The General Theory of Marketing - Assignment Example

MARKETING "'The Competitive position a firm chooses to occupy is a combination of its choice of target market and differential advantage it is seeking to create as a means of securing that market". --Hooley, Broderick and Moller, Competitive Positioning and the RBV of the firm Journal of Strategic Marketing 6, pp97-115, 1998 Discuss this statement, with reference to alternative viewpoints, and attempt to explore the value of the resourced-based view of competitive advantage described in their approach when applied to assess the competitive position of a company with which you are closely familiar. (operating under UK's local authority administration). Example selected is educational service. Introduction We shall begin our discussion of the above quoted views of Hooley, Broderick and Moller with a brief look at the firm to try to understand what motivates its actions and behaviour. Students of economics are, of course, aware that in traditional economic theorising, the analysis of the firm and its behaviour is built upon the assumption that firms operate in such a manner as to maximize their profits. Economists, however, do not discount the possibility that there may be other objects of desire that entrepreneurs may pursue and try to maximise, for example, power, a quiet life, prestige, social service, and may be a host of others. But, so far no theory of the firm within the framework of a 'free market' economy has been developed on any one of the above premises. So the theorem of profit maximization continues to remain central to the study of the business firm. And profits can be made by a firm only through selling its products in the market. Market and marketing are essential ingredients in a firm's search for profit. Market positioning and the strategies adopted to gain an advantageous competitive position for selling its product will determine the firm's degree of success in 'maximising' its profit. In this paper we consider a few of the market strategies that firms adopt particularly, those of 'target market' and 'differential advantages' to secure an advantageous position in the market. We shall also discuss alternative marketing strategies and relate all to the market provision of education particularly by local authorities in UK. . The general definition of a market is a coming together of buyers and sellers to exchange products or services or both and the concept includes both non-profit as well as profit-taking enterprises. Marketing is purposeful interaction in the market by sellers and buyers through exchange. Marketing is seen as activity that is distinct from selling (Fennell, 1987). Philip Kotler (Kotler & Fox, 1995) offers the following: 'Marketing is the analysis, planning, implementation and control of carefully formulated programs designed to bring about voluntary exchanges of values with target markets to achieve institutional objectives. Marketing involves designing the institution's offerings to meet the target markets' needs and desires, and using effective pricing, communication, and distribution to inform, motivate, and service these markets.' (p. 6). Target Market A one sentence description of a target market is that it is the market segment to which a particular product is marketed. It is defined by age, gender and socio-economic grouping. 'Targeting strategy' is usually the selection of the customers the firm wishes to service. The decisions involved in targeting strategy include: which segments to target; how many products to offer; and which products to offer in which segments There are three steps to targeting: namely, market segmentation, target choice and product positioning. And targeting strategy decisions are influenced by: market maturity, diversity of buyers' needs and preferences, strength of the competition and the volume of sales required for profitability Targeting can be selective, for example, focus strategy, market specialization strategy or niche strategy; or extensive, for example, full coverage, mass marketing, or product specialization. (http:en/wikipedia.org/wiki/Target market/, retrieved August 5, 20006) Two important factors to consider when selecting a target market are the attractiveness of the segment and the fit between the segment and the firm's objectives, resources, and capabilities. And when evaluating the attractiveness of the segment, factors that may be taken into account include size of the segment, growth rate of the segment, brand loyalty of existing customers in the segment, attainable market share given the firm's advertising budget and competitors' expenditure, sales potential for the firm in the market and expected profit margins in the segment. This group of information can be obtained through market research and analysis. Market segments also should be evaluated according to how they fit the firm's objective, resources, and capabilities. Some aspects of fit include: whether the firm can offer superior value to the customers in the segment; what would be the impact of serving the segment on the firm's image; availability of distribution channels required to serve the segment; and assessment of the firm's resources vis--vis capital investment required to serve the segment. It goes without saying that the better the firm's fit to a market segment, and the more attractive the market segment, the greater would be the profit potential to the firm. There are several different target-market strategies that can be followed. They include: (1) 'single-segment' strategy, the strategy of choice for small companies with limited resources where one market segment alone is served; (2) 'selective specialisation' which is a multiple segment strategy and is known also as a differentiated strategy. Different market mixes are offered are offered in different segments. The product itself may or may not be different - in many cases only the promotional message or distribution channels vary. (3) The third strategy is product differentiation, tailoring the particular product of the firm to different market segments, and (4) finally, the full market coverage when the single undifferentiated product is usually offered to the entire market by means of a mass market strategy. (http://www.netmba.com/marketing/market/target/ , retrieved August 5, 2006) A firm that is seeking to enter a market and grow should first target the most attractive segment that matches its capabilities. Once it gains a foothold, it can expand