Measuring Marketing Performance - Case Study Example

The strategic Marketing Plan Part II Name Institution Course Lecturer Date The strategic Marketing Plan Part II In this section we shall consider the various strategies practised by SportUNE business when it comes to dealing with the new market entries, growth markets, mature and declining markets. The main aim of this study is to investigate on the ways in which farms behave when confronted by new economic environment so as to sustain their competitive advantage in the market throughout the business’ product life. SportUNE will be used as a case study in illustrating this phenomenon as far as suitable marketing practices are concerned. For instance the importance of firms employing a follower strategy so as to sustain their competitive advantage will be illustrated with the practices that the SportUNE business carries out while employing such a strategy. More specifically the report will aim at the importance of such practices as growth market strategies for market leaders as well as share growth strategies for the market followers (Kotler & Andreasen, 1996). Moreover the paper will discuss the devised ways that SportUNE business carries out in order to uphold its competitive advantage at all the times. Several marketing strategies that enhance the competitiveness of a business will be discussed as well as their relevance to the business. Business strategies Whenever a there is a new business opportunity in the economy it comes along with challenges and obstacles as far as the prevailing economic conditions are concerned. In most cases the business will pick quite well at the initial stages, however with time there might be entrance of other competitors in the economy whose actions may affect the first firm in terms of customers, profits as well as market share (Proctor, 2014). Therefore in order to maintain the competitive advantage the pioneering firm should devise ways or actions that will enhance its profitability as well as uphold its market share. Business/ marketing strategies are the actions that the firms employ in order to maintain their competitive advantage in the market. These actions are normally aimed at improving the product acceptance as well as the overall market growth rate of the product. In this section we will discuss the strategies that are employed by the pioneering firms as well as those that are employed by the follower firms so that they are able to compete in the economy. SportUNE business will also be used in this section as a case study to illustrate the implications of these strategies. Pioneer strategies Being the initiator or the pioneer, the firm ought to put in place barriers that can bar the potential entrants into the business. The major risk that the pioneer ought to consider is the price and the dynamic technology. The prices of the product being sold by the pioneer company should be such that any potential competitor will not be in a position to knock them out of the business. The product should also have a potential for expansion as well as improvement so that whenever the entrant tries to devise a similar product the pioneer company will always be able to counteract with them. Studies have shown that comparing the risks and the rewards of being the first in the market to offer certain services or products enhances the pioneering firms to remain at the top of their game. The pioneer has to prevent the erosion of the market share as the new entrants get into the market. In most cases being a pioneer, the company normally enjoys the advantage of sustained market share, price leadership as well as ability to control certain critical distribution channels thus making it difficult for the follower to get into the market. (O'Sullivan, Abela & Hutchinson, 2009) SportUNE initiated the provision of the first rate sport and wellbeing facilities that adds value to the educational system in the country. The institution offers courses such as coaching, sports administration and refereeing among others. It offers the sports facilities in a wide range including fitness and other physical recreation activities. Though SportUNE is not the first institution to offer sport facilities, its uniqueness in offering these services gives it a pioneering aspect in the industry. The institution is able to cooperate with the university as well as the community in order to develop sport activities and programs that suit the students and the immediate community. The institution is also able to keep its services up-to-date by creating strong allies and links with elite state as well as national sporting bodies. These and other excellent strategies enable the firm to remain in the leading edge, making it difficult for the potential entrants to overtake her. (McDonald & Wilson, 2011) Follower strategy On the other hand as a follower, the firm is supposed to employ distinctive marketing strategies that would position its services and products in a unique way as compared to the pioneer firm. Even though the pioneer company is considered to possess a lot in terms of incumbent market advantages, the follower can also take the lead in terms of market share as well as the profits. For example he follower can employ the product imitation strategy where he identifies the gap from the already existing firm and maximizes its efforts on the gap. He can also employ the repositioning strategy where he focuses on different applications and new market segment from the pioneering firm. Other advantages of a follower include ability to take advantage of the pioneer’s product, positioning and other marketing mistakes, taking advantage of the most current technology as well as identifying the pioneer’s limited