Definition The Bowman’s Strategy Clock is a strategic marketing tool that provides options for positioning a company within a market based around price and perceived value, with a view to give the company maximum competitive advantage. The model further affords organisations to assess their relative competitive position against companies competing for the same resources or customers as itself, by defining how and where an organisation needs to compete and which organisations should be used as comparators .By varying combinations of price and perceived value , a company can then adopt eight conceivable marketing strategies and select one which suits them best, according to the price and perceived value of the product, service, or brand they are trying to market. Notably, this model is used in conjunction with other tools such as the Ansoff Matrix and can be seen as an alternative or extension to Porter's Generic Strategies of Cost Leadership, Differential and Focus. Case study: Econet Global Limited -Zimbabwe operations This is a diversified telecommunications group with operations and investments in Africa, Europe, South America and the East Asia Pacific Rim, founded by Zimbabwean entrepreneur, Strive Masiyiwa in 1993.It is the largest company on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalisation As the undisputed market leader with market share of over 61 percent of the total mobile sector in Zimbabwe, Econet Wireless underpins its market dominance on the following key factors: 1. Access to capital – with Zimbabwe perennially facing foreign exchange challenges due to a near collapsed economy with little exports, the strategic move by Econet to have its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, gave it greater and easier access to forex than its competitors like the state-owned Net1 and smaller rival, Telcel. This allowed Econet a headway to finance requisite extensive infrastructure as it grew its footprint across several continents. 2. Human Resources – Econet Wireless is a prestigious, preferred employer in Zimbabwe. This has allowed it to attract top professionals to spearhead its phenomenal growth. For instance, Douglas Mboweni, brother to the former South African Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, has been the CEO of the company for more than two decades. 3. Diversification – beyond the cellular network operation, the company wholly-owns the following Zimbabwean subsidiaries YourFone-the largest public pay phone operator Ecoweb -the largest independent internet service Transaction Processing- a leading provider of financial transaction switching, point-of-sale and value-added support services that is exploiting the convergence of banking, information technology and telecommunications Liquid Telecoms – leading provider of fibre internet connections Econet Energy - a market leader in “green technologies”, notable solar energy. This diversification gives Econet multiple revenue streams and to spread its business risk across various sectors. 4. Products and services- Econet has very strong brands. Its Buddie cellular airtime and data recharge platform and its mobile money and microfinance/franchise service Ecocash, are very well-known and well entrenched across Zimbabwe. For instance, given the challenges of hyper-inflation, not having a stable currency and a shrinking banking sector, Ecocash now handles more transactions, in both volume and value, than all Zimbabwean banks combined. The company also has the widest cellular infrastructure that translates to it having the highest number of cellular subscribers in Zimbabwe. Conclusion Together with its world class processes and group structure, the above factors have given Econet market leader status in Zimbabwe.
