marketing
and corporate strategy
Figure 20.1

3. Corporate versus marketing strategy
Corporate strategy:
• Allocation of resources
within an organisation to
achieve the business
direction and scope
specified within
corporate objectives.
• Helps to control and
co-ordinate the different
areas of the
organisation.
Marketing strategy:
• Defines target markets,
direction and
requirements in order to
create a defensible
position compatible with
the overall corporate
strategy.

4. Marketing plans and programmes
Marketing plan:
• Turning strategies into implementable actions.
• A detailed written statement specifying target markets,
marketing programmes, responsibilities, time scales and
resources to be used within the defined budgets.
Marketing programmes:
• Actions, often tactical, using marketing mix variables to
gain advantage within target market.
• Means of implementing the marketing strategy.
• Normally detailed in the marketing plan.

5. Influences on marketing strategy
Figure 20.2

6. Strategic marketing analysis models
All of these models view products as:
• Manageable individual entities on an operational basis.
• A product portfolio (set of products each of which make
a unique contribution to the corporate picture) on a
strategic basis.

7. Analysis models
• Boston Box.
• GE matrix.
• Shell’s directional policy matrix.

8. The Boston Box
Figure 20.3

9. Boston Box
• Dog - holds a weak market share in a low growth
market.
• Question mark - high market growth with low share.
• Star - a market leader in a growth market.
• Cash cow - as market growth starts to trail off, stars can
become cash cows.
• War horses - market leaders, whose cash generating
position under threat due to negative market growth.
• Dodos - low share of a declining market means that
sales are dwindling away.

10. GE matrix
Figure 20.4

11. Shell’s directional policy matrix
Figure 20.5

12. Types of growth
Intensive growth:
• Market penetration.
• Market development.
• Product development.
Diversified growth
Integrative growth - backward, forward, horizontal.
No growth - harvesting, entrenchment, withdrawal.

13. Competitor analysis
A systematic attempt to identify and understand key
elements of a competitor’s strategy in terms of
objectives, strategies, resource allocation and
implementation through the marketing mix.

14. Porter’s Five Forces Model
1. Bargaining power of suppliers.
2. Bargaining power of customers.
3. Threat of new entrants.
4. Threat of substitute products or services.
5. Rivalry among current competitors.

15. Concerns of an Org.’s competitive analysis
1. Who are our competitors?
2. How can our competitors be grouped meaningfully?
3. What are our competitors’ strengths and weaknesses?
4. What are our competitors’ objectives and strategies?
5. How are our competitors likely to react to changes in
the marketing environment?

16. Concerns of an Org.’s competitive analysis (1)
Competitor identification
1. Who are our competitors?
Similar specific-same product, technology and target market
Similar general-same product area, but different segments
e.g. Haagen daze vs. Wall’s
Different specific-same need satisfied by different means
e.g. Eurostar vs. British airway
Different general-competing for discretionary spend
e.g. holiday vs. new car

17. Concerns of an Org.’s competitive analysis (2)
2. How can our competitors be grouped meaningfully?
Different characteristics for identifying Strategic groupings
Figure 20.8
Source: Adapted from Wilson et al. (1992).

18. Concerns of an Org.’s competitive analysis (3)
3. What are competitive strengths and weaknesses
• Requires use of various information sources.
• Consider in terms of critical success factors:
e.g. manufacturing, technical and financial strength,
relationships with supplier and customer, its market and
segment, product range, its volume, cash and profits etc.
• Information can be used to plan and launch attack.

19. Concerns of an Org.’s competitive analysis (4)
4. What are our competitors’ objectives and strategies?
Objectives – related to cash generation, market share,
technological leadership, quality recognition
etc.
Find clues in product portfolio.
Strategy - related to its positioning, marketing mix etc.

20. Concerns of an Org.’s competitive analysis (5)
5. How are our competitors likely to react to changes in the
marketing environment?
Learn by experience
Not easy to predict its reaction due to: its cost structures,
relative market positions, product life cycle, industrial
position etc.

21. Concerns of an Org.’s competitive analysis (1)
1. Who are our competitors?
Similar specific-same product, technology and target market
Similar general-same product area, but different segments
e.g. Haagen daze vs. Wall’s
Different specific-same need satisfied by different means
e.g. Eurostar vs. British airway
Different general-competing for discretionary spend
e.g. holiday vs. new car

22. Useful information about competitors
Table 20.2
Source: Wilson et al. (1992).

23. Generic strategies
Figure 20.9

24. Sources of differentiations
• Product – branding, innovation, quality,
specification, design, image, patents;
• Price – price positions, price-value combinations
• Place – intensive, exclusive distributions
• Promotion – creativity, spending
• Service – strong trust with customer

25. Choice of generic strategy
• Fit between the demands of the strategy and the
organisation’s capabilities and resources.
• The main competitor’s abilities on similar criteria.
• The key criteria for success in the market and their
match with the organisation’s capabilities.

26. Competitive positions and strategy
Figure 20.10

27. Attacking and defending
• Aggressive strategies - frontal, flank, encirclement,
bypass, and guerrilla attacks.
• Defence strategies - fixed position, mobile, flanking,
contraction, counter offensive.

28. Attack strategies
Figure 20.11
Source: Kotler and Singh (1981). Reproduced with permission of Thomson Media, Eleven Penn Plaza, New York, NY
10001

29. Defence strategies
Figure 20.12
Source: Kotler and Singh (1981). Reproduced with permission of Thomson Media Eleven Penn Plaza, New York, NY
10001.

30. Co-operative and independent strategies
Many situations can also be characterised by peaceful
coexistence and co-operative alliances between
competitors.