resources and taking advantage of them. (Martin & Sunley, 2011) SportUNE has been able to employ these follower strategies in its operations in bid to rise to the top. For instance it identified the gap that had existed in the provision of intensive sport facilities among the students and to the local community as well. The institution embarked on upgrading and developing various sport facilities and maintaining them to highest possible standards as compared to other providers. By so doing SportUNE has been able to make its way in offering classic facilities in sports and general physical wellbeing. Growth market strategies for the leaders On one hand the leaders are normally expected to involve themselves in strategies that will enable them gain or maintain their market share as well as maintain the loyalty of the current customers and attract others. Therefore the leader strives to maintain the share in order to enable the firm to remain in an absolute market share. The growth market strategies that are employed by the leader includes position or fortress defence, retaining the current customers (through confrontation strategy and market expansion strategy among others) flanker strategy and the strategic withdrawal. These theories are put in place by firms so as to help them overcome the competition posed by the new entrants as well as the challenges that come along with the changing technologies. (Varadarajan, 2010) On the other hand the followers’ aims at employing strategies that will enable them take the advantage of the existing firm’s loopholes. For example the follower will try by all means to increase the attractiveness of their products and services to their customers so as to win them over their competitors. In most cases the leading firm may not be able to serve all the market segments in the economy or may lack in a certain line of resources. Such loopholes give the follower a chance to compete with the leading firm effectively. The follower may also target the new technology as well as generation of a new products or differentiated goods. (Zheng, Yang & McLean, 2010) SportUNE has employed the growth market strategies as a leader and the share growth strategies as a follower in various occasions so as to maintain its market share in the economy. The institution offers multi-sporting facilities that serves not only the university students but also the community at large. This strategy has enabled the firm to win quite a large number of people who want to become members of the organization (Zheng, Yang & McLean, 2010). Furthermore the successful participation of the students in the international arenas such as Olympic Games in London as well as Rugby sevens among others have continuously given the firm a good reputation that has guaranteed it a bigger market share in the economy. SportUNE has also introduced a new exercise and sport science area to enhance the integration of an academic zone within the region. It has well trained staffs who are able to offer their professional sport services to their subjects with lots of expertise therefore maintaining customer loyalty. In addition the firm engages in various community based activities such as giving support to local charities as well as taking part in fundraising and prize giving events. In terms of technology SportUNE upgrades its services as often as possible, for example in 2012 the squash courts and two of the fitness rooms were upgraded and designed to specifically suit the Yoga style and the sessions for strength group. The integration of these community based activities has always served to make the organization keep up with the growing dynamisms in the competitive sporting field, both as a leader and as follower. SportUNE’s growth can be characterised by the extended attention and excellent customer relation services it offers to its customers. (Zheng, Yang & McLean, 2010) Shakeout stage During shakeout the business has been able to uphold its competitive advantage by ensuring that it maximizes its service delivery during the peak seasons and introducing pre-season training sessions. For example in January 2012 SportUNE hosted the Parramatta Eels pre-season where the students remained in the campus so as to take advantage of the improved training and sport science facilities (Potter & Watts, 2011). This did not only benefit the students but also the business in terms of expanded organisation’s profile as well as improved the business’ ability to maintain its competitive advantage during the shakeout periods. Moreover the institution has continuously increased the number of community members so as to make sure that the facilities are well utilised during the university term breaks. The fitness classes are also updated often in order to suit the current trends as far as good health is concerned. For instance new programs to involve qualified practitioners in fitness sessions have been put in place so as to offer healthy and approved living guidelines to the customers. These activities enable the business to retain its competitive advantage during shakeout. It is in a position to withstand high completion, low prices as well as increased costs of advertising during the shakeout seasons. (Potter & Watts, 2011) Maturity stage During the maturity periods the firm maximizes in refurbishment of the various facilities that enhance quality provision of the sport and wellbeing activities. During this time the growth is insignificant as well as limited change in the technical design of the services offered. The prices remain unchanged and sometimes they may reduce depending on the prevailing competition conditions. In order to maintain the competitive advantage SportUNE undertakes the