Photography by Heather Burris

Strategies primarily revolve around establishing the point of entry in the product life cycle and an endurable competitive advantage. As we’ve already discussed, this involves defining the elements that will set your product or service apart from your competitors or strategic groups. You need to establish this competitive advantage clearly so the reader understands not only how you will accomplish your goals, but also why your strategy will work. Through your competitor analysis, you will also have to create a marketing strategy that will generate an asset or skill competitors don’t have, which will provide you with a distinct and enduring competitive advantage. Since competitive advantages are developed from key assets and skills, you should sit down and put together a competitive strength grid. This is a scale that lists all your major competitors or strategic groups based upon their applicable assets and skills and how your own company fits on this scale.

Laboratory and mathematical simulation models are two developments. For instance, the first screen in the exhibit is a financial one—a rough profit plan that compares the estimated payout period with the effect of a stress raiser is more significant for which of the following types of materials? the maximum period allowed by corporate policy. Concepts that pass through this screen receive further evaluation as they pass through successive screens during product and communication development.

The idea of strategy as a framework can be seen in Figure 4-1, where it is referred to as a tool of management. The functioning of a company is based on its business idea , and is aimed towards specific goals within a framework formed by strategy. Strategies are defined by top management and are based on analysis of internal and external conditions. The main drawback with direct marketing, however, is the profile-raising and image building that comes with a third party accrediting your brand. A direct marketing pitch that is delivered to the widest possible audience is probably the least effective.

Another reason for reviewing an organisation’s mission from time to time is that larger enterprises can find themselves gravitating away from their core business. This was experienced by the multinational mining company Rio Tinto. The company’s core business was the extraction of precious metals but over time it diversified its portfolio and became involved in many other types of business. Some of these were fairly closely related to mining but others had little or no connection.

The answer to this question must reflect the history and strengths of the organization. If most of its resources are in product R&D, it will probably experiment more with concepts than if its strength is in marketing and communications. When basing decisions on the analysis which a Lorenz curve provides, there are a number of caveats. It may be possible to improve the sales of these items by giving them greater support or through more imaginative marketing. The purpose of the annual plan control is to ensure that the company achieves the sales, profits and other goals established by the marketing plan. This type of control applies to all levels of the organisation and the process.

The existence of products outside of the realm of the common product boundaries increases the propensity of customers to switch to alternatives. An example is the substitute of traditional phone with VoIP phone. To fully understand the business climate, there are usually many different factors that can affect a business, and if researched well it will create a company that can respond well to change. A SWOT analysis is another method under the situation analysis that examines the Strengths and Weaknesses of a company as well as the Opportunities and Threats within the market .

In other cases, resource allocations are made according to the ‘political’ strength of a group, department or individual manager rather than on commercial merit. Strategic planning seeks to match resources to opportunities (and/or threats). Marketers may therefore coordinate with the company’s purchasing department on the procurement of these services. By iterating and experimenting, organizations can refine their target market metrics and filters to optimize their marketing budget and get the best potential return on investment.