The Routledge Companion to Strategic Marketing

Bodo B. Schlegelmilch, Russell S. Winer, Bodo B. Schlegelmilch, Russell S. Winer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781351038645
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing Research
• Index: Business

The Routledge Companion to Strategic Marketing offers the latest insights into marketing strategy. Bodo Schlegelmilch and Russ Winer present 29 specially commissioned chapters, which include up-to-date thinking on a diverse range of marketing strategy topics.

Readers benefit from the latest strategic insights of leading experts from universities around the world. Contributing authors are from, among others, the U.S. (Berkeley, Cornell, MIT, New York University, Texas A&M), Europe (the Hanken School of Economics, INSEAD, the University of Oxford, the University of Groningen, WU Vienna) and Asia (the Indian School of Business, Tongji University). The topics addressed include economic foundations of marketing strategy, competition in digital marketing strategy (e.g. mobile payment systems and social media strategy), marketing strategy, and corporate social responsibility, as well as perspectives on capturing the impact of marketing strategy.

Collectively, this authoritative guide is an accessible tool for researchers, students, and practitioners.

Part I

Fundamentals

1 Foundations of Strategic Marketing

Rajan Varadarajan

Introduction

The evolution of strategic marketing as a field of study, over the past several decades, is a confluence of perspectives, theories, concepts, frameworks, principles, methods, models, and metrics from a number of fields of study, chief among them being marketing, strategic management, and industrial organization (IO) economics. A review of extant marketing literature is indicative of a number of broad research streams with a strategic focus, including, but not limited to, research focusing on:

•Issues in the realms of product, price, promotion, and place (4Ps) and segmentation, target market selection, and positioning (STP)

•Organizational-level phenomena that influence marketing strategy in important ways (e.g., corporate culture, organizational learning, and knowledge management)

•Issues at the interface of corporate and marketing strategy (e.g., synergy and horizontal acquisitions), business and marketing strategy (e.g., order of entry strategy and strategic alliances), and corporate, business, and marketing strategy (e.g., multi-market competition and financial valuation of brands in the context of mergers and acquisitions)

•Strategy at the corporate level (e.g., diversification and divestitures) from the perspective of how corporate strategy influences and is influenced by marketing strategy, and the strategic role of the marketing function in organizations at the corporate level

•Strategy at the business unit level (e.g., generic competitive strategies) from the perspective of how strategy at the business unit level influences and is influenced by marketing strategy, and the strategic role of the marketing function in organizations at the business unit level (Varadarajan and Jayachandran, 1999)

This chapter focuses on the domain of strategic marketing as a field of study, definitions of market strategy and marketing strategy (two organizational strategy constructs that are central to the field of strategic marketing), issues fundamental to the field of strategic marketing, and the foundational premises of marketing strategy.

Strategic Marketing, Market Strategy, and Marketing Strategy

In the management discipline, the term strategic management refers to the field of study, and corporate strategy (strategy at the firm level in a multi-business firm) and business strategy (strategy at the business unit level in a multi-business firm) are the organizational strategy constructs that are the principal focus of the field. However, in the marketing discipline, the terms strategic marketing and marketing strategy are used interchangeably to refer to the field of study. Furthermore, the term marketing strategy is used to refer to an organizational strategy construct that is a major focus of the field. In this chapter, the term strategic marketing refers to the field of study, and market strategy and marketing strategy refer to two organizational strategy constructs that are central to the field of study. The principal focus of market strategy is on issues relating to “where to compete” and that of marketing strategy is on issues relating to “how to compete”. Building on the domain statement for strategic marketing and definitions for market strategy and marketing strategy proposed in Varadarajan (2010, 2015), the following revised domain statement and definitions are proposed.

Strategic Marketing

Domain: The domain of strategic marketing is the study of organizational, inter-organizational, and environmental phenomena of major importance from the standpoint of the long-term performance of organizations, and concerned with:

•Consumers, customers, competitors, and collaborators

•Behaviors of organizations involving the use of marketing resources toward the creation, communication, and delivery of products that offer value to customers in exchanges with organizations

•Behaviors of organizations in the marketplace involving the use of marketing resources to engender specific affects, cognitions and behaviors in customers

In reference to the need for, and the problems and challenges associated with, delineating the boundaries of a field of study, Inkeles (1964) notes that, even if tentative, such an endeavor can be a valuable aid to understanding. He notes:

Any attempt to set limits to a field of intellectual endeavor is inherently futile. Whatever boundaries we set will inevitably omit men whose work should be included. Yet when we stretch the boundaries to bring these men and these works within the field, we inevitably incorporate some we otherwise would have excluded. And what seems to us today firmly entrenched as part of our little community, may yesterday have been an alien enclave and tomorrow may have set itself outside our walls as an independent discipline trying to define its own boundaries.

… To define the limits of a field of inquiry may prove, in the long run, to be only a gesture, but for a start, delimitation, however tentative, is indispensable. The danger is not too great if we keep in mind that any boundaries we establish are an aid to understanding.

(Inkeles, 1964, p.1)

Figure 1.1 presents a schematic representation of the domain of strategic marketing. In Boxes 2 and 3, market strategy and marketing strategy, respectively, are delineated as organizational constructs central to the field of strategic marketing. However, in light of space considerations, the focus of Boxes 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12 is limited to marketing strategy. The contextual underpinnings of marketing strategy are the focus of a large body of research in marketing (i.e., marketing strategy conducive to superior performance of a business is contingent upon the characteristics of the firm and the external environment). For example, in an international marketing strategy context, the marketing strategy conducive to superior performance of a business (e.g., standardization versus adaptation versus partial standardization and partial adaptation) is contingent upon firm characteristics (e.g., early non-domestic entrant versus late non-domestic entrant) and market characteristics (e.g., high-growth versus low-growth market environment). Boxes 5, 9, 10, 11, and 12 shed light on this issue. The bidirectional arrows shown in the figure denote conceptual links and not directional relationships. For example, the bidirectional arrow linking Box A and Box 6 denotes that issues pertaining to the marketing strategy formulation process, strategy content, and strategy implementation are among the phenomena that are the focus of strategic marketing as a field of study.

Figure 1.1 Domain of strategic marketing: A schematic representation, adapted from Varadarajan (2010, Figure 1, p.124) and Varadarajan (2015, Figure 1, p.87).

Market Strategy

Definition: Market strategy is an organization’s crucial decisions concerning markets to serve, mode of entry into the chosen markets, and time of entry.

Market strategy is principally concerned with a business’s crucial marketing decisions concerning where to compete in the marketplace. Markets to serve encompasses decisions concerning geographic markets to serve (e.g., country markets and specific geographic regions within chosen country markets), market types to serve (e.g., business-to-business market and business-to-consumer market), and market segments to serve within specific geographic markets and specific types of markets. Alternative modes of market entry include internal development, acquisition, and joint venture/strategic alliance. Time of entry (e.g., one of the first-movers or an early entrant) may not be a strategic choice decision at the total discretion of a firm. However, in light of the associated advantages and disadvantages, firms may aspire and strive to have greater control over the decision. The vast body of literature in marketing on market entry through acquisitions and strategic alliances and on market pioneering/first-mover advantage highlights the importance of distinguishing between market strategy and marketing strategy.

Marketing Strategy

Definition: Marketing strategy is an organization’s crucial decisions concerning marketing activities ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Notes on Editors
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I Fundamentals
• Part II Customers
• Part III Competitors and Environment
• Part IV Company
• Part V Impact of Marketing Strategy
• Index