Week 2: Marketing strategy and planning

The value delivery process involves choosing (or identifying), providing (or
delivering), and communicating superior value. The value chain is a tool for
identifying key activities that create value and costs in a specific business.

Strong companies develop superior capabilities in managing core business

processes such as new-product realisation, inventory management, and
customer acquisition and retention. Managing these core processes effectively
means creating a marketing network in which the company works closely with
all parties in the production and distribution chain, from suppliers of raw
materials to retail distributors. Companies no longer compete - marketing
networks do.

Market-oriented strategic planning is the managerial process of developing and

maintaining a viable fit between the organisation’s objectives, skills, and
resources and its changing market opportunities. The aim of strategic planning
is to shape the company’s businesses and products so that they yield target
profits and growth. Strategic planning takes place at four levels: corporate,
division, business unit, and product.

The corporate strategy establishes the framework within which the divisions and
business units prepare their strategic plans. Setting a corporate strategy entails
four activities: defining the corporate mission, establishing strategic business
units (SBUs), assigning resources to each SBU based on its market
attractiveness and business strength, and planning new businesses and
downsizing older businesses.

Strategic planning is critical to business success. Different from classic business

planning, the strategic variety involves vision, mission and outside-of-the-box
thinking. Strategic planning describes where you want your company to go, not
necessarily how you're going to get there. However, like any journey without
knowing where you want to go, creating details on how to arrive is meaningless.
Strategic planning defines the "where" that your company is heading.
Value delivery process and value chain

The Value Delivery Process:

    i.     Deliver customer value at a profit by fine-tuning the value delivery

process

    ii.     The traditional view of marketing where a firm makes something and
sells it only applies in economies with goods shortages
    iii.     Marketing is placed at the beginning of business planning in economies
with different consumer needs and wants

    iv.     Three phases to the value creation and delivery sequence:

The Value Chain: Every firm is a synthesis of activities performed to design,

produce, market, deliver and support its product.

Core competencies

Contemporary strategic management now has a very heavy appreciation and

respect for core competencies – not just the resources and capabilities of the
firm.

 A core competency – or distinctive competency - has three characteristics i.e.:

 A source of competitive advantage that makes a contribution to perceived

customer benefits
 Has application in a wide range of markets
 Is difficult for competitors to imitate

 In marketing driven organizations the following three core competencies are
suggested as being highly important by Wharton University’s Professor George
Day:

 Market sensing
 Customer linking
 Channel bonding

Role and process of strategic plan

Strategic planning for individual businesses includes defining the business

mission, analyzing external opportunities and threats, analyzing internal
strengths and weaknesses, formulating goals, formulating strategy, formulating
supporting programs, implementing the programs, and gathering feedback and
exercising control.

Marketing planning helps you develop products and services in your business
that meet the needs of your target market. Good marketing helps your customers
understand why your product or service is better than, or different from, the
competition. A good marketing plan can help you reach your target audience,
boost your customer base, and ultimately, increase your bottom line. It's often
required when seeking funding and helps you set clear, realistic and measurable
objectives for your business.
Developing a marketing plan requires research, time and commitment, but is a
very valuable process that can greatly contribute to your business success

Marketing plan

Marketing managers come up with a marketing plan for individual products,

porduct lines, brands, channels, or customer groups. A marketing plan is a
written document that summarizes what the marketer has learned about the
marketplace and indicates how the firm plans to reach its marketing objectives.