Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

partners.’
Source
: from ‘Why Ford is stalling in China while Toyota succeeds’, Financial Times, 04/03/19 (Hancock, T.).
Discussion questions
1 
Why are foreign car manufacturers losing out to domestic rivals in China?
2 
What are some of the resources required by foreign car manufacturers to succeed in China?
3 
What resources have helped Ford succeed to start with in China and what new resources does the company 
need to develop/acquire to succeed in the future?
Foreign carmakers lose out to domestic rivals
Source
: Tom Hancock (2019), Why Ford is stalling in China while Toyota succeeds, Financial 
Times.
Foreign carmakers lose out to domestic rivals
Market share by country (%)
Other
Europe
US
Japanese
Local*
2013
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
14
15
16
17
18
Source
: JAC automotive 
© FT

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PART 3
IDENTIFYING CURRENT 
AND FUTURE 
COMPETITIVE POSITIONS
Part 3 addresses in more detail the issues and techniques behind segmentation and 
positioning research.
Chapter 7 discusses the underlying principles of competitive positioning and market seg-
mentation, and their impact on the choice of target markets. The chapter continues by 
discussing in detail the logic of segmentation as an approach to identifying target markets, 
and by comparing the alternative bases for segmenting both consumer and business mar-
kets. The chapter closes by considering the benefits of identifying and describing market 
segments, but also the importance of integrating market segment-based strategies with 
corporate characteristics and competencies, as well as external factors.
Chapter 8 examines the techniques of segmentation and positioning research in detail. 
Two fundamentally different approaches are discussed. Under the first, termed a priori, 
the bases for segmenting are decided in advance and typically follow product/brand 
usage patterns or customer demographic characteristics. The second approach, post 
hoc or cluster based, searches for segments on the basis of a set of criteria, but without 
preconceived ideas as to what structure in the market will emerge. The chapter then 
discusses methods for collecting segmentation data (relating back to the marketing 
research methods discussed in Chapter 4), ways of analysing those data to identify 
and describe market segments, and addresses the issue of validating empirically the 
segmentation structure uncovered. The chapter next discusses both qualitative and 
quantitative approaches to positioning research. In the former, the use of focus groups 
and depth interviews to identify images and positions is examined. The chapter con-
cludes with a discussion of quantitative approaches to creating perceptual maps.
Chapter 9 discusses choice of target market following the analysis of options. Two key 
dimensions are suggested for making the selection of target markets. First, the rela-
tive attractiveness of each potential segment. This will be dependent on many factors, 
including size, growth prospects, margins attainable, competitive intensity and so on. 
The second key dimension is the strength of the organisation in serving that potential 
target market. This is determined by the resources of the organisation, its current and 
potential marketing assets and the capabilities and competencies it can call on and 
deploy relative to competitors.

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Autonomous vehicles come 
to retirement communities
New technologies, from the 
Walkman to the iPhone, have 
tended to be adopted first by 
the young. But when it comes 
to self-driving cars, the most 
logical early adopters are the 
retired. That, at least, is the con-
clusion reached by Voyage, a 
start-up based in Silicon Valley.
It is testing its autonomous 
vehicles (AVs) in The Villages, a 
retirement community in Florida 
with a population of 125,000 
people. Retirement towns are 
ideally suited to AVs for three 
reasons, says Oliver Cameron, Voyage’s CEO.
First, the environment is simpler and easier for an 
AV to navigate than a bustling city centre. Speed lim-
its are lower, road layouts are less complex and there 
are fewer other vehicles.
Second, there is strong demand for mobility. Active 
retirees want the ability to get around but they may 
not want the expense and hassle of owning a car. For