THE ESSENSE OF MARKET STRATEGY

1
THE ESSENSE OFMARKET STRATEGY

• Dr. Gerald Smith
• Carroll Graduate School of Management
• Boston College

2
TYPES OF CORPORATE STRATEGIC THRUSTS

• Market Driven Strategy
• Product Driven Strategy
• Process Driven Strategy

3
TO NON-MARKETERS, MARKETING IS . . .

• Vague
• Ambiguous
• Salesmanship
• Soft
• Non-quantitative
• Simple
• Intangible
• Conceptual

4
MARKETING IS THE FUNCTION IN THE COMPANY CHARGED
WITH . . .MARKET STRATEGY
5
THE DOMAIN OF MARKET STRATEGY

• IT IS . . .
• Market focused
• Strategically focused
• Future focused

• BECAUSE . . .
• Markets are disorganized, chaotic, confused
• Competitors deploy scarce resources to gain
  market share
• To preserve competitive advantage and long run
  returns

6
THE OBJECTIVE OF MARKET STRATEGY

• To create order out of chaos
• To create and capture unrealized market value
• To build long term competitive advantage
• To make the future concrete

7
LEVELS OF MARKET STRATEGY

• Market Vision How is the market organized? How
  should it be organized?
• Market Objectives What should we achieve, when,
  why?
• Market Strategy (Plan) How should we direct
  resource deployment to achieve market objectives?
• Market Implementation What activities do we do,
  when, and where to fulfill the market plan?

8
MARKET STRATEGY

• Articulates a definition of a future market
  vision
• Establishes a structure of strategic market
  relationships
• Sets forth a plan of coordinated market actions
• That the company . . .
• Can work to
• Can organize around
• Can invest in

9
A GOOD MARKET STRATEGY IS . . .

• Plausible
• Sensible
• Credible
• Believable
• Persuasive
• Articulate
• Strategic

10
DESIGNING PERSUASIVE MARKET STRATEGY

• Sound quantitative analyses
• Vivid qualitative analyses
• Reliable, valid market evidence
• Is strategic
• Articulates the big picture of competitive market
  dynamics
• Consistency of the market strategy with itself
• Consistency of the market strategy with the
  market
• Talks the language and tools of market strategists

11
MARKET DRIVEN STRATEGY

• Be market driven.
• Be strategic.