Strategic Marketing Management as a Vital Discipline in an Organizational Setting - Essay Example

Information Box Strategic marketing management Strategic marketing plan is an essential element that fosters business performance through opportunity analysis. This is a modernized concept that seeks to ensure that businesses forge strong futuristic plans that will befit expected situations. Strategic marketing management entails critical analysis that forecast the prevalent condition revolving around potential clients. It is worth noting that products are meant for consumers and hence should meet and surpass the client’s requirements. Strategic marketing management is all about exploiting a market niche and harnessing on competitive advantage. Elements like market segmentation, product differentiation, positioning and targeting are viable antics that can be used to alleviate market conditions (DeSarbo, Jedidi & Sinha, 2001). Additionally, technology has revolutionized marketing antics from ancient antics to modern methodologies that require less input but very productive. For instance, with internet marketing, the concept is not cost intensive but yields remarkable results. There are innumerable developments that when indoctrinated in a company’s strategic marketing management plan, success is inevitable. Mobile telephony is a device that has revolutionized the communication infrastructure. This is because; the device has incorporated numerous features all of which are crucial in the modern day and age. Society has overwhelmingly accepted the device with statics indicating that it is a necessity even in the developing nations. Invariably communication has been the backbone of organizations, social relations, international relations and the economy as a whole. This depicts that mobile telephony is a vital element in the activities of humanity and affect how well people live. The additional features that have been inculcated with the modernized age make mobile telephony a lasting technology that eradicates other essential facilities from the face of humanity. For instance, internet access enabled by mobile phones threatens the usability of personal computers. This is because of the fact that with a mobile phone, an individual can accomplish multiple tasks maintaining mobility and concealing ownership easily. This implies that the device is less risky while achieving recommendable tasks for the owner. Additionally, the banking system has incorporated numerous transactions in mobile telephony (Rettie, 2008). Nowadays, individuals even those in developing nations have the ability to clear bills, book appointments and make reservations at their favorite joints through mobile phones. It is not appropriate to make speculations but unless a continental shift against mobile telephony erupts, the technology will remain relevant in the long haul. Strategic marketing management is all about making right choices that will pave way for desired results. To harness the strategic marketing management, there are innumerable models usable by management teams in organizations. The SMART management model is a technique used to formulate organizational objectives. This model defines the admirable characteristic of the goals set by organizations seeking to attain competitive advantage. SMART represents five key characteristics that organizational objectives need to incorporate including specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. It is notable that organizational policies, which include marketing strategies, should be specific. Ambiguity is incorporates vagaries and platitudes that are drawbacks to organizations. This is because of the fact that, with ambiguous goals, no one is aware of their job role in the organization and hence the strategic marketing management formulates unachievable projections. With unambiguous objectives, managements identify what they intend to accomplish, benefits, reasons, and limitations emanating from goal realizations. Additionally, the people involved, location, constraints and resources required are clearly illumined. The second element focuses on measurability of goals. This implies that the goals set need to be attainable hence, the management team can identify notable progress. It is vital to access progress as this depicts achieved milestones as well as any limiting factor that calls for redress. Measurability stresses on the target dates, refurbished zeal to attain an ultimate goal or the exhilaration experience. It is vital to identify how much, many or when the results intended will be accomplished. The third criterion revolves around attainability. Strategic marketing management should ensure that the goals are realistic, achievable, or attainable. It is apparent that there is notable difference between goals that stretches a team to its limit with unachievable goals that crashes the zeal of team players. Though the difference might be slight, the repurcations emanating from attainable or unattainable goals reflect significantly on the organizations performance. An attainable goal concerns itself with answering the question of how the objective will be accomplished in light of the available resources. Relevance is the fourth element of the SMART managerial model. It is vital for organizations to develop goals with relevance to the initial direction negating sub-optimization instances (Madell & Muncer, 2007). Relevant goals thrust an organization forward creating vital cohesiveness and teamwork vital for growth and development. Relevance relates to whether a goal is worthwhile, at the right time and whether or not it matches the desired effort. Finally, organizations need to develop time bound goals or objectives. This is because any endeavor requires time management. Marketing is no exception and hence time is of essence. Additionally, the term strategic management incorporates a period more often than not a five-year time span. It is worth noting that a time bound goal negates the possibility that the intended goal will be overtaken by day-to-day crises and establishes a sense of urgency. Communication is the backbone of the global economy. This implies that the