Assignment for Makeup mid (MKT634)

Submitted to-
Md. Humayun Kabir Chowdhury
Professor, School of Business of Economic (SBE), NSU

Submitted by__
Name: Nurul Islam
ID: 1835221660
Course Name: Marketing Strategy
Course Code: MKT634, Sec-1
 June 4, 2020

Question: What are the relevant issues a cross-functional team should consider in
developing a strategic vision about the future for the organization’s product-market(s)?

What Is a Cross-Functional Team?

A cross-functional team is a team in which the members have different skill sets, but are all
working towards a common goal. It often includes people from different departments and from
all levels of the organization, though it can also include participants from outside the
organization.

These teams are usually self-directed. They are assigned tasks, which are then uniquely
approached because of the various expertise of the team members. Each participant can offer
their own perspective, leading to a more “out of the box” solution. This creative approach can
lead to innovation, which can be a substantial market advantage over the competition.

Cross-functional teams often exist in small or startup environments. Because startups usually
have a small number of employees, team members might have to perform a variety of tasks in
different departments, thereby collaborating with those departments as well. This certainly
creates a cross-functional team environment, even if the organization hasn’t acknowledged it yet.

Experts vary on whether these teams work best cooperatively or in competition or even both.
Because members of cross-functional teams come from many different departments (marketing,
sales, finance, etc.), they can subconsciously compete with each other by defending the interests
of their core department. As far as the overall direction of a CFT, decisions can be made by
consensus or by a team leader.

Cross-functional agile teams are common. If a cross-functional team mixes specialists from
different fields, agile teams take this a step further. They make them combine and require each
team member to expand beyond their area of expertise. Also, agile demands self-organizing
teams, which dovetails nicely into the way a cross-functional team works.
Strategies to Develop Cross Functional Teams

Cross-functional collaboration can be a great team building measure and can build a more
creative atmosphere. Here are six practical measures that we take to get the most out of your
cross-functional team.

1. Assemble the Right Team

There are a set of skills that are required to have an effective cross-functional team. The project
will dictate some of these. The work is going to require a range of expertise from the team, and
therefore that team must have people on it who have the various skills needed.

But often overlooked is the shared skills each team member must have to create a well-oiled
machine. It takes a certain type of person to work together in such a unique setting. These are
independent self-starters who have the authority to make decisions.

Ideally, they should also have experience working in such conditions. Some team members need
to have their hands held and to be assigned task after task. These not the best candidates for a
cross-functional team, which requires collaborative members who can work in a less-defined
space.

2. Have a Leader

While it’s not a prerequisite to have one person lead a cross-functional team, the benefits
outweigh the risks. First and foremost, everyone on the team needs to take responsibility. Find a
leader who can give the team accountability and develop self-leaders out of each team member.
A team leader needs to educate, delegate and give autonomy, while following up on their
progress. Collaborate with the team, too, by inviting them into the planning process. If you can,
get mentors to help shepherd the team and give them direction as needed.

While cross-functional teams are collaborative, there needs to be a leader that is held accountable
for the project success. Without that leader, there’s a greater risk of a rudderless ship that never
makes it to the dock.

3. Clearly Defined Goals

Just like any team, if a cross-functional one isn’t given clear objectives they can find themselves
going off into directions that lead to a dead end. Therefore, it’s crucial to have goals defined and
in place before even assembling the team.

Some of the ways to get those objectives defined are the same as any project. For example, you
want to have a charter to define the project’s priorities. An approved budget gives everyone a
financial roadmap. What are the outcomes you want and what time frame have you scheduled to
have them completed?

The sooner these markers are determined, the easier time you will have. Team members will be
able to go off on their own, with greater autonomy, knowing what is expected of them, when it’s
expected and what resources they need to achieve those expectations.

4. Shared Success

When you have a cross-functional team, you have different team members with different goals.
While all those goals should lead to the overall success of the project, that is not always the case.
People can focus on their own small aspect of the project and neglect its part in the whole.

