2. Strategic Planning &
The Marketing Process
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What Is Planning
• Establish objectives
• Determine how to accomplish them
regardless of what happens in environment
• Levels of planning:
– Strategic
– Tactical
– Operational
2
Strategic Planning
• Formal process of developing & maintaining a
strategic fit between firm’s goals & competencies
and its environment
– Point: Obtain best return for expenditure of firm’s
resources
• Five basic steps:
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Define corporate mission (“vision”)
Perform SWOT analysis
Set corporate goals & objectives
Design business portfolio
Plan & coordinate functional strategies
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Strategic Planning:
Defining Business & Mission
• Develop mission/vision statement
– Market-oriented definitions are best
• Define business in terms of satisfying needs of
target market
– Avoid being too narrow or too broad
– Mission statement should:
• Be market oriented
• Be realistic
• Be specific
• Fit environment
• Indicate competencies
• Be motivating
4
Strategic Planning:
Perform SWOT Analysis
• SWOT analysis/situation audit
– Strengths/weaknesses
• Tend to be internal/close to firm
– Other departments
– Channel members
– Competitors
– Publics
• Strengths reflect core competencies
– Basis for positioning
– Opportunities/threats
• Come from broader, external environmental forces:
– Societal
– Competitive
– Regulatory
– Economic – Technological
5
Strategic Planning: Setting
Corporate Objectives & Goals
• All objectives informed by SWOT analysis
• Translate mission statement into supporting
objectives for each management level
– Corporate level, business units, functional level
• Mission statement leads to hierarchy of
objectives
– Including business and marketing objectives
• Make objectives specific
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Strategic Planning: Designing the
Business Portfolio
• Portfolio: Businesses & products of
company
• Designing involves:
– Analyzing current portfolio
– Deciding what stays & what goes
• Developing growth strategies
– Add new products/businesses?
– Increase sales of existing products/businesses?
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Designing the Business Portfolio:
Analyzing the Current Portfolio
• Identify key businesses
– Strategic business units (SBU’s)
• Assess attractiveness of various SBU’s
– Portfolio planning with BCG matrix
• Stars
• Cash cows
• Question marks
• Dogs
– Determine whether to:
• Build, hold, harvest, divest
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Designing the Business Portfolio:
Developing Growth Strategies
• Market-product expansion grid
– Vertical axis: Existing market, new market
– Horizontal axis: Existing product, new product
• Depending on grid position, growth strategies
include:
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Market penetration
Market development
Product development
Diversification
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Strategic Planning: Planning
Functional Strategies
• Occurs within business units, at functional
(departmental) level
– E.g., finance, purchasing, marketing,
production
• Departments translate overall SBU mission
& objectives into departmental objectives
• Marketing works to reduce cross-functional
conflict
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Marketing Strategies for
Competitive Advantage
• Strategies geared to consumer needs & competitor
strategies
– Differentiate by focusing on points of difference
– Use marketing mix to position
• Strategy adopted depends on firm’s industry
position:
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Market leaders
Market challengers
Market followers
Market nichers
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Marketing Management
• Designing & implementing best marketing
mix requires:
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Marketing analysis
Marketing planning
Marketing implementation
Marketing control
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Marketing Analysis
• Marketing requires analysis of
consumers/business markets
• Marketers must:
– Divide the total market (market segmentation)
– Choose the best segments (market targeting)
– Design strategies for outdoing the competition
in satisfying target customers (market
positioning)
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Marketing Planning
• Purpose is to choose marketing strategies to attain
company’s strategic objectives
– Marketing plan links strategic plan to marketing actions
• Formal plans include specific sections:
– Executive summary
– Current marketing situation (market description; product,
competition, & distribution reviews)
– Threats & opportunity analysis
– Objectives & issues
– Marketing strategies for attaining objectives
– Action programs: what should be done and why
– Marketing budget: projected revenues, costs, & profits
– Controls: monitor progress (progress checks & corrective action)
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Marketing Implementation
• Turns strategies into actions to achieve objectives
– Activities constitute marketing program(s)
– Include marketing tactics
• Address specifics of who, where, when, and how
• Success depends on:
– Effective marketing programs that pull resources
together
– Sound organizational structure
– Appropriate decision & reward structure
– Alignment of strategies with corporate culture
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Marketing Control
• Requires four steps:
– Note specific strategic marketing goals
– Measure performance
– Evaluate performance re. goals
– Take corrective action
• Two forms are important:
– Operating control
– Strategic control: Marketing audit
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