provision of quality services at all the times. This helps the firm to maintain its profitability as well as an ever growing market share in the economy (Cravens & Piercy, 2008). Moreover the business continually engages in more innovative activities that make the customers especially the local community more interested to the facilities and the training. The dynamic technology also affects the operations of the business especially at this maturity stage since the facilities that had been put in place initially may not be in a position to cater for the emerging trends. In order to keep up with such technological changes SportUNE improves its facilities depending on the taste and preferences of its customers. Declining stage Some of the programs and the activities provided by the SportUNE business are in their declining stage. Meaning that, their demand is low as compared to other facilities being offered currently by the firm. Such a decline of the services could have been as a result of scarce resources as well as lack of complementary services to add value to them so as to uphold the consumers’ interest in them (Cravens & Piercy, 2008). Moreover it is possible that these services could have reached a widespread acceptance in the market to a point that their demand has reached the highest possible level. SportUNE prepares a report annually based on its performance so as to evaluate the growth of the various sectors of its business. This helps the firm to establish which services are declining in their growth and thus put in place strategies that enable them rise up once again where possible. According to studies, when a product or a service is at the declining stage several things may happen such as lack of profits, market saturation and fall in prices (Cravens & Piercy, 2008). However it should be noted that this is not the end of the product or service life, rather it should mark the beginning of more intensive research and development strategies about the service. This is because equally all the factors related to the service are normally negative or adds no value to the business. Therefore in order to maintain customer loyalty and service acceptance it is important to embark on development strategies that will help in lifting the service from the declining state. New economy markets New economy market strategies are employed in order to help the firm keep up with the trends of the digital economy. This calls for new business practices geared up by effective information pool from the current market and the prevailing technological conditions (Peltoniemi, 2011). The new economy requires that the firm be informed in various facets of the economy so as to withstand the competition posed by other upcoming firms in the market. Therefore the firm should be in a position to gather information analyse it and compare that of the products or services being offered elsewhere. The ability of the firm manager to interact with other managers goes a long way to help the organization in gathering correct and relevant information pertaining to the new economy. Most of the new economy technologies such as E-commerce, internet marketing as well as social media advertising are widely employed by the firms so as to ensure that they have a wide market. SportUNE has embraced technology in its operations such advertising its facilities and activities in the media as well as publishing annual reports and posting them in its website. Moreover the firm engages in intensive marketing by using the available marketing sites including the amazon.com. These strategies help the company to win more customers for its facilities both locally and internationally. However it should be noted that this new economy strategies are not without threats and challenges, for instance there are several ethical issues associated with internet marketing (Peltoniemi, 2011). For example most of the internet ads used for advertising is normally imitated by the competitors making them irrelevant for the purpose intended. Such actions make new economy technologies difficult to embrace especially to such an organization as the SportUNE. This is because sport services and physical wellbeing facilities all over the world are almost similar and therefore any imitation of the services may lead to loss in the market share of the pioneering firm. However it should be noted that new economy technologies helps in making work easier for the marketers thus help in reaching out the market segments that are far away. Designing appropriate organisational structures For a business to be able to make comprehensive business strategies abide to them and deliver on the set goals and objectives there has to be well defined business units. This is because it is through such channels that the business top management are able to relay a message pertaining to the growth of the business and the subordinates or other departments embark on the implementation process. Organizational structure refers to the hierarchical mechanism through which a formal and a well –defined path of information flow are laid down. This channel is normally arranged from the top business management to the lowest employee in the firm. A well-structured and functional organisation of a strategic business unit enhances proper decision making as well as smooth flow of implementation process of the decisions arrived at. Moreover a good organisation structure with a good personnel management helps in improving the production and the marketing processes of the firm. (Stark, 2011) Studies indicate that the higher the degree to which various departments in the organization share various functions and programs the easier the implementation of decisions made. For this