Professional Documents
Culture Documents
- Corporate Strategy
- Product-mix Strategy
Corporate Strategy: - This strategy of market planning defines which product(s) the
company offers and which target markets to serve. There are various factors that influence
this strategy.
• Mission and Objectives e.g. Profitability, Volume (Market share), Stability (annual
sales volume), Non financial (improved corporate image).
These are all related to the marketing strategy. In market planning there are basic strategies of
corporate strategy: -
• Growth Strategy: -
Current markets
The factors that determine this strategy has to do with Market Penetration of
the core business, Product development of new products for existing markets
and Integration which can be vertical, horizontal, forward or backward.
New Markets
• Consolidation Strategy: -
Retrenchment: - This is a forced layoff or human resources to cut down expenses
and increase financial resources.
Pruning: - This is integrated with the product. Product pruning is the discontinuation
of a product or brand as a reaction to lacking demand and unsatisfying monetary
profits. Product pruning allows the management to devote its resources to its finest
product(s) or brands.
Product Mix Strategy: - This market planning strategy determines what each product should
contribute to the organization and how resources should be allocated across product(s). This
strategy defines the relevant market for the product(s).
• Product form: - The level of the product e.g. Sales of Microsoft Office, Microsoft
Office Home and Student, Microsoft Office Professional, Microsoft Office Home and
Business.
• Product class: - The product group or range created to appeal to the same need but
target different markets e.g. Office Software.
• Generic Need: - Possible utility drawn by customers from a product which is a strong
definition of the market being served. A good way to determine this is to ask the
question (What business are we in?) e.g. Software Applications.
A separate plan is normally developed for each major product(s) the organization produces.
Market planning summarizes the marketing strategies and tactics that will be used to achieve
specified objectives. The plan outlines the responsibilities of the marketing executives and
how much time and money it costs to implement.