Marketing implication for corporate strategies
Introduction
Over the last decade there has been a growing interest in the construct of market orientation (Webster, 1994; Day, 1992) and its usefulness in increasing companies’ economic performance (Narver and Slater, 1990; Ruekert, 1992; Jaworski and Kohli, 1993; Lambin, 1996; Deng and Dart, 1994). However, it is still not well understood why there is such an effect and particularly how it operates.. The notion that the customer needs to be at the origin of business planning processes seems a very contemporary one, as is the idea of organizing the firm ́s activities around a thorough understanding of customer needs and demands
Marketing strategies’ are viewed as an antecedent to performance outcomes(Lages 2000). It is the modus operator that allows an organization to concentrate its limited resources (Michael Baker 2008).on the best available opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage Marketing strategy has been a salient focus of academic inquiry since the 1980s, according to (Mavondo 2000).. Marketing strategy is the comprehensive plan formulated particularly for achieving the marketing objectives of the organization
Marketing implications for corporate or business strategy
Tiffany(2007) defines Corporate strategy as the overall direction a corporation takes to achieve business success. It is the way a corporation arranges its internal operational resources in an effective and efficient manner to achieve its goals. A corporate strategy has several additional components which include, Scope, mission and intent, sources of competitive advantages; and sources of synergy
A business strategy can be defined as the combination of all the decisions taken and actions performed by the business to accomplish business goals and to secure a competitive position in the market. It is the backbone of the business as it is the roadmap which leads to the desired goals. Any fault in this roadmap can result in the business getting lost in the crowd of overwhelming competitors. A business objective without a strategy is just a dream. It is no less than a gamble if you enter into the market without a well-planned strategy
The Marketing Implications of Corporate Strategy Decisions a corporate mission statement should clearly define the organization’s strategic scope. It should answer the following fundamental questions:– What is our business?– Who are our customers?– What kinds of value can we provide to these customers?– What should our business be in the future?
The Marketing Implications of Corporate Strategy decisions must be specific and measurable. Each objective contains four components: –A performance dimension or attribute sought. –A measure or index for evaluating progress. –A target or hurdle level to be achieved. –
Corporations exist to earn profits and provide wealth to their shareholders. The board of directors — in small corporations typically these individuals are the shareholders — and management set the goals and objectives for the company. How the company pursues its goals is its corporate strategy. Corporate strategy has implications for several areas of the company.
Marketing Implications
A company with customer-focused strategic objectives will have a corporate strategy that impacts its marketing. When a corporation can visualize and project the long-term profit implications of a customer, it can modify its strategy to capture as much of that customer’s lifetime value as possible. In addition, a company with strong customer satisfaction can identify that as a competitive advantage and influence its relationship with loyal customers by introducing new products or services The main implication of a marketing strategy is the orientation toward meeting customer needs that results in increased customer satisfaction. Once you have identified your target market and the characteristics of your targeted customers through surveys and market studies, you can focus on strategies to serve your customers better than your competition. Customer impressions of your company improve with this focus, and your image in the marketplace becomes more positive. Such a marketing strategy is designed to gain new customers as you build a more favorable reputation.
Knowledge-Based Synergies
Another strategic implication is the impact of knowledge on the company as a whole. A corporate strategy may involve introducing new products or opening up a new location each year. As a company does this repeatedly, it builds a knowledge base. It can leverage that knowledge base and transfer knowledge from one business unit to another, or enter a new market by working with a partner and sharing knowledge with its partner. For employees, an effective marketing strategy implementation means working for a more successful company. Better company performance improves employee morale, and high-quality products result in high levels of commitment to the organization. The customer-orientation of the marketing strategy gives employees increased job satisfaction as they deal with customers who have positive experiences with company products and in customer service. Such an atmosphere is conducive to excellent team spirit and employee cooperation to achieve ambitious company objectives.
Technology Implications
Technology is one of the implications, For example, a company may shift from advertising in newspapers to advertising in online blogs or newsletters. A company may have an expansion goal but realize that opening new offices would be too expensive. Instead it chooses to build out its information technology infrastructure — servers, hardware, software and tech support –- to support employees working from home
Learning
Learning is the acquisition, interpretation and dissemination of the organizational information inside firms’ culture (Slater & Narver, 1995). Learning is a cultural process accumulated by the organization and circulated within its firms. Farrell (2000) and Hurley and Hult (1998) supported the association between market orientation and learning, commenting that learning is a cultural feature of the organization that deals with marketing and customer demands. In that situation, we assumed that there is a positive relationship between learning and market orientation.
