Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

CHAPTER 2 STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING
2.3 
Establishing the core strategy 
The core strategy is both a statement of the company’s objectives and the broad strategies 
it will use to achieve them. To establish the core strategy requires a detailed analysis of the 
resources available and the market in which the organisation will operate, both within the 
context of achieving the overall business purpose or mission. 
2.3.1 Analysis of organisational resources 
Any organisation could create a long list of the resources it has at its disposal. Not all of 
those resources, however, will be equally useful in crafting or implementing a marketing 
strategy. Similarly, if it is sufficiently self-critical, any organisation could list many weak-
nesses, but not all of those will be fatal in competitive terms. In defining the core strategy, 
organisations attempt to define the distinctive resources (assets and capabilities) that serve 
to define the organisation. This helps to set the bounds on what options are currently open 
to the organisation and to identify where its strengths can be utilised to the full, while mini-
mising vulnerability to its weaknesses. Core competencies or core skills may result from any 
aspect of the operation. They may stem from the skills of the workforce in assembling the 
product effectively or efficiently, from the skills of management in marketing or financial 
planning, or from the skills of the R&D department in initiating new product ideas or cre-
ating new products on the basis of customer research. What is important from a marketing 
strategy perspective, however, is whether they can be utilised in the marketplace to provide 
superior customer value. 
The distinctive competencies of the company may lie in its marketing assets of image 
and market presence, or its distribution network or after-sales service. The crucial issue in 
Figure 2.3 
The 
marketing strategy 
process
Business
purpose
Core strategy
Competitive
positioning
Implementation
Company
analysis
Competitive
advantage
Organisation
Environment
analysis
Market target
Control
Marketing mix

---

35
ESTABLISHING THE CORE STRATEGY
identifying distinctive competence is that it must be something exploitable in the marketplace. 
Distinctive technological skills in producing a product are of little value if there is no demand 
for that product. Hence, an important role of marketing management is to assess the poten-
tial distinctive competencies of the organisation in the light of exploitability in the market.
The counterbalance to distinctive competencies or exploitable strengths are weaknesses 
relative to the competition. Where, for example, competitors have a more favourable or 
protected supply of raw materials, or a stronger customer loyalty, the company must be 
fully aware of its limitations and generate strategies to overcome or circumvent them. Struc-
tural weaknesses – those inherent in the firm’s operations, brought about by its very mode 
of doing business – may be difficult or even impossible to eliminate. Strategies should be 
developed to shift competition away from these factors, and to make them less important 
to competitive success. Other weaknesses may be more easily avoided once they have been 
identified, or even changed to strengths by exploiting them in a different way.