MKTG3501 Marketing Strategy - Final Exam Quiz

262 cards: EXAM (format), DEFINE (definitions), LIST (framework recall), CASE (which theory applies), APPLY (how to answer).

EXAM: What is the format of the MKTG3501 final exam?

Short answer only (no MCQ). 3 case studies, each on one topic in depth, each with several questions (~3). 10 min planning + 120 min writing, closed book, paper based, no calculator, worth 35%.

EXAM: What three moves should every short-answer response make?

1) Explain the theory (name + define the framework). 2) Apply it to the case using case evidence. 3) Evaluate - choose the most important factor/option and justify it with evidence and theory.

EXAM: Which topics were starred in the Week 13 review (likely priorities)?

Ch 1 Intro; Ch 6 Organisational resource base; Ch 8 Selecting markets; Ch 9 Marketing warfare (+ Kotler & Singh); Ch 16 CSR/ethics/macromarketing + SDGs (Spry & France 2025).

EXAM: How long should you spend on each case?

About 40 minutes per case (3 cases in 120 minutes), roughly 1/2 to 2 pages per question.

DEFINE: Purpose of marketing (textbook quote)

To contribute to maximising shareholder value; marketing strategies must be evaluated in terms of how much value they create. The course extends this to stakeholder value.

DEFINE: Stakeholder value

Firm performance should cater for the well-being of all stakeholders - shareholders, employees, customers, communities and others - not just owners.

DEFINE: Central focus of marketing strategy

A unique, sustainable competitive advantage, built by generating customer value.

DEFINE: Strategy

A fundamental pattern of present and planned objectives, resource deployments and interactions of an organisation with markets, competitors and other environmental factors.

DEFINE: Strategic planning

Developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organisation's goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities.

DEFINE: Marketing environment

The actors and forces outside of marketing that affect marketing management's ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers.

DEFINE: Industry vs market

Industry = organisations with technologies and products in common. Market = customers linked by similar needs.

DEFINE: Resource-based marketing

An approach that balances/matches market needs with organisational capabilities (two-way), rather than product push or purely customer-led.

DEFINE: Product push marketing

Marketing driven by organisational capabilities - make what you can, then find buyers.

DEFINE: Customer-led marketing

Marketing driven purely by market needs - make whatever customers ask for.

DEFINE: VRIN

A test of whether a resource/capability can be a sustainable competitive advantage: Valuable, Rare, Inimitable (hard to imitate), Non-substitutable.

DEFINE: Dynamic capabilities

The capacity of an organisation to purposefully create, extend or modify its resource base - by sensing, seizing and reconfiguring as the environment changes.

DEFINE: Marketing assets

The resource endowments the firm has built or acquired over time (e.g. brand, customer relationships, distribution networks, alliances).

DEFINE: Marketing capabilities

The processes that deploy marketing assets to create competitive advantage (product/service mgmt, pricing, distribution, advertising/promotion/selling).

DEFINE: Dynamic marketing capabilities

The processes that create new assets or capabilities to help sustain competitive advantage (absorptive, adaptive, innovative).

DEFINE: Customer orientation

The set of beliefs that puts the customer's interest first, ahead of all others such as owners, managers and employees.

DEFINE: Competitive convergence (Porter)

Firms start with a clear position but over time are drawn into doing basically the same thing as rivals, so competition becomes a stalemate.

DEFINE: Offensive strategy

Seeks market share growth through proactive attacks on competitors; where the market can't grow, success must come at competitors' expense, causing confrontation.

DEFINE: Defensive strategy

Aims to preserve and protect the firm's equity and advantages; must be explicitly pursued where an aggressor's potential gains are high.

DEFINE: Market expansion strategy

Growing the total market rather than taking share - the typical leadership strategy (e.g. De Beers 'A diamond is forever').

DEFINE: Segmentation (bow-tie model)

How marketers identify groups of customers with similar needs.

DEFINE: Competitive positioning (bow-tie model)

How customers perceive the alternative offerings - the place a brand holds in customers' minds.

DEFINE: Positioning statement formula

To (target segment and need), our (brand) is (concept) that (point of difference).

DEFINE: Stuck in the middle

Porter: average customer-valued uniqueness and average cost - neither differentiated nor cost leader, so no competitive advantage.

DEFINE: Niche/focus strategy

Choose your target market carefully and focus all efforts on serving it (e.g. Apia - over-50s insurance).

DEFINE: The chasm (diffusion of innovation)

The gap between early adopters (novelty value) and the early majority (functional value) where many new products fail.

DEFINE: Price floor and price ceiling

Floor = production costs; ceiling = economic value to the customer. Competitor prices, elasticity, positioning and objectives sit between.

DEFINE: Price elasticity

% change in demand / % change in price. Elastic = big quantity change; inelastic = small quantity change.