communication sector is an essential element that begets numerous activities whether in a regional or international perspective (Devitt & Roker, 2009). A large of corporations has identified the market niche and desire to capitalize on the unexploited communication venture. This creates a stiff competitive environment requiring critical analysis while formulating a strategic marketing approach. The porter five-force model is a recommended analysis technique that avails reliable data usable by organizations to analyze the prevalent conditions. The criterion seeks to analyze both the micro and macroeconomic elements that would either hinder or foster growth in a competitive environment. Competition is a prerequisite for business development and excellence as it indicates a scenario whereby efficiency and effectiveness will be applied in all sphere of the business for the benefit of the consumer (Haigney, Taylor & Westerman, 2000). It is extremely essential to evaluate the threat emanating from a new entrant in the industry. This entails evaluating the possibility that a competitor unveils new commodities in the market. This is based on the assumption that only profitable or high yielding industries will lure new firms. In many instances, the incumbent firms will succumb to new entrants hence the abnormal returns will nose dive towards zero. The threat of new entrants revolves around product differentiation, cost disadvantages, access to distribution channels, government policy, and economies of scale. Secondly, it is appropriate to evaluate the threat emanating from substitute products or services. With mobile telephony, there are no close substitutes given the technological advancements made to alienate the device. The bargaining power of clients is the third criterion under analysis. Given the target or potential market, an organization should deduce the ability of the clients to put the firm under pressure. It is prudent to investigate the dependency of existing distribution channels and salient forces that would push prices downwards. The porter five-force model evaluates the bargaining power of the suppliers. Suppliers avail raw materials, labor, expertise and other essential components to an organization. With the five-force model in place, the strategic marketing management team needs to evaluate the organization in terms of prospector, analyzer, defender, or reactor strategies. Prospectors are proactive, offensive, or aggressive strategies of pursuing new market opportunities. Prospectors focus on innovative strategies and maximizing on market opportunities. The defender strategies undertake protection oriented designs by negating encroachment from new competitors. These strategies incorporate defensive antics to counter the actions of competitors unlike the proactive that seek to maximize on creativity. Reactors are strategies that adapt to environmental changes. They are less feasible as they do not incorporate critical thinking. Strategic marketing management has it that analyzers are the best strategies while dealing with mobile telephony (Green & Singleton, 2009). This is because of the fact that the strategies are not extreme availing a compromise between proactive and defensive strategies. The analyzers seek to maintain their market share while evaluating any viable market niche. Once an opportunity is deemed feasible the analyzers implement or formulate the new products while maintain a stable streak of returns. It is worth highlighting that the mobile phone market is very lucrative. This is explainable by both micro and macroeconomic level analysis. Microeconomics revolves around demand and supply theories. With regard to mobile telephony, there is a notable upsurge in population on a worldwide perspective. This replicates to an increase in the level of communication requirements in the globe. Additionally, there are innumerable modernized concepts that intend to make the world a global village. With such desires, communication infrastructure has to be efficient and effective. Mobile telephony is the most appropriate device to harness these desires. Inevitably, the demand for mobile phones will increase seeking to meet the client’s requirements. On a global scale, the education systems indoctrinated have been upgrades. This is because of the fact that the world intends to develop surpassing the current intelligence levels. With these developed academic antics, students have the ability to develop baffling devices that have unimaginable features (Slater, & Olson, 2001). Consumers on the other hand subdivide themselves in terms of prices and features incorporated in a device. There are devices that target low-income earners availing the basic communication needs. There are complex devices targeting the high-end clients. Many features incorporated in the complex mobile phones commonly referred to as Smartphones go unused. Demand for the mobile phone devices will not decrease any time soon. This is because, if the predictions and available data provide accurate estimates, the demand for the product will soar high in the near future. Postal companies and landline telephone companies are almost rendered jobless given the innumerable advantages that emanate from mobile telephony (Mascarenhas, 2002). There are macroeconomic elements that spearhead the consumption rate for the commodity. First, economies are recuperating from the dire consequences of the recent financial crisis. This implies that economies are up to task implementing long lasting strategies aimed at negating any replication of the disaster. This paves way to regulation enactment that betters the entire economy. Evidently, countries are now thriving with pride of increased per capita income and as a result, improved living standards. Mobile phones have of late become necessities in every household. With improved living standards, mobile phones are affordable hence increasing demand for the commodity. Additionally, purchasing power parity in many households around the world is on the verge of increasing. This implies that mobile phones are more affordable than ever. Employment rates have hiked around the world in the recent past. Corporate