Compare And Contrast Marketing Strategy

Differentiation strategy is generally reserved for companies with a clear competitive advantage. Companies such as Mercedes and Apple employ this strategy. Differentiation strategy is demonstrated when a company provides value to customers through unique unique features and characteristics of a company's products rather than by the lowest price (Open Learning World 2010).

Strategy is a set of complicated tactics formulated by the executives of a company directed towards the achievement of company’s goal (Salmela, 2002). It is about all the path ways that a company would follow to reach its ultimate goal. It is a company’s strategy which helps to identify what it does better than the other companies in the industries, which may be different from what it does best. For successful strategy formulation and implementation, a company should know the needs of customers and should have knowledge of its competitors. Through a good strategy a company would identify that opportunity which makes it different from the others (Thompson, 2005).

What is marketing strategy? The process of matching the organisation’s strengths to the customer needs, with the aim of achieving a competitive advantage in the market. The combination of product, price, distribution and promotion most suited to a particular group of consumers. • Goal: the create a sustainable competitive advantage in the market • All the elements of the marketing strategy that lead to the development of the competitive advantage require good understanding of consumer behaviour Marketing strategy process: • 1. Segment: understand consumers a. Determine the dimensions (age, geography, subculture) b. Determine the heterogeneity c. Define the needs & goals 2. Target: choose consumers a. Evaluate each segment in

Differentiation: Apple is an ideal example of an organization utilizing a differentiation strategy (Rothaermel, 2013). Apple seems to be able to “create customer needs (even if customers are initially unaware of the need)” (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 155). Apple’s value chain will differ from Walmart, and other cost-leadership strategy firms, in that it will have a greater focus on the development of their products and in its marketing and customer service. It will focus on product development in an effort to ensure their products continue to set the bar in their respective categories (Rothaermel, 2013). Apple will also focus on marketing and customer service to ensure that new and current customers are aware of the products’ areas of superiority (Rothaermel, 2013).

There are five components within a well- developed strategy. Market segments its competition when it plans to enter. Decisions about an organization’s strategic plan should focus on management’s view of the company’s mission or vision. Its various activities define the essential nature of what the company is should be like. A marketing strategy is composed of several related elements. Businesses are created from creativity and ideas. Many new business plans fail, because there is lack of execution. You need to execute in all areas of your business. Implementing and executing the chosen strategy and evaluating performance all involve marketing and

“Strategy is the integrated set of choices that positions the business in its industry so as to generate superior financial returns over the long run.“ – Professor Jan W. Rivkin (lecture 1)

Nowadays, the marketing concept has been broadened to have a strategic role in overall firm’s strategy rather than being just a part of functional management, this overlapping between marketing and strategic management has resulted in the increase of managers awareness about the importance of initiating marketing strategies in order to be able to compete effectively in the market. Hamper & Baugh (1990) offered a very interesting definition of strategic marketing, which says: “Although definitions for the term vary, we define marketing strategy as a consistent, appropriate and feasible set of principles through which a particular company hopes to achieve its long-run customer and profit objectives in a particular competitive environment”, thus a good marketing strategy is one that is dynamic, seeks profit opportunities and creates competitive advantage.

Strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve the goals of a business. MM Co. has adopted few strategies in operating its business. The strategies included global market strategy, branding strategy and Human Resource Development strategy.

Alfred Chandler(1963) defines strategy as ‘ the determination of the long-run goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action of an enterprise and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals’. And Michael porter(1996) sees it as ‘Competitive strategy is about being different. It means deliberately choosing different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value’.

Differentiation: In Differentiation strategy, a company ‘s goal is to create uniquely desirable products and service, that are different and more attractive than their competitors. It is rewarded for its uniqueness with a premium price.

Competitive strategy is the moves and methods that the firm has taken and is taking to appeal buyers, improve its market position, and to endure competitive pressures. The strategy is about what a firm’s capability to try to knock off competitors and attain competitive advantage, which can be offensive or defensive. There are three approaches to competitive strategy, which are low-cost leadership strategy where struggling to be the overall low-cost manufacturer in the in industry. Moreover, pursuing to distinguish one’s product offering from competitors (differentiation strategy), and the last one is focus or niche strategy where aiming on thin portion of the market rather than the whole market (Porter, 1998).

Another generic competitive strategy is broad differentiation strategies. According to Thompson, Strickland, and Gamble, in “Crafting and Executing Strategy”, broad differentiation strategy is seeking to differentiate the company’s product offering from rivals in ways that will appear to a brad spectrum of buyers. A company attempting to succeed through differentiation must study buyers’ needs and behavior carefully to learn what buyers consider important, what they think has value, and what they are willing to pay for. Then the company has to incorporate buyer-desired attributes into its product or service offering

Differentiation is differentiated products and services to meet customer demand, the company can desensitize- price and pay attention to the value that generates a comparatively higher prices and a better profit. So it needs

A strategy is said to be a plan that is made for the long term success of a product or brand. It is extremely important to have a strategy in order to figure out a direction towards which any company is able to focus all its resources efficiently and achieve desired outcomes. Formulating effective strategies is a considerably long process in itself that combines analysing several factors, situations and issues that are already present in a company and looking to improve on them alongside trying to implement various innovations and ideas to collectively create a direction towards which they can move and direct the resources available to them.

Figure 1: Michael Porter’s Three generic strategies (Source: Porter (1985) cited in Johnson et al, 2011)