by pursuing a product specialisation strategy, tailoring the product for different segments or by pursuing a market specialisation and strategy offering new products to its existing market segment. Differential Advantage Market segmentation is not enough in its own right to bring success as generally, other businesses will also be competing in any given target segment. It is important to tailor an offer that will be seen by target customers as superior to that offered by the competition - this is known as providing a differential advantage.Creating differential advantage will ensure higher profits for the business for without it, customers will make their buying decision based solely on price. Differential advantage can be obtained via almost any element of the marketing mix - creating a superior product, more attractive designs, better service, more effective distribution, better advertising and so on.The key is to understand that the advantage must be based on research into what customers really value and that the differential is developed after due consideration of competitive strategies and offers. Another technique to use is SWOT analysis. It is possible that by using it on competition and on the firm's own business, a clear understanding of what the firm's differential advantage is can be known. . From this information successful marketing plans can be developed and implemented, new products and services can be developed, and goals and strategies are more likely to be realistic and successful. What is SWOT SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats, and Opportunities. It is essential for every business to know their competition inside and out. SWOT is a process by which a firm can analyze the competition's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats after position, and on its basis establish a marketing strategy to meet the competition head on and gain the sought after position in the market. However, identifying an organization's strengths and weaknesses is difficult because characteristics that appear as one or the other may, on closer examination, possess little or no significance for competitive advantage or disadvantage. The list of strengths and weaknesses generated by conventional techniques is usually little more than an initial impression of what a firm does well and where it needs improvement. The list is usually long, not very concrete, and agreed on by only a relatively few people. However, even a superficial list of possible strengths and weaknesses is important to initiate strategic thinking and to focus thinking on areas where the firm can actually add or lose value. This approach requires a survey of infrastructure, human resources, technology development, procurement, inbound and outbound logistics, operations, marketing and sales, and service activities. Accomplishing the initial survey is a matter of looking at financial statements, staffing standards, information resources, organization charts, and customer and employee surveys and interviews. The findings are then compared with industry standards and historical trends, and judgments are made as to whether the organization's performance represents strengths or weaknesses relative to others in the strategic group. Resource-based view of competitive advantage The resource-based view argues that the key to sustained competitive advantage are those factors available for use in producing goods and services that are valuable and costly to copy. Resources, as we use the term, may be tangible or intangible human assets. Human resources are often skill based and involve expertise in designing, producing, distributing, and/or servicing the products or services of the firm. They relate to skillfulness in accomplishing tasks required by one or more of the primary value activities. Tangible resources include things such as land or location, while intangible resources include such things as goodwill. The basic assumption is that resources are unevenly distributed and developed across firms, and explain, to some extent, the ability of an organization to effectively compete. Organizations with marginal resources break even, those with inferior resources disappear, and those with superior resources make profits. Yet another potential source of sustained competitive advantage is to coordinate resources in a purposeful manner. An organization's ability to deploy and integrate to produce desired results is defined as a capability. The term is used here to describe the ability to integrate or link skills and resources. Whereas human resources relate to expertise in actually doing the work of the organization, capabilities relate to putting things together in unique and innovative ways. Capabilities involve the integration of primary value activities, support activities, and primary and support value activities. Capabilities, therefore, may be thought of as architectural abilities or bonding mechanisms whereby resources are combined in new and innovative ways. As a result, they accomplish learning, change, and ongoing renewal for individuals and organizations. Capabilities, or the linking activities in the value chain, represent the collective learning in organizations, coordinating diverse operational skills and integrating multiple streams of technologies. Sustained competitive advantage is based on the acquisition of resources that possess a unique relationship to the external environment and are integrated in innovative ways. An important element in judging sustained competitive advantage is understanding precisely what are our tangible and intangible resources, what skills and experiences do our employees possess, and how good are we at coordinating resources and skills. An important question is how competitively relevant are our resources, competencies, and skills Competitive advantage is ultimately built and maintained by adding value to customers. Value is added by cost leadership, i.e., offering equal quality products or services at a lower cost than competitors, or by differentiation, that is, offering products or services that are perceived to be unique relative to some important characteristic. Understanding how each competitively relevant resource and capability affects costs and uniqueness is an important aspect of understanding how, or if, each adds value to the services provided. Once strategic strengths and weaknesses have been translated into terms of resources and capabilities and the potential for creating