Table of Contents
Also includes the slides and notes from the web lectures of Expected Value & Game Theory!
Lecture 1: Introduction.......................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Marketing Strategy....................................................................................................... 2
Lecture 2 & 3: Strategic Decision Making............................................................................4
2.1 How to make good strategic decisions?.......................................................................4
2.2 Get help........................................................................................................................8
3.3 Be responsive.............................................................................................................10
3.4 Think and decide rationally.........................................................................................13
Lecture 4 & 5: Strategic Social Responsibility..................................................................18
4.1 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)................................................................... 18
4.2 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)......................................................... 18
4.3 Skepticism.................................................................................................................. 22
4.4 Impact on society....................................................................................................... 23
4.4 Impact on other businesses....................................................................................... 24
5.5 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)...................................................................... 25
5.6 A few specific examples of CSR strategies and tactics..............................................28
Lecture 6: Innovations......................................................................................................... 31
6.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................31
6.2 The innovation challenge: what are my strategic options?.........................................31
6.2 Innovation development............................................................................................. 35
6.3 Innovation commercialization..................................................................................... 37
Lecture 7: Online Marketing Strategy................................................................................ 40
7.1 Digital Marketing Introduction.....................................................................................40
7.2 Impact on marketing mix............................................................................................ 41
7.3 Social media marketing.............................................................................................. 43
Lecture 8: Strategic Pricing................................................................................................ 46
8.1 Pricing strategies........................................................................................................46
8.2 Price adjustment.........................................................................................................52
8.3 Psychological aspects of pricing................................................................................ 53
Lecture 9: Customer Experience........................................................................................ 57
9.1 Customer Experience Introduction............................................................................. 57
9.2 Understanding the customer journey......................................................................... 57
9.3 Managing customer experience................................................................................. 61
,Lecture 1: Introduction
Marketing strategy: a marketing strategy is a thoughtful plan by a company to produce
desired outcomes in the marketplace in relation to customers, channel members, and
competitors.
Alternative definition: an organization’s integrated pattern of decision that specifies its
crucial choices concerning products, markets, marketing activities, and marketing resources
in the creation, communication, and/or delivery of products that offer value to customers in
exchange with the organization and thereby enables the organization to achieve specific
objectives.
What makes firms (brands) different? They create a sustainable competitive advantage
through:
● Distinctive versus similar characteristics or decisions as competing firms.
● Coherent versus a set of (uncoordinated) tactics.
● Dynamic versus poor implementation of activities.
For example, Harley-Davidson doesn’t sell a motorcycle, but a way of life.
1.1 Marketing Strategy
Strategic marketing decisions are long-term, holistic decisions concerning the future
directions of organizations. Features:
● Entail major resource commitments spread over long periods.
● Impact over longer time periods.
● Resulting in a distinguishable competitive advantage.
● Irreversible or difficult to reverse.
● Entails tradeoffs (e.g., if strategy A → strategy B & C foregone…)
● Made in the context of other strategic decisions (interdependencies).
● Made at a higher level of the organization.
Versus tactical marketing decisions: short-term (annual or quarterly) decisions to execute
the strategic directions within the firm; filling in the marketing mix of the individual product or
brand to realize the company's strategic goals.
Example: setting up a loyalty program
Some benefits are access to business lounges, priority boarding, a dedicated contact
number, free seat selection at bookings, member-only offers, et cetera.
,Example: establish a strategic partnership
When Apple released the Apple Pay app, the brand effectively changed how people perform
transactions. But in order for this app to succeed, it needs credit card companies to integrate
with this technology. To get out ahead of its competition, MasterCard became the first credit
card company to allow its users to store their credit card and debit cards on Apple Pay.
MasterCard not only showed support of a major consumer tech developer in this partnership
– it evolved along with its own customers in how they choose to make purchases at the
counter.
Other examples of strategic marketing decisions are:
Launch of a new product. Rationalizing a product line.
Rebranding: changing your brand’s position. Expanding distribution coverage.
Entering a new product-market combination. Initiating a major advertising campaign.
Introduce a loyalty program. Divesting/withdrawing from the market.
Catering to new market segments. Install a social media campaign.
Developing product leadership. Establishing a supplier partnership.
Promotional policy changes.
The marketing strategy domain in 2023:
, Lecture 2 & 3: Strategic Decision Making
2.1 How to make good strategic decisions?
Organizational learning & knowledge management
1. Nature of organizational knowledge.
2. The learning process
3. Culture & climate for organizational learning
Nature of organization learning (knowledge)
Organizational learning is the process of improving organizational actions through better
knowledge and understanding, or as the outcome of such a process.
“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive
advantage”.
Example: hospital surgery team learning to use a new technology to increase operation
efficiency and effectiveness.
Key concepts are:
A) Individual learning versus organizational learning
B) Explicit versus tacit knowledge
C) Single-loop learning versus double-loop learning
A – Individual vs. organizational learning
Organizational knowledge is the accumulation of the knowledge bases of all the individuals
within an organization and the social knowledge embedded in the relationships between
those individuals.
● Organizational learning assumes individual learning, but individual learning is an
insufficient condition for organizational learning – without sharing or transferring
the knowledge, the organization will not learn;
● More than the sum of the parts;
● It is also about exchanging and sharing individual assumptions, models, and
knowledge across the organization at various levels.
