Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

An ability to segment the market creatively, focusing their activities only in areas where 
they had particular strengths that were especially valued. In the metal container industry 
(which faces competition from glass, aluminium, fibrefoil and plastic containers), Crown 
Cork and Seal has focused on two segments: metal cans for hard-to-hold products such 
as beer and soft drinks, and aerosol cans. In both these segments the company has built 
considerable marketing assets through its specialised use of technology and its superior 
customer service.
2 
Efficient use of R&D resources. Where R&D resources are necessarily more limited than 
among major competitors, they should be used where they can be most effective. This 
often means concentrating not on pioneering work but on improvements to existing 
technologies that are seen to provide more immediate customer benefits.
3 
Thinking small. Adopting a ‘small is beautiful’ approach to business increases the empha-
sis on operating more efficiently, rather than chasing growth at all costs. Concentration 
of effort on the markets the company has chosen to compete in leads to specialisation 
and a stronger, more defensible position.
Over four decades on, these three guidelines for nichers remain as relevant as they have 
ever been.
10.6.4 Harvesting strategies
Building, holding and niche strategies are all applicable to the products and services of the 
company that offer some future potential, either for growth or revenue generation.
At some stage in the life of most products and services it can become clear that there is 
no long-term future for them. This may be because of major changes in customer require-
ments, with which the offering as currently designed cannot keep pace, or it may be due to 
technological changes that are making the offer obsolete. In these circumstances, a harvest-
ing (or ‘milking’) strategy may be pursued to obtain maximum returns from the product 
before its eventual death or withdrawal from the market (see Figure 10.22).
Kotler and Keller (2016) define harvesting as:
a strategy that calls for gradually reducing a market offering or business’s cost while trying 
to reap profitable sales.

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