Principles of Marketing : Chapter 2

As discussed in previous class that marketing is all about creating a certain amount of value and then convert that particular value in the profitable relationship. So the main concern is to create a value and how can a company or a SME's (Small and Medium Enterprise) can develop that value. The answer lies in the creation of an utmost and feasible strategy. So the first thing which needs to be done is to create a strategic fit between your company’s goal and the dynamic changing environment. Since market is changing with the advancement of technology it is bit difficult for the companies to cope up with it.

One thing which is very important for companies is to deeply understand their business portfolio which is made up of different SBU’s (Strategic Business Unit) and different SKU’S (Stock Keeping Units). These two concepts will be discussed in detail. So after that company focuses on their portfolio analysis where company sees which product is performing well in the market and which product should be downsized. Moving towards the concept of SBU, it is basically a category extension where each category is different from one another. For example, Yamaha has guitar equipment and Motorcycles. The strategy for the Guitar equipment will be totally different from the motorcycle. They will be having different vision, mission and marketing mix strategy.  SKU is another concept which depicts the concept where the sizes and variation in packaging differ. SKU plays a role under the umbrella of SBU. For example, nestle bottle water is available in 500 ml, 1 liter and 20 liters, these variations in sizes are SKU’S.

Another major concept is BCG (Boston Consultant Group) matrix (strategy) where you access deeply about the performance of your products. It consists of Stars, cash cows, question marks and dogs. The matrix has two basic dimension: Growth rate and market share (parameters). Stars are your products which are very popular and have both parameters in high stake. Cash cow is basically a product which gives you cash, has more market share but less growth rate. Question marks are your viral products which goes up but can go down as well. And dogs are products which are in loose and company is basically thinking whether to discard that product from portfolio or put heavy investment in it to start again its life. Examples are discussed in your class.

Ansoff matrix or product/market expansion grid is basically a tool for accessing the expansion or growth opportunities for the company. It actually tells whether to develop a new product with new market, existing product with existing market or existing product with new market or new product with existing market.

Value chain again most important topic in marketing and supply chain management. Most vital thing that value chain doesn’t create overnight. It’s a long process and strategy. If HyperStar claims that they have less priced products is because they are getting products at low cost from their players in supply chain. More value to your suppliers, retailers, manufacturers, distributors will ultimately can create value for your customer.

Lastly Managing marketing effort is a process Analyzing, Planning, Implementation and Controlling. In the analysis part you basically do SWOT analysis, in Planning part your major focus is to create a marketing plan. Which has different components. For sure if you have good planning part then you should have a good team to execute it efficiently and effectively. And lastly Controlling part indicates the KPI (Key Performance Indications) it can be done through operating control (performance, meeting the annual plans like sales, profits) or Strategic control (innovations, companies own strategies).

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