Yes, the individuals on the team might not always align with other people on the team, which
can lead to conflict, but that’s where the team leader comes in. They must lead the entire group
to a shared success. It is, after all, the project and not the tasks that are the measure of success.

5. Communication
Good communication is the hallmark of any successful project. You need to be able to articulate
your needs and they must be heard and understood to move the project forward. The problem
with cross-functional teams is that they are often not under the same roof, which makes
communications more difficult. Communications need be open and frequent, so what can you
do?

The best plan of action is to find the right platform that speaks to your team. It can be a
collaborative tool like Skype or Slack, or a more robust project management software that offers
more functionality. More on that later.

6. Constantly Reevaluate

The beauty of cross-functional teams, and one reason they’re so often seen in agile
environments, is that they are flexible and able to adapt swiftly to change. A cross-functional
team is ideal when you want to speed innovations to market. To achieve that goal, means for
reevaluating priorities and processes are needed.

This includes performance reviews. Because to remain effective, teams must always be
measuring their progress and success. And this happens not only as a post-mortem at the end of
the project, but throughout its execution. Were objectives achieved? If not, why not? Adjust
accordingly.

Developing a strategic vision about the future.

Market development and competitive space may not follow clearly defined and predictable
paths. Nonetheless, signals can be identified that are useful in pointing to possible market
changes. Answers to the questions given below—. These issues need to be addressed for each
product market.

Phases of competition

It is useful to distinguish between different phases in the development of competition. In the

initial stage, companies compete in identifying product concept, technology choices, building
competencies. Evaluating markets, segments and customer value drivers at the outset of the
marketing strategy process identifies opportunities, defines market segments, evaluates
competition, and assess the organizations strengths and weaknesses. Market sensing information
plays a key role in designing marketing strategy. Which includes market targeting and
positioning strategies, building marketing relationship, developing and introducing new products
(Goods or Services).

Designing market-driving Strategies

Evaluating market, segments, and customer value drivers at the outset of the marketing strategy
process identifies market opportunities, defines market segment, evaluation competition and
process the organizations strengths and weaknesses. Market sensing information plays a key role
in designing marketing strategy, which included markets targeting and positioning strategies,
building marketing relationship, and developing and including new products ( good and service).

Market Targeting and strategic positioning.

A core issue is deciding how, when, and where to compete, given firms market and competitive
environment. The purpose of market targeting strategy is to select the people that management
wishes to serve in the product market. When buyer needs wants very, the market target is usually
one or more segments of the product market. Once the segments are identified and there relative
importance to the firm determined, the targeting strategies is selected. The objective is to find the
best match between the value requirements of each segments and the organizations distinctive
capabilities. The targeting decision is the focal point of marketing strategy since targeting guide
the setting decision is the focal point of marketing science targeting guides the setting of
objective and developing the corporate positioning strategy. Example of target market objective
are desired levels of sales, market share, customer retention, profit contribution, and customer
life time value. Positioning strategy is the combination of the product, value chain, price and
promotion strategies a firm uses to position itself against its key competitors is meeting needs
and wants of the buyers in the market target. The strategies and tactics uses to gain a favorable
position are called marketing mix or the marketing program.
  Strategic Relationship.

Marketing relationship partners may include end user customers, marketing channel members,
suppliers, competitor’s alliances, and internal terms. The driving force underlying theses
relationship is that a company may enhance its ability to satisfy customers and cope with rapidly
changing business environment through collaboration of the parties involve. Building long term
relationship with customers and value chain partners offers companies a way to deliver superior
customer value. Strategic partnering has become an important strategies initiative for many well-
knows companies and brands. May firms outsource the manufacturing for their products. Strong
relationship with outsourcing are vital to the success of these powerful brands.

Innovation and new product strategies Strategy.