DEFINE: Vertical marketing system

Producer, wholesaler and retailer act as one unified system (vs a conventional channel of separate, independent members).

DEFINE: Innovation strategy vs new products

Innovation strategy = where and how the organisation should innovate. New products = how to successfully develop and launch specific new products.

DEFINE: Incremental innovation

Small yet valuable improvements (e.g. new iPhone models). Easier to copy.

DEFINE: Breakthrough innovation

New to market but builds on prior innovation (e.g. iPad).

DEFINE: Transformational/radical innovation

Revolutionary, higher risk, changes the marketplace and society (e.g. iPhone, personal computer).

DEFINE: Customer catching vs customer keeping

Catching = winning new customers (lower rungs of relationship ladder). Keeping = developing and enhancing relationships (upper rungs).

DEFINE: CSR key line (lecture)

Authentic and enduring CSR engagement can create competitive advantages for firm and customer, as well as societal betterment.

DEFINE: SDG washing

Faking or overstating a brand's commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (like greenwashing).

DEFINE: Rainbow washing

Aligning to a wide mix of SDGs (across the coloured tiles) without real depth.

DEFINE: Blue-washing

Insincere or inconsistent SDG alignment - the brand doesn't deliver.

DEFINE: Cherry-picking (SDGs)

Aligning with SDG goals within easy reach that have little or no real impact.

DEFINE: Brand purpose (Williams et al. 2022)

A long-term, central aim that is a predominant component of a brand's identity, meaning and strategy, leading to productive engagement with some aspect of the world that transcends the brand's profits.

DEFINE: Brand purpose (Keller 2024)

The broader reason for being and the greater value the brand can create, directly or indirectly, for customers, employees and society.

DEFINE: Macromarketing (Hunt & Burnett 1982)

The study of (1) marketing systems, (2) the impact and consequences of marketing systems on society, and (3) the impact and consequences of society on marketing systems.

DEFINE: Legal compliance program

A system designed to identify, manage and reduce the risk of breaking the law (plus ongoing legal education).

DEFINE: Utilitarian ethics

Impacts focused - the ends justify the means.

DEFINE: Deontological ethics

Practice focused - a sense of duty or requirement; following the right rules.

DEFINE: Virtue ethics

Aligning actions to moral standpoints and ideals (good character).

DEFINE: Marketing agility (Kalaignanam et al. 2021)

The extent to which an entity rapidly iterates between making sense of the market and executing marketing decisions to adapt to the market.

DEFINE: Sensemaking (agility)

Built out of vague questions, muddy answers and negotiated agreement that reduce confusion: noticing/bracketing a development, building shared understanding, creating a more ordered environment to draw further cues.

DEFINE: Iteration (agility)

Repeatedly refining marketing decisions before relaunching or scaling them - a path to perfect, not perfect.

DEFINE: Speed (agility)

The time taken by firms to sense market changes, initiate actions, gather feedback and adjust marketing decisions.

DEFINE: Superficial agility

Adopting the trappings of marketing agility but not its essence (e.g. copying Spotify's 'squads and tribes'); wastes resources and yields poor outcomes.

DEFINE: Strategic marketing ambidexterity (Josephson et al. 2016)

A firm's ability to extract value from existing offerings (exploiting existing opportunities) while anticipating future needs and developing new offerings (exploring new value opportunities).

DEFINE: Exploitation vs exploration

Exploitation = capitalising on the current market (advertising/promotion focus; risk = future profit). Exploration = seeking future opportunities (innovation focus; risk = current profit).

DEFINE: Financial slack vs strategic slack

Financial slack = liquid assets available, leading to more long-term spending. Strategic slack = capacity to respond quickly to market opportunities.

DEFINE: Glocal

'Be global, act local' - a global strategy adapted to local markets.

DEFINE: Learning organisation

The centre of strategy in a changing world: a firm that continually learns and adapts.

LIST: The 4 principles of marketing strategy (Palmatier & Crecelius 2019)

1) All customers differ 2) All customers change 3) All competitors react 4) All resources are limited (trade-offs).

LIST: The 5 facets of marketing strategy (Palmatier & Crecelius)

Decisions and actions; differential advantage over competitors; sustainable advantage; goal to enhance firm performance; the customer perspective.

LIST: Evolution of managing customer heterogeneity

Mass marketing (uniform mix) -> Niche marketing (mix per segment) -> One-to-one marketing (mix per individual customer).

LIST: How competitors are outlasted (principle 3 - sources of sustainable advantage)

Offering, Brand, Relationship, Experience (CX).

LIST: The 3 marketing approaches

Product push marketing; customer-led marketing; resource-based marketing.

LIST: Mission-led strategy elements around the mission

Strategic intent, market definition, company values, competitive positioning, distinctive competencies.

