West, Ford & Ibrahim: Strategic Marketing 2e, Chapter 1

ChapterSummaries
Chapter1OverviewandStrategyBlueprint
INTRODUCTION
Competitivemarketingstrategyisamarketorientedapproachthatestablishesaprofitablecompetitive
positionforthefirmagainstallforcesthatdetermineindustrycompetitionbycontinuouslycreatingand
developingasustainablecompetitiveadvantage(SCA)fromthepotentialsourcesthatexistinafirms
valuechain.Thekeyelementsare:

Marketoriented: the strategy is based upon the needs and wants of the marketplace. Given
that marketplace is often global, companies need to consider international expansion and
acquisitionstrategies(Yip,RugmanandKudina,2006)aswell.
Establishesaprofitablemarketposition:theendgoalofthestrategyistomakeaprofitinthe
forprofitsectorortomeetalternatemetricssuchasinthenotforprofitsector.Inthelatter
caseforexample,aroadsafetycampaignbasedonaparticularmarketingstrategymightmake
aprofitifthereisadeclineinroadinjuriesanddeathsattributedtoit.
Forces that determine industry competition: these are all the complex mix of ingredients that
create the marketing whirlwind, such as government regulation, global competition or the
extentofbuyersknowledgeandunderstandingofaparticularmarket.
ContinuouslycreatingandSCA:marketingstrategyisnotaboutoneofftransactions.Theaimis
to reach a point where an organisation finds a place in the market that fits its available
marketingresources.Few(ifany)organisationscanjustrestontheirlaurels,sotheideaisfinda
spotwhere,ifneedbe,theprimarychallengescanbetackled.Notallorganisationshavetodo
this on a continuous basis of course, but if they had to, an organisation with a sound
competitivemarketingstrategywouldbeableto.Asimpleexample:youmightmakethebest
tomato ketchup in the bestrecognised glass bottles, but if the market moves towards plastic
squeezybottlesyouneedbeabletoadapt.
Potential sources that exist in a firms value chain: competitive marketing strategy relates to
whatvalueanyorganisationwantstocreateusingitsavailablemarketingresources.

THINKINGFIRST
ThebooktakesrationalThinkingFirstasthebasisformarketingstrategy,whichisanapproachthatis
primarilylogical,sequentialandlinear.ThinkingFirstisaboutanalysingastrategicmarketingproblem
and developing the solution (the strategy) through a carefully thoughtthrough and largely sequential
process. Instant views and decisions are not made, though it can help to occasionally see the big
picture.Itcaninvolvesomeinspirationandinsight,butlargelytheprocessisoneofpainstakinglydoing
yourhomeworktoarriveatasolution.

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West, Ford & Ibrahim: Strategic Marketing 2e, Chapter 1