Individual → group → organization → inter-organization
Also includes the slides and notes from the web lectures of Expected Value & Game Theory!
Lecture 1: Introduction.......................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Marketing Strategy....................................................................................................... 2
Lecture 2 & 3: Strategic Decision Making............................................................................4
2.1 How to make good strategic decisions?.......................................................................4
2.2 Get help........................................................................................................................8
3.3 Be responsive.............................................................................................................10
3.4 Think and decide rationally.........................................................................................13
Lecture 4 & 5: Strategic Social Responsibility..................................................................18
4.1 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)................................................................... 18
4.2 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)......................................................... 18
4.3 Skepticism.................................................................................................................. 22
4.4 Impact on society....................................................................................................... 23
4.4 Impact on other businesses....................................................................................... 24
5.5 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)...................................................................... 25
5.6 A few specific examples of CSR strategies and tactics..............................................28
Lecture 6: Innovations......................................................................................................... 31
6.1 Introduction.................................................................................................................31
6.2 The innovation challenge: what are my strategic options?.........................................31
6.2 Innovation development............................................................................................. 35
6.3 Innovation commercialization..................................................................................... 37
Lecture 7: Online Marketing Strategy................................................................................ 40
7.1 Digital Marketing Introduction.....................................................................................40
7.2 Impact on marketing mix............................................................................................ 41
7.3 Social media marketing.............................................................................................. 43
Lecture 8: Strategic Pricing................................................................................................ 46
8.1 Pricing strategies........................................................................................................46
8.2 Price adjustment.........................................................................................................52
8.3 Psychological aspects of pricing................................................................................ 53
Lecture 9: Customer Experience........................................................................................ 57
9.1 Customer Experience Introduction............................................................................. 57
9.2 Understanding the customer journey......................................................................... 57
9.3 Managing customer experience................................................................................. 61
,Lecture 1: Introduction
Marketing strategy: a marketing strategy is a thoughtful plan by a company to produce
desired outcomes in the marketplace in relation to customers, channel members, and
competitors.
Alternative definition: an organization’s integrated pattern of decision that specifies its
crucial choices concerning products, markets, marketing activities, and marketing resources
in the creation, communication, and/or delivery of products that offer value to customers in
exchange with the organization and thereby enables the organization to achieve specific
objectives.
What makes firms (brands) different? They create a sustainable competitive advantage
through:
● Distinctive versus similar characteristics or decisions as competing firms.
● Coherent versus a set of (uncoordinated) tactics.
● Dynamic versus poor implementation of activities.
For example, Harley-Davidson doesn’t sell a motorcycle, but a way of life.
1.1 Marketing Strategy
Strategic marketing decisions are long-term, holistic decisions concerning the future
directions of organizations. Features:
● Entail major resource commitments spread over long periods.
● Impact over longer time periods.
● Resulting in a distinguishable competitive advantage.
● Irreversible or difficult to reverse.
● Entails tradeoffs (e.g., if strategy A → strategy B & C foregone…)
● Made in the context of other strategic decisions (interdependencies).
● Made at a higher level of the organization.
Versus tactical marketing decisions: short-term (annual or quarterly) decisions to execute
the strategic directions within the firm; filling in the marketing mix of the individual product or
brand to realize the company's strategic goals.
Example: setting up a loyalty program
Some benefits are access to business lounges, priority boarding, a dedicated contact
number, free seat selection at bookings, member-only offers, et cetera.
,Example: establish a strategic partnership
When Apple released the Apple Pay app, the brand effectively changed how people perform
transactions. But in order for this app to succeed, it needs credit card companies to integrate
with this technology. To get out ahead of its competition, MasterCard became the first credit
card company to allow its users to store their credit card and debit cards on Apple Pay.
MasterCard not only showed support of a major consumer tech developer in this partnership
– it evolved along with its own customers in how they choose to make purchases at the
counter.
Other examples of strategic marketing decisions are:
Launch of a new product. Rationalizing a product line.
Rebranding: changing your brand’s position. Expanding distribution coverage.
Entering a new product-market combination. Initiating a major advertising campaign.
Introduce a loyalty program. Divesting/withdrawing from the market.
Catering to new market segments. Install a social media campaign.
Developing product leadership. Establishing a supplier partnership.
Promotional policy changes.
The marketing strategy domain in 2023:
, Lecture 2 & 3: Strategic Decision Making
2.1 How to make good strategic decisions?
Organizational learning & knowledge management
1. Nature of organizational knowledge.
2. The learning process
3. Culture & climate for organizational learning
Nature of organization learning (knowledge)
Organizational learning is the process of improving organizational actions through better
knowledge and understanding, or as the outcome of such a process.
“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive
advantage”.
Example: hospital surgery team learning to use a new technology to increase operation
efficiency and effectiveness.
Key concepts are:
A) Individual learning versus organizational learning
B) Explicit versus tacit knowledge
C) Single-loop learning versus double-loop learning
A – Individual vs. organizational learning
Organizational knowledge is the accumulation of the knowledge bases of all the individuals
within an organization and the social knowledge embedded in the relationships between
those individuals.
● Organizational learning assumes individual learning, but individual learning is an
insufficient condition for organizational learning – without sharing or transferring
the knowledge, the organization will not learn;
● More than the sum of the parts;
● It is also about exchanging and sharing individual assumptions, models, and
knowledge across the organization at various levels.
Individual → group → organization → inter-organization
