Summary All Articles Summarised for Marketing Strategy

The aim and goal of the article? (Steenkamp & Fang, 2011) "The impact of Economic Contractions on the Effectiveness of R&D and Advertising: Evidence from U.S. Companies Spanning Three Decades"

Answer: This paper conceptually and empirically examines why and how much the effectiveness of R&D and advertising differs between times of economic expansions versus periods of economic contractions- and whether these results depend on the cyclicality of the industry. Authors have considered key marketing metric (market share) and key financial metric (firm profit).

Conceptual framework and hypotheses (Steenkamp & Fang, 2011)

Answer: Business cycle consists of periods of expansion and contraction and they last between 1.5 and 8 years. Business cycle has profound effects on supply and demand. This paper focuses on those supply- and demand-side factors that are directly relevant for understanding how R&D and advertising effectiveness may differ between expansions and contractions. Authors developed hypotheses to question how contractions systematically moderate the effects of advertising and R&D on firm performance. Finally, authors considered the role of the degree of industry cyclicality because different industries are not equally affected by general economic conditions.

Methodology (Steenkamp & Fang)

Answer: Empirical (quantitative) paper. Researches have used data from U.S. firms from a broad range of industries from 1971 to 2005. They have randomly selected 600 firms form B2B and 575 from B2C industries.

Aim and goal of the article

Answer: The purpose of this conceptual article is to discuss two approaches to being market oriented- a market driven approach and a driving market approach.

Conceptual model/framework

Answer: The framework is composed of two dimensions : market structure and market behaviour. Market structure refers to a set of players and the roles played by them in the value chain Accepting it as a 'given' means that the focal business doesn't influence (eliminate, modify) the roles of existing industry players Market behaviour refers to the behaviour off all players in the industry value chain Accepting behaviour as 'given' means that the focal business accepts the current behaviour of players in the market. Accepting the market structure and market behaviour as given results in an orientation that authors term 'market driven', which refers to learning, understanding, and responding to stakeholders perceptions and behaviours within a given market structure. In contrast, term 'driving markets' refers to changing the composition and/or roles of players in a market and/or the behaviours of players in the market. Firm can drive markets and be market driven at the same time. (Is it difficult and therefore, not the case)

Methodology

Answer: Not applicable due to the fact that paper is conceptual.

Aim and goal of the article

Answer: The aim of this conceptual article is to examine a new ways to achieve and retain competitive advantage. It presents the frameworks for thinking about customer value, customer value learning, and the related skills that managers will need to create and implement superior customer value strategies.

Conceptual model/framework

Answer: (CV, CSM, CVD, CVOMIS) New source for competitive advantage is external - orientation toward customers! Key idea is to compete on SUPERIOR CUSTOMER VALUE DELIVERY Customer value and customer satisfaction have a strong relationship. According to customer's value hierarchy customers are driven by desired product attributes (exercising, attribute-based satisfaction), consequences ( health issues, consequence-based satisfaction) goals and purposes (better life, goal-based satisfaction) Researches argue that there is a difference in what managers think customers value and what customers say they value. This gaps can be reduced with customer learning processes (informal and formal) How to learn about customer value? The CSM process (customer satisfaction measurement) has emerged to bring the voice of customers). With this process companies can identify target group and determine attribute BUT they are missing in-depth understanding (ok, customers are satisfied but WHY!) Therefore, CVD (customer value determination) is designed to provide managers with answers to critical questions that should guide learning about the consumers. Like CSM, CVD starts with: identifying the target customers, value dimensions (what do they want), delivering the value to the target (how well poorly, performance), Why poorly/well on important value dimensions Future! What are target customers likely to value in the future? Each department within the company can do independent qualitative research to learn about desired value. Result? Different views across the organisation! Solution: CVOMIS (Customer value-oriented marketing information system) that eliminates the gap by sharing the customer value learning insights.

How to translate customer learning into customer value delivery?

Answer: Learning shapes manager's mental models of their customers, and these mental models guide actions taken to achieve superior customer value delivery performance! Firms can develop translation process: 1. Create customer value delivery STRATEGY 2. TRANSLATE strategy into internal processes and their requirements 3. IMPLEMENT customer value delivery 4. TRACK PERFORMANCE of customer value delivery 5. Customer value LEARNING