Personnel Needs
Commitment. Kohli and Jaworski (1990) argue that by spreading a sense of pride and camaraderie among employees, market orientation enhances organizational commitment, employee-team spirit and customer orientation. Shoham et al. (2005) comment that committed) are less likely to be absent from work or to resign from their firms, are more likely to go beyond required norms to contribute to the attainment of organizational goals and are willing to put more effort into the wellbeing of the organization. Because of these features, organizational commitment should be positively associated with market orientation,as there is always a positive relationship between commitment and market orientation. The strategy dictates how fast a company expands, what products and services it provides and how the company grows, for example, through increased sales and marketing or through acquisitions. The pace of growth impacts how many people a corporation will need to hire. The focus of that growth determines the skill and ability level of the new employees and any training needed for existing employees.
Innovation.
Innovation consequences include firms’ innovativeness and the ability to create and implement new ideas, products and processes (Hult & Ketchen, 2001). Market orientation should enhance an organization’s innovativeness and new product performance since innovation drives a continuous and proactive disposition toward meeting customer needs and emphasizes greater use of information (Han, Kim, & Srivastava, 1998). For organizations, the notion that consumers have different needs and demands.
Performance.
Because market orientation helps firms track and respond to changing customer needs, it should be associated with business performance. Literature suggests that firms manage their relationship with the environment in order to maximize their performance (Shoham et al., 2005). Resource Based View Theory postulates that differential firm resources give rise to superior strategy and performance (Barney, 1991). Because market orientation helps firms to improve their resources and is a market differential, the investments on this strategy should result in superior performance (Perin, Sampaio, & Henriqson, 2005). Thus, we hypothesize that H6: there is a positive relationship between market orientation and performance (Deshpandé & Farley, 1998; Kohli & Jaworski, 1990; Slater & Narver, 1994b; Urdan, 2000, 2001a, 2001b)
Conclusion
There is a growing interest in the concept of market orientation, as empirical evidence shows that firms with a higher market orientation obtain better market performance, thus optimizing their economic and commercial results. When a company tries to expand and deepen current customer relationships and the orientation that specific firm has to take when developing new customer relationships, has the potential to significantly impact overall firm performance (Kumar et al. 2006; Morgan and Hunt 1994; Palmatier et al. 2006). During a long period of time market orientation has become more and more important for the performance of firms. Market orientation has mainly been characterized to be focused on three main components: customer orientation, competitor orientation and interfunctional coordination. According to Narver and Slater (1990), the three major components of market orientation , customer orientation, competitor orientation, and interfunctional coordination are long-term in vision and profit-driven. In the reviewed literature, market orientation has been analyzed using theories that have proven successful in explaining various organizational outcomes in past studies. Despite the fact that the importance of market orientation factors has been recognized in the existing literature, still inter-factor relationships and interaction was not identified and analyzed, a limitation which our study addressed by building a superior market orientation-marketing framework. The key component of marketing strategy is the marketing mix, the Four P‘s–namely, price, product, place and promotion. The result or the outcome of the marketing strategy depends on the impact of the interaction of the four P‘s with the external environment. marketing strategy decisions determines the effectiveness of the strategy formulated
Marketing strategy can improve business profitability because of implications for all aspects of the company’s operations. The marketing strategy focuses company attention on particular target market segments and makes it clear what product characteristics are required for successfully satisfying customer needs. This focus eliminates marginal operations that don’t contribute to business growth and promotes a streamlined approach to the company’s business.
Reference
Cespedes, Frank, & Piercy, Nigel (1996). Implementing marketing strategy. Journal of Marketing Management
Dawes, J. (1999). Market orientation and company profitability: further evidence incorporating longitudinal data. Australian Journal of Management, 25(2), 173-199
Kohli, Ajay, & Jaworski, Bernard (1990). Market orientation: The construct, research propositions, and managerial implications. Journal of Market
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