ThinkingFirstiscloselyconnectedtoamarketdrivenapproach,suchasTescosandBMWwhichstand
apartbytheirdevotiontocustomervalueandtheirculture,processandabilities.Volvoisgenerallyisan
example of a company at the forefront of customer satisfaction practices (Dahisten, 2003) given their
policythatCustomersatisfactionisthewaywemeasurequality.Recognisingtheneedforagreater
extrinsic focus to provide greater customer satisfaction insight, Volvo has added a more proactive
approach to its research. Principally, qualitative has been added to the mix with much greater direct
customer contact involving engineering teams, senior managers and dealers. Interactions with
customers on the web and through local workshops in different markets are being made so that
customersshiftingperceptionsofissues,suchasonsafety,arebeingmorestronglytracked.Lostsales
analyseshavebeeninstigatedtocapturetheperceptionsofcustomerswhodecidednottobuyVolvo.
SEEINGFIRST
Seeing First reminds us that the importance of seeing the overall decision is sometimes greater than
thinking about individual elements. As Mozart notedthe best part of creating a symphony was to,
"see the whole of it at a single glance in my mind" (Mintzberg and Westley, 2001). Seeing first is
basicallyinsightandinsightoftenonlycomesafteraperiodofpreparation,incubation,illuminationand
verification in the cold light of day (Wallas, 1926). So the best way of seeing first might be after a
processofrationalanalysis!The'eureka'momenthasbeenoftenknowntocomeaftersleep,asrational
thoughtisgenerallyswitchedoffduringsleep.Thus,SeeingFirstiscognitiveprocessbutitrelatestothe
wholepictureratherthanasequentialanalysis.
SeeingFirsthasmostrelevancewithnewventuresordramaticchangesofdirection.Therealitywith
SeeingFirstisthat,invariably,youneedtodoyourhomework.Thatisyoualsoneedtobeabletothink
first.MozartmayhavebeenabletoSeeFirstbeforehewrotehissymphonies,buttheapplicationof
thistomarketingstrategyislessobvious.Youmightoccasionallyhaveluckwithseeingfirst,butforthe
mostpartmarketersneedtoexaminethetrendsandtheevidenceandbeabletodevelopsomesense
ofwhatisimportantwithinthemassofactionsandevents.Amoreaccessiblealternativeapproachisto
seetheBigPicturewhichdoesinvolvethinkingfirst.Successfulmarketingstrategyrequirestheability
tomovefromtacticaldetailtoaBigPictureoverviewofthemarkettoplacetheirstrategyincontext.
DOINGFIRST
When you cannot think it through and you do not see it, what do you do? 'Doing first' is when
marketing managers experiment and learn from their mistakes and successes. The process is: (1) do
something, (2) make sense of it and (3) repeat the successful parts and discard the rest. Instead of
marketing strategy, the reality is often that doing drives. For example, many companies that have
successfullydiversifiedtheirbusinesseshavedonesobyaprocessoffiguringoutwhatworkedandwhat
didnot.

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West, Ford & Ibrahim: Strategic Marketing 2e, Chapter 1

DoingFirstisacredibleandviablestrategicapproach.Thereareoftencircumstancesandissuesthat
are virtually impossible to disentangle and coordinate the best course of action. Doing First enables
organisationstotryoutmarketingstrategiesandwithcarefulmonitoring,assesstheresults.Itprovides
awaytotesttheboundariesofstretchingabrand,theviabilityofnewkindsofdistributionchanneland
so on and so on. However, Thinking First is still a necessity in establishing how you will define and
measurethesuccessofanyDoingFirststrategy.
SIMPLERULES
Marketingstrategyassimplerulesisaboutselectingafewkeymarketingstrategicprocesses,craftinga
handful of simple rules and jumping in rather than avoiding uncertainty. In many respects the
approachisrelatedtodoingfirstexceptthattherulesarepredefined.CompanieslikeVodafoneand
Yahoo! have excelled without the traditional advantages of superior resources or strategic positions.
AccordingtoEisenhardtandSull(2001)thekeytotheirsuccesshasbeentheuseofsimplerules:
Simple Rules is an approach particularly wellsuited to complex markets. How do you identify the
SimpleRulestouse?YouneedtoThinkFirstandestablishyourbusinessmodelandpropositions.Once
youhavedonethisyoucanidentify,establishandputyoursimplemarketingstrategyrulesintoplace.
To do this the muchneglected Thinking First art of scenarios can be utilised. Scenarios are often
misunderstoodaspartofcompetitivemarketingstrategy,butcanaidaSimpleRulesmarketingstrategy.
POSTMODERN
A completely different view of strategy is provided by the postmodern school. Underpinning the
approachofpostmodernmarketingstrategyisthepropositionthatbuyersareincreasinglysophisticated
andcynicalaboutregularmarketing.
Wright(1985)hasarguedthatconsumershavetointerpretandwithstandmarketerssalesappealsand
that they develop knowledge and coping tactics to do so. Persuasion knowledge helps consumers
identify how, when, and why marketers try to influence them and helps them adapt and respond to
persuasionattemptstoachievetheirowngoals(FriestadandWright,1994).Developingthisnotionthat
consumers have developed schemer schema or intuitive theories about marketers attempts to
influence them, they draw marketers attention to folk models of persuasion. These observe that
consumers learn about persuasion in many ways: from every day social encounters, from observing
marketersandotherpersuaders,andfrommediacommentaryonmarketingandadvertisingtactics.
One of the leading proponents of the postmodern view, Stephen Brown (2001) argues that customer
centric marketing has gone too far and now places many companies in the position of Uriah Heep:
unctuous,ubiquitousandunbearable.Hisviewisthatpeopledonotwantthetruth,thewholetruth
andnothingbutthetruth.Theycertainlydonotexpecttruthfrommarketers.Peoplewantmarketing
to be about glitz, glamour and to be mischievous and mysterious. Marketing should be fun, but any
nastinessisforbidden.

