Gurus On Marketing

‘…Marketing embraces the interpretations of the environment
and the crucial choices of customers to serve, competitors to
challenge, and the product characteristics with which the business
will compete.’
• In strategy formulation there are generally two types of
approach. The first one is ‘outside-in’ approach where the firm
assesses the external environment and tries to respond to
changes by coming up with strategic options. Then there is
‘inside-out’ approach where the firm assesses its resources
and capabilities and then formulates its strategies to meet the
challenges of changing external environment. Professor Day
proposes the third approach ‘the strategic thinking approach’
which integrates both outside-in and inside-out approaches.
• Various methods including market segmentation, product lifecycle
analysis, and portfolio analysis are used in strategic
planning practice. He then explores various stages involved
in the evolution of strategic planning.
Professor Day also believes that it is important to define the nature
of business; the point made by Peter Drucker and Theodore Levitt.
Definition of business should assume multi-dimensional perspectives
involving customer functions, technology development, segmentation,
and value-adding system.
Day then provides what he calls ‘an anatomy of Competitive Strategies’
and focuses on cost cutting, differentiation, and serving a
protected niche market. Differentiation would only work if they:
‘can be converted into:
1 benefits,
2 perceived by a sizeable group,
3 what these customers value and are willing to pay for, and
4 cannot readily obtain elsewhere.’
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GURUS ON MARKETING