Marketing
Management 2.
Ted Levitt: Marketing Myopia
The Future according to
Chambers and Grove
John Chambers (Cisco)
 Everything changes, so managers and firms must change too
 Technological Revolution
 Globalization: flexible manufacturing, educated (skilled) work
force, supportive governments
 Internet: every firm must incorporate it for survival
 Competitiveness through Speed (flexibility), Human Talent,
and Branding
Andy Grove (Intel)
 Information society minimizes competitive advantages
 Competitiveness through human talent, systematic teamwork
and satisfied employees
Theodore (Ted) Levitt
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Managers are often myopic (shortsighted)
It means, their brands, divisions, firms, or even whole
industries became obsolete
Levitt thinks that top managers should be blamed for any
strategic failure
Myopia:
Shadow of Obsolescence
Every industry starts out as a growth industry
Dry cleaning; Electric utilities; Grocery stores
Need for strategic vision at least to follow changes
Wrong beliefs:
Myopia:
The Population Myth
Growth is assured by a growing population of
customers?
Is there a competitive substitute product out
there?
Myopia: Production Pressures
What Ford put first:
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Reducing the Price because no costs should be
considered as “fixed”
It pressures employees to keep costs down
Expanding Production
Improving the Product
Myopia:
Creative Destruction
The shadow of obsolescence and the population myth
threatens every industry
How to be competitive in the long-run?
What does Microsoft do?
Managers will face decisions like eliminating existing
products, brands, divisions in order to develop (create)
new ones
Myopia:
Dangers of R&D
Paying too much attention to R&D?
High-tech products: management becomes top-heavy with
engineers
Selective bias: products themselves become the primary
focus in marketing
Solutions recommended:
Strategic Terms
Strategy: developing and using available resources to
accomplish company’s goals in a competitive arena
Strategic Marketing Plan: a document describing strategic
objectives and the ways to achieve them in terms of
competitive activities
1. Mission: definition of business(es) the company
operates in (“we serve the health-conscious food
customers”)
2. Vision: the desired image of the company in the mind of
its employees (“we want to be the best”)
3. Positioning: the desired image of the company’s
products / services / brands in the mind of the targeted
customers
Fun, Canadian,
and “off-the-wall”
WestJet's mission and vision
 There is something special about WestJet's culture.
It's a company with a unique corporate spirit...
a close knit family that's building something legendary...
and in the process changing the world.
 Our mission:
To enrich the lives of everyone in WestJet's world
by providing safe, friendly, affordable air travel.
 Our vision:
WestJet will be the leading low-fare airline that:
People want to work with...
Customers want to fly with...
and Shareholders want to invest with.