New products are needed to replace old product when sales and profit rate decline. Closely
coordinated new product planning is essential to satisfy customer requirements and product
produce with high quality and competitive prices .New product decisions includes finding and
evaluating ideas, selecting the most promising and development, designing the product,
developing marketing product, market testing the products, and introducing them to the market.
The difference between existing products attributes and those desired by customers offer
opportunities for new and improve product achieving remarkable result.

Market Driven Program Development

Market targeting and positioning strategies for new products guide the choice of strategies for the
marketing program compensations. Product value chain, price and promotion strategies are
combined to from the positioning strategy selected for each market target. The marketing
program strategies implement the positioning strategy.

a.) Strategic Brand management

Products good and service often are focal point of positioning strategy, particularly when
companies or business units are adopts organizational approaches emphasizing product or brand
management product strategies includes

 Developing plans for new product

 Managing programs for successful product
 Deciding what to do about problem.

b.) Value chain Strategy

Market target buyer may be contacted on a direct basis using the firms Salesforce or by direct
marketing contact, or, instead, through a value-added chain of marketing intermediaries.
Distribution channels are often used in linking producers with end user household and business
markets. Discussion that need to be made include the type of channel organization to use, the
extent channel performed by the firmed, and intensity distribution appropriate for the good or
services.
 c.) Pricing strategy

Price also played an important role in positioning product or services. Customers reaction to
alternative prices, the cost of the product, the price of the competition, and various legal and
ethical factors establish extend of flexibility management has in setting prices. Pricing strategy
involve choosing the role of the price in the positioning strategies, including the desired
positioning of the product or brand as well as margins necessary to satisfy the motivate
distribution channel participation.

d.) Promotion strategy

Advertising, sales promotion, the sales forces, direct marketing, and public relations help help
the organization to communicate with its customers, value chain pattern, the public and other
target audiences. These activities make up the promotion strategy, which perform an essential
role in communicating the positioning strategy to buyers and others relevant influences.
Promotion informs, reminds, and persuader buyer and others who influence the purchasing
process.

Implementing and Managing Market-Driven Strategy

Selecting the customer to target and positioning strategy for each target moves marketing
strategy development to the action stage. This stage considers designing the marketing
organization and implementing and managing the strategy.

 Designing Market-Driven Organizations

As effective organization design matches people and work responsibilities in a way that is best
for accomplishing the firms marketing strategy. Deciding how to assemble people into
organizational units and assign responsibility to the various mix components that make up the
marketing strategy are important to influence on performance.

 Marketing Strategy Implementation and control

Marketing strategy implementation and control consists of preparing the marketing plan and
budget, implementing the plan and using plan in managing and controlling the strategy on an
ongoing basis. The marketing plan includes details concerning targeting, positioning, and
marketing mix activities

Increasingly, we find that change and turbulence, rather than stability, characterize many product
markets .Moreover as discussed above, it is often possible to determine the forces underway that
will alter product market structure. Through these influences are not easily identified and
analyzed, the organizations that choose to invest substantial time and effort in anticipating the
future of digital photography than did Kodak.

So, forestalling the future requires looking beyond the existing competitive arena, for influences
that promise to impact product–market boundaries. The process requires the involvement of the
entire organization, and it demands a substantial amount of time. A company with a marketed–
oriented and multifunctional process should be able to utilize these processes for anticipating the
future. Also, it is apparent that developing a vision about the future needs to be an on–going
process

Reference:

Cravens.D., & Piercy.(2001) Strategic Management. McGraw-Hill INTERNATIONAL EDITION

https://mktgide.blogspot.com/2013/08/defining-and-analyzing-product-market.html

https://consequential-lca.org/clca/the-functional-unit/determining-market-boundaries/

file:///C:/Users/Ratan/Downloads/1468-2370.00040%20(1).pdf

file:///C:/Users/Ratan/Downloads/Developing_market-driven_product_strategies.pdf