competitive advantage is accomplished through systematic categorization, it is important to investigate deeper relationships and determine how and where these factors actually add value. This is the critical task of pinpointing the primary or support value activity that possesses the potential for building or losing competitive advantage. Porter's modified value-chain is useful for breaking the organization into its strategically relevant activities in order to understand the behavior of costs and the existing and potential sources of differentiation. Understanding the value-chain enables decision makers to better understand and control the primary cost drivers and differentiate their services by capitalizing on their uniqueness drivers. Some other marketing strategies Two internal tools, as it were, over which a firm has immediate control, and altering one or the other or both of which, in such ways as to suit the requirements of profit maximization, are the price it sets for its product and the quantity of the product it produces for the market. These are the 'internal marketing' tools the firm uses in its strategy to secure for its product a 'secure' market position to ensure that its profits are maximized. A firm may be able to maximize its profits by determining the price per unit of the product or the quantity of the product or both, that gives it the greatest profit. This may be achieved by taking into account the difference between total revenue and total cost, or if the market is a 'perfectly competitive' one, by the equality between marginal cost and marginal revenue of a product, because in a perfectly competitive market total profit reaches its maximum point where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. However, without going into the intricacies of theory, we may say here that a 'perfectly competitive' market is a rare phenomenon and almost all firm operate in markets that are in many ways highly imperfect. In such market the firm has the freedom to set such prices for its products that would ensure the highest amount of cash inflow, without jeopardizing its market share or high growth status. Pricing, as mentioned above, is a strategic instrument used to maximise profit. But a firm's pricing policy may have also 'sub-objectives' to its main objective of profit maximisation. The most typical of such sub-objectives are: (a) pricing to achieve a target return on investment; (b) stabilisation of price and margin; (c) pricing to realize a target market share; and (d) pricing to meet or prevent competition. Target return on investment is the most frequently used criterion for pricing decisions. The average of targets expected may range conservatively over 15 percent to 20 percent, after taxes, usually expected to achieve over a medium period of five to six years. Under this pricing system both cost and profit goals are based not upon the volume level which is necessarily expected over a short period, but rather on standard volume; and the margins added are designed to produce the target profit rate on investment, assuming standard volume to be the long-run average rate of plant utilisation. Some companies may regard target rate of return on investment 'as a rigid and primary guide to pricing, while others may consider it more useful as a bench mark in an area where prices otherwise might be subject to wide and dangerous variations'. (1958, Lanzillotti, R F.). We now turn to a discussion as to what extent and in what manner it would be possible and advisable to apply the above mentioned marketing techniques to the production and supply of educational services by local authorities in UK. The possibility or otherwise of applying marketing techniques to the provision of education in general stems from the heterogeneity of organisations and their motivations in providing education. Advisability of applying marketing techniques arises from education being considered as a "merit good", where its provision by private sector agencies comes in only when its 'supply' by the 'state' is inadequate. However, we are not entering into a discussion of these issues here, as they are not germane to our topic of discourse. But before 'the market' is brought into the discussion about local-body-provided education in UK, it is thought necessary to have an understanding about the school system in UK. In providing an account of UK schooling system, I have relied heavily on the account given by BBC about it and the following paragraphs are retrieved from its web site. "1. The funding and regulation of schools Department for Education and Skills (DfES) The Secretary of State for Education is responsible for education policy in England. The DfES is responsible for: Providing state education Training teachers Maintaining educational standards Overseeing the curriculum and examinations It has control over changes in the educational system and funding structures. Local Education Authorities Each council or local authority in the UK has a Local Education Authority and they are primarily responsible for public spending on schools. The government is very keen for authorities to distribute money directly to schools to spend as they wish. So education authorities have a more strategic than operational role within schools. Local education authorities' duties towards schools can be divided into five areas: Strategic management, including making grants and internal audits and covering costs such as maternity leave Specific grants for funding projects such as class size reduction and the New Opportunities Fund, a lottery venture that has paid for new opportunities in PE and music Special educational needs, including funding for pupils with special needs and the provision of education at Pupil Referral Units School improvement, when money hasn't been delegated to a school Access to education: The authority creates an educational framework so pupils can take up places and attend schools. This means spending on admissions and appeals, advice to the parents of excluded pupils, home to school transport, providing an educational welfare service, and assessing eligibility for free school meals .How exactly funding for schools works Local education authorities have two budgets: a Schools Budget and an LEA Budget. The Schools Budget covers pupil costs while the LEA Budget relates to other key LEA functions such as providing adult education and training. After the education authority has used up its share of the Schools Budget the remainder is given to schools in the form of 'budget shares'. The power to spend these 'budget shares' is delegated to the school's governing body. School governing bodies All publicly-funded schools have a governing body. They are responsible for the main policy decisions within schools including: Academic matters School discipline The appointment and dismissal of staff Repair and maintenance of school buildings Admissions for some types of school (this is explained fully further down) In practice, much of this comes down to head teachers. Funding for schools in deprived areas Education Action Zones are clusters of schools in deprived areas. They work in partnership with the local education authority, parents, businesses and a host of community organisations to boost their performance. They receive 500,000 a year for five years. 