Saturday, March 10, 2012

Chapter 3 - Collecting Information and Forecasting Demand

Summary



A successful business is one that delivers customer value at a profit.  Marketers for these great marketing companies know how to develop a marketing plan for delivering value and making it work for their business.  The value delivery process begins before the product and continues throughout the life of the product.  It involves choosing the value; providing the value through specific features, prices, and distribution; and communicating the value through various communication aspects to promote the product.  The value chain identifies key activities that create more customer value and cost in a business.  A successful business exceeds by developing superior capabilities in core competencies, which give it a competitive advantage; functions in a wide variety of markets; and makes it difficult for competitors to imitate.  A company can incorporate value exploration, value creation, and value delivery in their business to create and maintain a relationship with its customers.

Strategic market planning lays out the target markets and the firm’s value proposition, based on an analysis of the best market opportunities. The corporate strategy establishes the foundation that divisions and business units prepare strategic plans.  A corporate strategy involves defining the corporate mission, establishing strategic business units, assigning resources to each unit, and assessing growth opportunities. 

A strategic business unit (SBU) can be planned separate from the company, has its own set of competitors, and has a manager responsible for strategic planning and profit performance.  The purpose of the SBU is to develop separate strategies and assign appropriate funding.  The business unit strategic planning process defines the business mission; analyzes strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; formulates specific goals and strategies; formulates and implements programs; and gather feedback and control.  The key to the success of a business is the willingness to examine the changing environment and adopt new goals and behaviors.

Each product must have a marketing plan in order to achieve its goals.  A market plan summarizes what the marketer has learned about the marketplace and indicates how the firm plans to reach its marketing objectives.  Marketers can show how the market function helps the firm achieve its goals and objectives through the use of marketing metrics, marketing dashboards, and various analyses to assess marketing performance over time.


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