Marketing and sales strategy

A series of factors set the German industry apart from its peers German government policies on patents, cartels, and educational support global market and sales strategies and. 

The literature survey discovered 253 functional-specific tools and techniques in total, with 56 in the strategy, 59 in the marketing and sales, 73 in the operations and production and 65 in the procurement and supply functional areas (although some of these were duplicated across functions as we shall see). A summary guide to these tools and techniques is provided by function in this volume as a reference source. The book is divided into four parts (A, B, C and D), and the first chapter in each part (chapters 2, 4, 6 and 8 respectively) provides a reference guide to the tools and techniques in the literature that have been developed for use in that functional area of business. This is followed, in each part, by an analytical chapter (chapters 3, 5, 7 and 9) that describes what the survey discovered about the actual pattern of tool and technique used in general and by industry sector, with a summary of which were not being used at all. The analytical chapters also focus on the performance of particular tools and techniques within specific industrial sectors and the barriers to their successful implementation. 

The results of the research into the 16 different industry sectors are presented in the four parts 1 to IV that follow. Each part focuses on the experiences of the four major functions. Part 1 deals with strategy, Part 11 with marketing and sales, Part 111 with operations and production and Part IV with procurement and supply. Each of these parts is then divided into two chapters. In the first chapter in each part (chapters 2, 4, 6 and 8) a comprehensive list of the management tools and techniques commonly used in that function is provided. Following this there is an analytical chapter (chapters 3, 5, 7 and 9) that focuses on the use and performance of the tools and techniques used in each function. Each of these analytical chapters is arranged with the same structure to facilitate the process of comparison. 

As Table 5.1 also indicates there is a very long tail of tools and techniques - most of which are specific to the marketing and sales functional role -which have only one or two recorded usages. This finding reinforces what was discovered in the strategy survey and this is that, while most tools and techniques that have been isolated in the literature are in use they are not always in use by very many companies. This means that only a few popular tools and techniques appear to be used by most firms most of the time, and these are often duplicates of those used more regularly in the strategy function. 

As indicated above it is clear that the marketing and sales function tends to share many of the same tools and techniques as those found to be in use in the strategy function. Thus, as Table 5.1 indicates, 25 of the tools and techniques found to be in use in marketing and sales were also reported to be in... 

Having seen that there is some clear duplication of effort within the strategy and the marketing and sales functions when it comes to the use of tools and techniques, and that the function does not appear to use marketing and sales specific tools and techniques as extensively as one might have expected, it is now possible to asses the performance of those that were found to be in use. In this part the objectives behind the use of tools and techniques are described and their impact on both the firm and the function. This is followed by an analysis of their impact by industry sector and by industry sector grouping. Finally there is a discussion of the major barriers to effective implementation. 

It had been expected in the strategy function that tools and techniques would be used primarily for their impact on firm rather than functional level performance. This view was shown to be invalid in chapter 3, where the overall performance score for firm impact was lower at 0.63 than that recorded for functional impact or performance at 0.69. Similar findings were reported for marketing and sales. The satisfaction scores for marketing and sales tools and techniques reported in Table 5.7 (again using a subjectively evaluated scoring system between +1, zero and -1) show that performance satisfaction levels were lower overall when compared with the... 

Strategy function (the combined firm and fimction performance satisfaction score was 0.66 in strategy but only 0.61 in marketing and sales). Furthermore, the marketing and sales performance satisfaction score for functional impact at 0.63 was also (as in the strategy survey) higher than that recorded for impact on the firm at 0.59. 

As Table 7.1 indicates there are some tools and techniques that are in common use across the operations and production and strategy and marketing and sales functions. The tools and techniques that tend to be used most commonly were clearly those related to performance measurement and IT and Internet business activities. Thus, KPls, E-Business applications, the balanced scorecard, benchmarking and activity based costing are all in use across the three functions. It is clear, however, that the operations and production function has a very high number of tools and techniques that it uses uniquely for its own purposes. This function-specificity is something that recurs when one considers the procurement and supply function. 

It is interesting to note that the operations and production function does not appear to be heavily involved in more strategic business activities. This conclusion is drawn because the product and competence development business activity recorded only 29.92% of total business activity usages. It would appear that, while the operation and production function understands that it must create effective and efficient operational processes and systems, that it is less involved in the development of new products or core competencies than other functions, like strategy and marketing and sales. This is a reassuring finding not least because, as we saw in our previous... 

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