Gurus On Marketing

Service excellence
In the past two decades many writers have emphasised the value and
the importance of satisfying customers and providing service excellence
to win and maintain competitive advantage. One of the attributes
of the excellent companies mentioned by Peters and Waterman 8 was
staying close to customers. (See Chapter six) However, some gurus
(see George Day Chapter seven) warn against staying too close to
customers.
Marketing environment
Businesses operate within the context of macro-environment. The
factors operating in the macro-environment could be categorised as
sociological or social, technological, economic and political. These
are generally referred to as S.T.E.P. factors.
Changes in the step factors have a knock-on effect on corporate strategy.
Therefore, it is very important in formulating corporate strategy
and associated marketing strategy that notice is taken of the changes
in the macro-economic environment and the impact these changes
could have on your business (see Chapter ten).
Competitive environment
In addition to taking note of and analysing macro-environment it is
also important to scan and assess the competitive environment. The
popular framework used here is that presented by Professor Michael
Porter ‘The Five Forces Framework’. (See chapter four.)
Assessing the competitive environment involves looking at barriers
to entry and exist; availability of substitutes; buying power of sellers
and buyers, and the intensity of competition.
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GURUS ON MARKETING