Term
| What is the importance of strategic planning? |
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Definition
| Strategic planning is the basis for all marketing strategies and decisions. These decisions affect the allocation of resources and ultimately the financial success of the company. |
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Term
| Define strategic business units (SBUs) |
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Definition
Each SBU should have these characteristics:
1. A distinct mission and a specific target market
2. Control over its resources
3. Its own competitors
4. A single business
5. Plans independent from other SBUs in the organization
Each SBU has its own rate of return on investment, growth potential, and associated risks, and requires its own strategies and funding. |
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Term
| Identify strategic alternatives |
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Definition
Ansoff's oppotunity matrix presents four options to help management develop strategic alternatives:
1. market penetration
2. market development
3. product development
4. diversification
In selecting a strategic alternative, managers may use a portfolio matrix which classifies srategic business units as stars, cash cows, problem children (or ?s), and dogs, depending on their present or projected growth and market share.
Alternatively, the GE model suggests that companies determine strategic alternatives based on the comparisons between business position and market attractiveness. |
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Term
| Explain the marketing planning process |
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Definition
A marketing plan should define the business mission, perform a situation analysis, define objectives, delineate a target market, and establish components of the marketing mix.
Other elements that may be included in a plan are budgets, implementation timetables, required marketing research efforts, or elements of advanced strategic planning. |
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Term
| Describe an appropriate business mission statement. |
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Definition
| The firm's mission statement establishes boundaries for all sub sequent decisions, objectives, and strategies. A mission statement should focus on the market(s) the organization is attempting to serve rather than on the good or service offered. |
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Term
| Describe the components of a situation analysis |
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Definition
In the situation or (SWOT) analysis, the firm should identiffy its internal
strengths (S)
weaknesses (W)
opportunities (O)
threats (T)
When examining external opportunities and threats, marketing managers must analyze aspects of the marketing environment in a process called environmental scanning. The six macro-environmental forces studied most often are 1. social
2. demographic
3. economic
4. technological
5. political and legal
6. competitive |
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Term
| Identify sources of competitive advantage |
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Definition
There are three types of competitive advantage:
1. Cost
2. Product/service differentiation
3. Niche
Sources of cost competitive advantage include experience curves, efficient labor, no-frills goods and services, government subsidies, product design, reengineering, production innovations, and new methods of service delivery. A product/service differentiation competitive advantage exists when a firm provides something unique that is valuable to buyers beyond just low price. Nice competitive advantages come from targeting unique segments with specific needs and wants. The goal of all these sources of competitive advantage is to be sustainable. |
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Term
| Explain the criteria for stating good marketing objectives |
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Definition
| Objectives should be realistic, measurable, time specific, and compared to a benchmark. They must also be consistent and indicate the priorities of the organization. Good marketing objectives communicate marketing management philosophies, provide management direction, motivate employees, force executives to think clearly, and form a basis for control. |
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Term
| Discuss target market strategies |
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Definition
| Targeting markets begins with a market oportunity analysis (MOA), which describes and estimates the size and sales potential of market segments that are of interest to the firm. In addition, an assessment of key competitors in these market segments is performed. After the market segments are described, one or more may be targeted by the firm. |
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Term
| Describe the elements of the marketing mix |
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Definition
The marketing mix is a blend of product, place, promotion, and pricing strategies (the four Ps) designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market.
The starting point of the marketing mix is product offering - tangible goods, ideas or services. Place (distribution) strategies are concerned with making products available when and where customers want them. Promotion includes, advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling. Price is what a buyer must give up in order to obtain a product and is often the most flexible of the four marketing mix elements. |
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Term
| Explain why implementation, evaluation, and control of the marketing plan are necessary. |
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Definition
| Before a marketing plan can work, it must be implemented - that is, people must perform the actions for the plan. The plan should also be evaluated to see if it has achieved its objectives. Poor implementation can be a major factor in a plans failure, but working to gain acceptance can be accomplished with task forces. Once implemented, one major aspect of control is the marketing audit and ultimately continuing to apply what the audit uncovered through post-audit tasks. |
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Term
| Identify several techniques that help make strategic planning effective |
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Definition
| First, management must realize that strategic planning is an ongoing process and not a once-a-year exercise. Second, good strategic planning involves a high level of creativity. |
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Term
| the managerial process of creating and maintaininga fit between the organization’s objectives and resources and the evolving market opportunities |
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Definition
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Term
| a subgroup of a single business or collection of related businesses within the larger organization |
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Definition
| strategic business unit (SBU) |
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Term
| a marketing strategy that tries to increase market share among existing customers |
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Definition
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Term
| a marketing strategy that entails attracting new customers to existing products |
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Definition
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Term
| a marketing strategy that entails the creation of new products for present markets |
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Definition
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Term
| a strategy of increasing sales by introducing new products into new markets |
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Definition
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Term
| a tool for allocating resources among products or strategic business units on the basis of relative market share and market growth rate |
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Definition
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Term
| in the portfolio matrix, a business unit that is a fast-growing market leader |
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Definition
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Term
| in the portfolio matrix, a business unit that generates more cash than it needs to maintain its market share |
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Definition
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Term
| in the portfolio matrix, a business unit that shows rapid growth but poor profit margins |
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Definition
| problem child (question mark) |
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Term
| in the portfolio matrix, a business unit that has low growth potential and a small market share |
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Definition
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Term
| the process of anticipating future events and determining strategies to achieve organizational objectives in the future |
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Definition
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Term
| designing activities relating to marketing objectives and the changing marketing environment |
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Definition
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Term
| a written document that acts as a guidebook of marketing activities for the marketing manager |
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Definition
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Term
| a statement of the firm’s business based on a careful analysis of benefits sought by present and potential customers and an analysis of existing and anticipated environmental conditions |
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Definition
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Term
| defining a business in terms of goods and services rather than in terms of the benefits customers seek |
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Definition
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Term
| an advantage that cannot be copied by the competition |
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Definition
| sustainable competitive advantage |
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Term
| identifying internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and also examining external opportunities (O) and threats (T) |
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Definition
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Term
| Collection and interpretation of information about forces, events, and relationships in the external environment that may affect the future of the organization or the implementation of the marketing plan |
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Definition
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Term
| A set of unique features of a company and its products that are perceived by the target market as significant and superior to those of the competition |
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Definition
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Term
| Being the low-cost competitor in an industry while maintaining satisfactory profit margins |
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Definition
| cost competitive advantage |
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Term
| curves that show costs declining at a predictable rate as experience with a product increases |
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Definition
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Term
| The provision of something that is unique and valuable to buyers beyond simply offering a lower price than that of the competition |
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Definition
| Product/service differentiation competitive advantage |
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Term
| The advantage achieved when a firm seeks to target and effectively serve a small segment of the market |
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Definition
| Niche competitive advantage |
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Term
| A statement of what is to be accomplished through marketing activities |
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Definition
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Term
| A unique blend of product, place (distribution), promotion, and pricing strategies designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market |
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Definition
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Term
| Product, place, promotion, and price, which together make up the marketing mix |
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Definition
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Term
| The process that turns a marketing plan into action assignments and ensures that these assignments are executed in a way that accomplishes the plan’s objectives |
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Definition
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Term
| Gauging the extent to which the marketing objectives have been achieved during the specified time period |
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Definition
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Term
| Provides the mechanisms for evaluating marketing results in light of the plan’s objectives and for correcting actions that do not help the organization reach those objectives within budget guidelines |
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Definition
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Term
| A thorough, systematic, periodic evaluation of the objectives, strategies, structure, and performance of the marketing organization |
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Definition
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