2. The assessment of schools Ofsted: school inspections The Independent Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) Their job is to inspect all state schools and report on standards of achievement. Its role also includes the inspection of further education, local authority children's services, teacher training institutions and some independent schools. 3. The assessment of pupils Curriculum and examinations The national curriculum is compulsory in all state schools throughout England. It is formulated and monitored by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in England.. 4. Types of school in the state sector The types of school in England are defined by who employs the staff, controls admissions and owns the land and buildings. There are four categories of mainstream primary and secondary school in England. The four types of mainstream school include: Community schools: The LEA employs school staff, owns the school lands and buildings and decides the arrangements for admitting pupils. Foundation schools: The governing body employs the school staff and has primary responsibility for admissions. The school land and buildings are owned by the governing body or a charitable foundation. Voluntary Aided: Many of the voluntary aided schools are church schools. The governing body employs the staff and decides admission arrangements. The land and buildings are normally owned by a charitable foundation. Voluntary Controlled: These are almost always church schools and the lands and buildings are almost always owned by a charitable foundation. The LEA employs the school staff and has responsibility for admissions. Primary Education Primary schools are divided into the infants (five to seven) and the juniors (seven to 11). Most primary schools are run by the board of governors under Local Management of Schools scheme. Secondary Education Secondary education is compulsory until the age of 16. Within the four categories of school, community schools, foundation schools, voluntary aided and voluntary controlled, there are more specialised schools: Specialist schools: Any maintained secondary school in England can become a specialist school in areas such as technology, languages, sports or arts. The schools meet full national curriculum requirements, but have a special focus on the chosen speciality. They raise 50,000 from private sector sponsorship and prepare plans for improvements in teaching and learning. Grammar schools: Some local authorities still run a selective secondary school system with grammar schools. Pupils in these areas will sit a test at the age of 11 called the 11-plus test. The results of this test will determine whether they gain entry to the local grammar school. There are around 150 state grammar schools in England. Faith Schools: Faith schools are schools with a religious character. Any new faith schools must have the agreement of parents and the local community, and be approved by the LEA. Nearly half of faith schools are voluntary controlled. They teach the locally agreed religious syllabus and the LEA is the admissions authority. Special Needs: The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 asserts the right of children with physical or behavioural problems to be taught with mainstream children.There are still about 1200 special schools for pupils with special needs. Some of these are run by voluntary organisations and others are in hospitals. 5. Alternative types of school Independent schools Independent schools are fee-charging schools. They are known as private schools and sometimes as "public schools", even though they do not exist within the state sector. They don't receive any public funds and are governed and managed by special trusts. They are not obliged to teach the national curriculum but most of them do enter the same public examinations. Independent primary schools fall into two main categories: pre-prepatory, for ages two to seven and junior or preparatory schools to ages 11-13. The 'prep' school is devoted to preparation for the Common Entrance examination, which is required for many independent secondary schools." How does this system of education fir into a market environment Education exists in a market environment in at least six respects. First, it is a producer of educational products and services for its client population of students. Second, educational institutions seek to attract donations of value. Third, knowledge-based services are provided to grant and contract funders. Fourth and fifth, educational institutions seek approval and general support from a larger community and the society at large. Finally, education institutions exist in a market relationship with their suppliers and personnel. These interactions suggest that the theoretical constructs of marketing could be brought to bear upon institutions of education. Though there may be many differences, the operations of the markets in which higher education participates should be consistent with market theory. Some differences are notable. Education is not a simple matter to identify and attribute value-producing activity. The exchanges in which education participates typically involve highly intangible matter. The institution itself is often motivated by real goals that arise from coalitions within, rather than from the employer or owner. It competes in the market with other institutions, but lacks a profit motive to provide a measure of success. In terms of the market exchange concept, the gains for the student are in terms of an education experience, in return for the fees he or she pays to the institution (the firm) that provides it. . By giving money to the institution, a