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West, Ford & Ibrahim: Strategic Marketing 2e, Chapter 1

Contemporaryconsumersfindmarketingsobsessionwithlove,honourandobeyembarrassingsothey
wouldpreferalovableroguetotheDisneyfiedversionthatisthenormoftoday.Retromarketingharks
backtothegoodoldbaddayswhenmarketerswereprankstersandproudofit.
APPROACH
Consideringmarketingstrategyoverall,thekeyissueistorecognisewhatapproachisappropriate.Both
Thinking First and Seeing First are largely cognitive whereas Doing First and Simple Rules are largely
experiential in nature. On the other hand both Doing First and Thinking First are largely ongoing and
formativewhereasSimpleRulesandSeeingFirstarelargelyimmediateintheirapplication.Largelyis
thekeywordhereasthereareelementsofexperience,cognition,immediacyandlongertimescalesin
allfourapproaches.
Thinking First/Market Orientation works best when the issues are clear, the data are reliable, the
contextisstructured,thoughtscanbepinneddownanddisciplinecanbeapplied.Ontheotherhand,
SeeingFirstworksbestwhenmanyelementshavetobecreativelyapplied,commitmenttosolutionsis
keyandcommunicationsacrossboundariesareneeded(e.g.inNPD).DoingFirstorsimpleruleswork
bestwhenthesituationisnovelandconfusing,complicatedspecificationswouldgetinthewayanda
fewsimplerelationshiprulescanhelpmovetheprocessforward.
Throughout,thePostmodernorientationneedstobecontinuallyborneinmindtoprovideacheckon
how, in reality, buyers will interpret the final offering but the book essentially takes a Thinking First
viewofcompetitivemarketingstrategyfromamarketdrivenperspective.Thus,itnodsmoretowards
the Igor Ansoff (1991) synoptic and deliberate approach to strategy than the more incremental and
emergentapproachadvocatedbyHenryMintzberg(1990).
CONCLUSION
Developingamarketingstrategyisalargelysubjectiveactivity.ThisbooksuggeststhatThinkingFirstis
the best model to adopt given a rational and linear thinking perspective. Marketers appreciate that
there are constraints on our ability to make optimal choices. All decisionmaking is in a state of
bounded rationality owing to complexity, limited time and inadequate mental computational power
(BuchananandOConnell,2006).Strategyhasbeenshowntobeafundamentalcomponentofbusiness
success along with execution, culture and structure. Things can go badly wrong such as with poor
verticalcommunicationsorconflictingprioritiesandtheyoftendo.

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West, Ford & Ibrahim: Strategic Marketing 2e, Chapter 1

SUMMARY
Thischapterhastakenasomewhatleftfieldandalternativeviewofstrategy.Thebookisdevotedtoa
ThinkingFirstandrationalviewofmarketingstrategy,thisopeningchapterhastakentheopportunityto
reviewanddiscussalternativeapproachesthatarelessmainstream.Abitlikelearningtowalkbefore
you can run, Seeing First or Doing First are approaches to decisionmaking that normally need a prior
understanding of Thinking First. You need to know the rules before you should break them. You can
thenbreakalltherulesonceyouknowwhattheyare!

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