Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

Favourable points of difference : recognising that customers have alternatives, this identi-
fies what differentiates the offering from the next best alternative, which risks assuming 
that all favourable comparisons create value for the customer.
3 
Resonating focus : concentrates on the one or two points of difference that deliver, and 
with improvement will continue to deliver, greatest value to target customers, though 
clearly this relies on deeper knowledge of what drives value for the customer.
The researchers conclude that customer value propositions with a resonating focus 
should be the gold standard ( Anderson et al ., 2006 ). 
The Anderson et al . framework is used in Figure 17.6 to suggest the questions that should 
be asked regarding the relationship between a selling or supplying company’s CSR, and cus-
tomer value perceptions. Questioning moves progressively from investigating what specific 
customer benefits are linked to a supplier’s CSR, in the ‘all benefits’ value proposition, to 

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SUMMARY
seeking the ways in which CSR strategy achieves ‘favourable points of difference’ compared 
to competitors, to examining how CSR initiatives align with customer priorities and thus 
drive value for the customer.
Consider the case of Philips’ environmentally friendly Alto industrial lighting tubes. 
While containing less toxicity, the Alto product was more expensive than competing light 
tubes, and conventional suppliers sold on price and bulb life to purchasing officers. Telling 
buyers that the tube is more environmentally friendly (as part of an all benefits approach) 
or that it is more environmentally friendly than competitors’ products (favourable points of 
difference) is unlikely to impress purchasing officers accustomed to evaluating alternatives 
on price and bulb life. However, appealing to, for example, shopping mall developers on the 
basis of reduced disposal costs (because the green product is less toxic) and environmental 
image (the cleaner lighting becomes part of their environmental appeal to consumers) was 
effective. Alto replaced more than 25 per cent of the US market for traditional fluorescent 
lamps ( Kim and Mauborgne, 1999 ).
Summary 
This chapter sets out to establish the impact of corporate social responsibility on marketing 
strategy and customer value. Social responsibility and ethical standards are closely linked to 
corporate reputation and thus a company’s freedom of strategic positioning. This is an area 
that is evolving rapidly, and one that is turning out to be highly significant to the ability of a 
company to maintain its chosen competitive position and to compete effectively. Nonethe-
less, it is an area where precise definitions and analytical methodologies do not yet exist. Our 
approach suggests that companies should devote efforts to understanding better, through 
scoping or issue analysis, the social pressures that are likely to affect their ability to compete. 
Summary