student receives benefit from other students too who are a third party in the exchange, and a generalized benefit in the education environment that is created by the specific students selected by the institution. It is notable that, although the institution may intend for the student contribution to occur by design, it is not the institution that is adding the value directly. The student is recast in the role of resource; in fact, the institution selects these resources in that it selects some students and not others, and all students do not pay the same tuition and fees. The institution enters into a generalized exchange relationship with the local community, one in which both parties may be considered producers and consumers. The community accommodates the institution, its disruptions, and its pressure on services, and provides political support and community services, while the institution provides knowledge based services, convenient access to learning, cultural amenities, economic stimulus, and social prestige. The institution also enters into an exchange with the segments of society represented by its control authority and manifest in its student pool. In this case the institution provides education services of a defined nature in return for various resources, particularly monetary. State institutions are involved highly in this exchange, and denominational schools have similar arrangements to varying degrees. For independent institutions there is less differentiation from the exchanges with donors. The school provides a particular kind of education experience in return for resources and other forms of support, such as preferential social and professional access for graduates. The exchange relationships the institution maintains with its suppliers and personnel mark its role as consumer, and its position at the end of the marketing channel. This relationship differs little from that of large scale service industries with their suppliers and personnel, although the specific arrangements with faculty may have few parallels beyond the academy. . Profit motive in education is substantially limited to some small, highly specialized schools and proprietary institutions, which may be led by private entrepreneurs. As descriptive models for institutional motives, the neoclassic, market value, and agency costs approaches rely too greatly upon profit as a primary measure of institutional values, which may not always be applicable to education. The behavioral, resource dependence, and constituency based theories are more descriptive of higher education institutions. These models view the firm as a social construction, with distributed decision making. The real operational goals arise from coalitions within the firm and interacting with the firm, rather than arising exclusively from the ownership. Education institutions are enterprises constituted of many coalitions, loosely-coupled systems, and conflicting goals that compete for priority attention. The resource dependence model views the underlying objective of the firm as survival, which it pursues by maintaining a sufficient flow of resources to the enterprise. The constituencies in the case of education include those comprising the parties to the exchanges in which it participates: students grant and contract funders, the community and society, donors, and suppliers and personnel. The institution can be expected to construct a marketing response to each constituency by determining the needs of each constituency in the exchange, and then shaping a goal set and offering to serve it. In education the resource chain is indirect and the power of particular internal coalitions complicates the workings of this model. Yet, institution settings tend to exhibit differentials of power among development offices, admissions offices, legislative and coordinating board liaison offices, academic leadership, student affairs leadership, and administration and finance leadership. The resource dependence and constituency based models would account for this differential in power as a matter of influence over differentially critical resources. If there were only one firm or institution, and consumers' preferences were substantially met, there would be no market except as might exist among suppliers for the institution and advertising space, and in their promotions for repeat sales. Financial institutions provide inducements for consumers to entrust them with all their financial affairs, and they assess fees or penalties for choosing to go elsewhere. Concluding observations. (a) The products of higher education are very problematic. In a general sense, education produces education experiences for its students, and students with certain educational preparation for the larger society. In a specific sense, the producer is ambiguous. The student is simultaneously a consumer of the education experience, a resource for the product provided to society and for the development of other students, and a producer of her own learning. (b) As an organized behavior system, higher education is particularly complex, which complicates its market response. (c) The operation of financial performance and its interconnection with resources is a fundamental idea in higher education, and it must be thoroughly understood. We propose that competitive standing be measured by financial performance as capacity to invest in resources. Where profit-motivated firms examine the monetary value that can be extracted from the enterprise, this proposition focuses on how much can be invested. The institution must shape a market offering that attracts investment, which comes from tuitions and fees, grants and contracts, donors, state funding, and other activities. These funding authorities are the consumers, and they provide investment at the level they believe the institution is providing a product that suits their value needs. The difference from for-profit enterprises is that, because profit is not an objective, there is no reason to extract value in excess of costs, and all revenue is considered invested. (d) There is a proactive role that institutions can take, which is not explicitly considered in discussion of these theories. Institutions individually and collectively might pursue a social marketing approach (Kotler & Roberto, 1989). Social marketing is the practice of using marketing techniques to persuade people to undertake some socially constructive change. 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