bodies no longer rely on fixed lines for communication. This implies that the corporate also demand mobile phones that suit their specifications. In light of these sentiments, mobile phone producers have engaged in holistic research to identify consumer requirements. For instance, Blackberry is a mobile phone producer eying security agencies as the main clientele. This is because the company majors in securing communication via two mobile phone devices (Payne & Frow, 2005). It is worth indicating that there is an increased rate in the level of international relations between governments. This has paved way to international treaties that eradicate trade related barrier. This coupled with government subsidies on mobile phones indicate that the product has a wide market that require exploitation. It is prudent to indicate that the above data is consequential in decision-making. This is solely because uninformed decisions have been regrettable since time immemorial. Strategic market management as a concept incorporates decision-making. The essence of the discipline is to ensure that a new company makes right choices. When indulging in any new endeavor, research is inevitable. The main reason behind undertaking conclusive research is to be able to unearth any limitations or risks associated with the new enterprise. There are significant factor that are unraveled while conducting strategic marketing managements. First, there is need to determine the feasibility of the target product. Mobile phone’s viability indicates unimaginable demand. Product viability or feasibility is the first step while undertaking strategic marketing management. At this stage, there are inevitable questions that require answers. For instance, how will the product be manufactured? What the direct and indirect costs? What are the salient limitations or advantages of the product? How will the product features lure consumers? Once these questions are answered, the nest step in the strategic marketing management is pricing. As has been the norm since time immemorial, pricing concepts determine how well a product will penetrate the market. Before pricing, it is vital to calculate all related costs that avail the product to the consumer (Wei, 2008). The pricing strategy should be competitive compared to rival companies. Distribution channels avail the product to the user. Some distributions channels are viable as they resonate to cheaper, efficient, and effective delivery compared to others. Market research seeks to reveal the most efficient and cost effective distribution channels that will resonate to profitable returns. Finally, market research aids in deciding the most effective promotional strategy depending on the target market, cost and time. It is evident that market research is a vital element that fosters appropriate and timely decision-making. Segmentation, targeting, differentiation, and positioning are efficient are marketing strategies. Market segmentation entails dividing a market in terms of purchasing power, consumer requirements, and income. Market segmentation is a significant element that determines how well companies meet the requirements of clients identifying the most lucrative segment. Market segmentation is hence a vital aspect fosters adequate business positioning. Targeting revolves around identifying a market niche in a societal setting and determining its potential (Slater, & Olson, 2001). Targeting is a business strategy that ensures losses are mitigated by launching a product that meets consumer requirements. Product differentiation is a technique used to combat stiff competition. The essence of product differentiation is to ensure that products are packaged differently and lure clients harnessing consumer loyalty. Finally, the location of a business is a key determinant to the growth of the business over time. In conclusion, strategic marketing management is a vital discipline in an organizational setting. There are numerous factors considered while undertaking marketing research. The principle reason behind market research is to harness decision-making and ensure that organizations make the best decisions amid plentiful alternatives. Through marketing research, it is evident that mobile telephony is a lucrative sector in the foreseeable future. This is because the products demand is soaring above expectations and the consumer’s ability to purchase harnessed by appropriate governance. It is prudent to indicate that the attractiveness of the industry will attract innumerable producers each seeking a share in the abnormal profits. References DeSarbo, W. S., Jedidi, K., & Sinha, I. (2001). Customer Value Analysis In A Heterogeneous Market. Strategic Management Journal, 22(9), 845-857. Devitt, K., & Roker, D. (2009). The Role Of Mobile Phones In Family Communication. Children & Society, 23(3), 189-202. Green, E., & Singleton, C. (2009). Mobile Connections: An Exploration Of The Place Of Mobile Phones In Friendship Relations. Sociological Review, 57(1), 125-144. Haigney, D., Taylor, R., & Westerman, S. (2000). Concurrent Mobile (cellular) Phone Use And Driving Performance: Task Demand Characteristics And Compensatory Processes. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 3(3), 113-121. Madell, D. E., & Muncer, S. J. (2007). Control Over Social Interactions: An Important Reason For Young People's Use Of The Internet And Mobile Phones For Communication?. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 10(1), 137-140. Mascarenhas, B. (2002). Order Of Entry And Performance In International Markets. Strategic Management Journal, 13(7), 499-510. Payne, A., & Frow, P. (2005). A Strategic Framework For Customer Relationship Management. Journal of Marketing, 69(4), 167-176. Rettie, R. (2008). Mobile Phones As Network Capital: Facilitating Connections. Mobilities, 3(2), 291-311. Slater, S. F., & Olson, E. M. (2001). Marketing's Contribution To The Implementation Of Business Strategy: An Empirical Analysis. Strategic Management Journal, 22(11), 1055-1067. Wei, R. (2008). Motivations For Using The Mobile Phone For Mass Communications And Entertainment. Telematics and Informatics, 25(1), 36-46. Read More