Marketing strategy and competitive positioning [antikvár]

Preface to the second editionLike its predecessor, the second edition of this book is about creating and sustaining superior performance in the marketplace. While its focus remains the two central issues in marketing strategy formulation - the identification of target markets and the creation of a differential advantage - the treatment has been substantially expanded to cover new developments in strategic thinking that have emerged in recent years. In particular, our approach emphasizes the very different role that organizations are defining for marketing as a strategic force rather than just as an operational department. The change in the tide reflects this breadth and changing perspective. It also represents our goal of reaching a broader audience to include strategic decision-makers as well as marketing specialists.New topics include service quality and relationship marketing, networks and alliances, innovation, internal marketing and market forecasting. Greater emphasis is given to the development of marketing resources and capabilities, together with the need to reassess the role of marketing in the organization as a critical process and not simply as a conventional functional specialization. In addition to the new chapters, all original chapters have been extensively updated to take into account new theoretical perspectives, and many new examples have been included.The strucmre of the first edition has been retained:Part I is concerned with the fundamental changes that are taking place in how marketing operates in organizations and the increasing focus on marketing as a process rather than as a functional specialization. The central questions of the market orientation of organizations and the need to find better ways of responding to mrbulent and ambiguous environments lead us to the proposal for market-led strategic management and the framework for developing marketing strategy which provides the strucmre for the rest of the book. Discussion of strategic marketing planning and portfolio analysis provides the groundwork for two critical issues on which we focus throughout this volume: the choice of market targets and the building of strong competitive positions.Part II deals with the competitive environment in which the company operates. Different types of strategic environment are first considered, together with the critical success factors for dealing with each type. Discussion then focuses on the 'strategic triangle' comprised of customers, competitors and company. To this triangle is now added the 'virmal' organization created through strategic alliances and