Marketing Management and Strategy

Introduction

Every organization must have a well-thought-out strategy and plan to generate the necessary revenue for profitability and long-term viability. This course specifically addresses organizations operating in markets where the key to revenue lies in selling products and services to customers.

Long-term success requires the organization to be market-oriented, adept at translating current and future customer needs into appealing and profitable offerings.

A crucial aspect of any strategy is the development of a competitive advantage, achieved through valuable and rare organizational resources that are difficult to replicate. This course places emphasis on managing market-related resources, such as customer relationships, brands, and partner networks. As the economy becomes increasingly digital, the strategic management of these market-based resources becomes even more vital for sustainable success.

In order to develop a strategy that ensures profitability and long-term viability, it is necessary to have theoretical knowledge of key economic concepts and relationships. This is particularly relevant to the connection between costs in a company's chain of linked activities and how costs per unit produced decrease as sales volume increase. Another important theme is how the company's strategic resources contribute to unique competitive advantages and influence the company's future cash flow. A third aspect pertains to how heterogeneity in a market, in the form of differences in customer needs and variations in competitors' product offerings, affects businesses' choices of strategic positions.

Because the market is constantly changing, every business must continuously analyze the market, competitors, customers, and the effectiveness of marketing initiatives. They should use this information to develop an overarching strategy and plan for implementing marketing measures that will secure their overall and long-term goals. The development of a comprehensive market plan is a crucial tool that businesses use to ensure a cohesive marketing strategy leading to overarching objectives. This plan considers all marketing initiatives in context, clarifies the economic consequences in terms of revenue and costs, and allocates responsibilities and tasks to the respective organizational units.

Course content

1. Key concepts and theories in strategy
   • Value chain activities and economies of scale
   • Strategic resources
   • Future cash-flow and firm financial value
   • Strategic choices and market heterogeneity
2. Marketing management and strategy
   • Market matrix with strategic product categories and customer segments
   • Allocating revenues and (all) costs in the market matrix
   • Managing coordination and synergies within and across the market matrix
3. Analyzing markets
   • Definition of a market
   • Market mechanisms (economics)
   • External trends and likely effects on markets (PESTEL)
   • Strategic choices and competitive dynamics (5 C)
   • Market structures
4. Analyzing customer behavior
   • Buying process and customer journey
   • Customer satisfaction and development of customer relationships
   • Attitude formation and persuasion through market communication
5. Strategic customer portfolio management
   • Customer heterogeneity and segmentation
   • Customer data and analytics
   • Service design and management of customer interaction
   • Customer communication and customer programs  
6. Strategic product portfolio management
   • Product differentiation and innovation
   • Product quality, profitability, and customer satisfaction
   • Pricing
   • Distribution and partner networks
7. Strategic brand management
   • Brand positioning
   • Brand communication
   • Brand architecture
8. Strategic market planning
   • Identification and formulation of strategic market problems
   • Market planning process
   • Key performance indicators
   • Writing a compelling marketing plan

Disclaimer

This is an excerpt from the complete course description for the course. If you are an active student at BI, you can find the complete course descriptions with information on eg. learning goals, learning process, curriculum and exam at portal.bi.no. We reserve the right to make changes to this description.