LIST: Portfolio matrix quadrants (market attractiveness x business strength)

High/high = tomorrow's breadwinners; high attract/low strength = developments, sleepers, ego trips; low attract/high strength = today's breadwinners; low/low = failures, yesterday's breadwinners.

LIST: TOWS strategies

S-O exploit strengths in opportunities; S-T use strengths to counter threats; W-O build new strengths to take opportunities; W-T build new strengths to counter threats.

LIST: PESTLE

Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental (+ cultural).

LIST: Porter's five forces

Rivalry among existing firms; threat of new entrants; threat of substitutes; bargaining power of suppliers; bargaining power of buyers.

LIST: PLC stages and their objectives

Introduction = create awareness and trial; Growth = maximise market share; Maturity = maximise profit while defending share; Decline = reduce spend and milk the brand.

LIST: SPACE analysis dimensions

Company: financial strength + competitive advantage. Industry: environmental stability + industry strength.

LIST: Buying roles

Initiator, influencer, decider, purchaser, user/consumer.

LIST: Key questions for understanding customers

WHO is involved in buying/using; WHAT choice criteria; WHEN they buy/use; WHY they buy; WHERE they buy; HOW they use it.

LIST: Components of competitor analysis (Lehmann & Winer 1991)

Assess competitors' current and future objectives + current strategy + resource profile -> predict competitors' future strategies.

LIST: Targets of competitor analysis (who to benchmark)

Strategic group (core) -> industry competition -> new entrants or substitutes.

LIST: Sources of competitor information

What they say about themselves (ads, recruitment ads, promo material, technical reports, press releases) + what others say (media, trade sources, customers).

LIST: Learning from competitors

Analyse successful competitors and copy/improve; analyse unsuccessful ones and avoid pitfalls; look to other industries and adapt best practice.

LIST: Value disciplines (Treacy & Wiersema)

Product leadership; customer intimacy; operational excellence.

LIST: VRIN outcomes (Yes vs No)

Value: CA vs disadvantage. Rarity: competitive difference vs parity. Imitability: sustainable vs temporary advantage. Non-substitutability: non-substitutable vs substitutable advantage.

LIST: Four reasons a resource is hard to imitate (VRIN)

Unique history, causal ambiguity, social complexity, path dependency.

LIST: Dynamic capabilities process

Sensing, seizing, reconfiguring.

LIST: 3 levels of marketing resources

Marketing assets -> marketing capabilities -> dynamic marketing capabilities.

LIST: 4 marketing capabilities

Product and service management; pricing and tendering; distribution and logistics; advertising, promotion and selling.

LIST: 3 dynamic marketing capabilities

Absorptive (market sensing, learning); adaptive (targeting/positioning, CRM); innovative (new product/service development).

LIST: 4 types of marketing assets

Customer-based; internal support; supply chain; alliance-based.

LIST: Examples of customer-based assets

Relationships with customers, company name and reputation, brands, country of origin, market domination, superior products and services.

LIST: Examples of internal support assets

Cost advantages, information systems, technical skills, production expertise, copyrights and patents, franchises and licences, partnerships.

LIST: Examples of supply chain assets

Distribution control, pockets of strength, distribution uniqueness, distribution network, security of supply, supplier network.

LIST: Examples of alliance-based assets

Access to markets, access to management skills, shared technology, exclusivity.

LIST: Resource portfolio quadrants

Crown jewels (important + superior); Achilles' heels (important + inferior); Black holes (unimportant + superior); Sleepers (unimportant + inferior).

LIST: Imitability ladder from hardest to easiest

Cannot imitate (patents, unique locations, unique physical assets) -> difficult (brand reputation, loyalty, culture, networks) -> at a cost (capacity, plant) -> easy (unskilled labour, undifferentiated products, cash).

LIST: Advantage-creating resources (Venn)

Contribute value for customers + unique to the firm + hard for competitors to acquire or imitate = sustainable competitive advantage.

LIST: The 4 groups of segment attractiveness factors

Market factors; economic and technological factors; competitive factors; business environment factors.

LIST: Market factors (segment attractiveness)

Size, growth rate, life cycle stage, predictability, price elasticity, bargaining power of buyers, cyclicality of demand.

LIST: Economic and technological factors (segment attractiveness)

Barriers to entry and exit, bargaining power of suppliers, technology utilisation, investment required, margins.

LIST: Competitive factors (segment attractiveness)

Intensity, quality, threat of substitution, degree of differentiation.

LIST: Business environment factors (segment attractiveness)

Economic fluctuations, political and legal, regulation, social, physical environment.

LIST: Factors affecting business strength

Current position (share, change in share, exploitable resources, unique offerings); economic and technological position (relative cost, capacity utilisation, technology); capability profile (management, marketing strength, integration).

LIST: Market attractiveness x competitive position quadrants

High/strong = core business; low/strong = peripheral; high/weak = illusion; low/weak = dead-end.