reason most of the organizations aim at interconnecting various duties while being keen to align certain duties to those who are best suited for them. However to some business units sharing of the resources may not work so well for them due to the nature of the services being provided. For instance SportUNE operates in independent units when it comes to offering services such as gym and the fitness classes as well as the academics in the university for both the undergraduates and the postgraduates. The organizational structure for SportUNE helps the firm to administer various duties from top to the bottom thus making it easier and simpler to perform them. Moreover the firm is able to deliver quality services to the customers at various levels and categories of the structure. The evaluation for the implementation of different decisions arrived at in the organization is also done in terms of the various units in the business. The division of the implementation responsibilities gives each department a challenge that enforces them to put extra efforts in delivering their part of the implementation process. (Stewart, 2009). Performance appraisal of the personnel also helps in boosting the overall performance of the organisation. Since the organization is divided into well-defined functional business units, each unit is evaluated against its performance and rewarded accordingly. This enhances fully participation of the employees at various departments thus leading to an overall good performance of the company. This makes it maintain its competitive advantage in the economy. It should also be noted that the rewarding system is normally based on the cumulative performance and not only the current performance of the department. (Peltoniemi, 2011) Marketing plans The marketing plans for SportUNE are designed such that it is easier for the firm to adhere to the changing business trends. Plans pertaining to projected profits as well as the action plans on the various prospectus activities are put in place in such a way that they give a room for expansion depending on the prevailing market conditions. For the services that are projected not to perform well as expected by the firm management are subjected to control mechanism that is able to detect where they are failing so that the corrective action may be availed. Generally the marketing plans are instituted so as to complement the organisation structures during the service delivery. These strategies especially the organisational designs, helps in bringing consensus and resolutions whenever there are internal conflicts in the business. (Peltoniemi, 2011) The role of marketing metrics and marketing audit Marketing metrics are the measurements that make marketers to have a solid reason to continue venturing into a certain line of business. For most investors they want to venture into a business where they are able to predict for their outcomes before investing their finances in it. Lack of predictability switches the investor off because he or she is not sure of the Returns on Investment (ROI) they expect out of the business they are venturing in. For this reason marketing metrics play a vital role in giving the investors a rough idea of what they expect out of their business. There are several very important metrics that a business ought to have in order to overhaul the current marketing strategy and to obtain the insight of overcoming the hurdle of unpredictability about the future. (Gao, 2010) For SportUNE there has been the need to acquire enough information as far as the sport and physical wellbeing activities and their effects on to the customers are concerned. For instance the management would wish to know with certainty the metrics of the number of individuals who are attracted by a certain line of services offered by the institution. With such information it would be quite easy for the firm to carry out an effective resource allocation so as to maximize its ROI (Return on Investment). In order to obtain relevant metrics SportUNE management ensures that it has assessed every departmental results on the services offered on monthly basis so that any change in a certain sector may be captured (Grant, 2010). Moreover the organization has put in place strategic control indicators to record any positive or negative change in the services being offered. For instance in the fitness section the organisation has put in place the weighing machines so as to monitor the effectiveness of the service to the customers who are being trained. The instructors are in a position to know whether there is any gain or any change on the health of the person undertaking the training by observing such indicators. The qualified health practitioner also have gadgets that they use to assess the period that one requires to undertake the training in order to acquire a certain level of fitness. Marketing audits are also an essential tool for assessing the prevailing conditions within the surroundings of the business (Gao, 2010). This is because business audits are normally more intensive than the scales and he profitability analyses. Before introducing any new sport facility SportUNE engages in a thorough marketing audit so as to evaluate its value in the firm. Marketing audits help the business to certain about the conditions under which it operates. This information serves to help the organisation to take caution of any unpredictability especially pertaining to its profitability. The audit also helps in checking the environmental changes that may affect the product market actions for the strategic business unit in the future. (Gao, 2010) References Cravens, D., & Piercy, N. F. (2008). 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