Marketing Strategist Compare

Continued creation of value is the key to the sustained success in any market. The question becomes what strategic approach or way of thinking will management chooses to use in order to create value in their market space.  Management must focus on what the company does well and why it does it better than their competition. There have been many strategic thought leaders that have contributed to marketing strategy in terms of ways for a company to create value, compete in the market and sustain success.

I will discuss five intersection relationships of these thought leader and market leaders (1) Birger Wernerfelt, (2) Theodore Levitt, (3) Sun Tzu, (4) Michael Clifford, and (5) Andrea  Guerra.

First, I will discuss the relationship between Birger Wernerfelt’s thoughts on analyzing a firm from a resource side and Theodore Levitt’s thoughts on the concentration on market drivers and the  consequences of marketing myopia. These two marketing strategist are appropriate to discuss first since the resourced-based and market-based view paradigms lay ground work for a company orientation to the market and understanding of its value proposition. Wernerleft explains that a firm should analyze and manage its resource position and develop strategic options based on resources. Levitt agrees that a strong resource-based strategy is important, however, Levitt believes that resources and the product should be a consequence of the marketing. Ultimately, these thought leaders believe that both sides of the coin are important and the goal is to learn your customers and create a valuable product while exploiting the competitive advantages of any resources available. Both of these thought leaders correlate strongly in the idea of survival. Wernerfelt explains that a company’s needs a strong resource and products mix which a balance between existing resources and continually development new resources to adapt to the constantly changing market. Similarly, Levitt thinks that prosperity is more important than growth and management is responsible for finding creative ways to give value in order to survive. I believe these two marketing strategies are a perfect example of Yin & Yang when used in conjunction with each other. Both of these strategies should be used as complementary paradigms that need to cooperate and learn from each other.

Second, I will discuss the relationship between Birger Wernerfelt’s resourced-based view of a firm and Michael Clifford’s strategy to enter the education market as a for-profit. From a market-based view point, schools could not handle the market demand for education. The demand for education continues to grow due to the state of the economy and competitiveness in the job market. Knowing the market demand, Clifford was able to focus on the specific resources he needed to offer value to consumers. Wernerfelt discusses the key resources of labor, capital, land, and technology. Clifford having the resource of capital enabled him to find labor and land in established, but most importantly accredited colleges. Clifford was able to exploit the current resources he obtained by purchased failing universities while developing and adding new resources to translate into greater value. Wernerfelt states, “A first mover advantage in an attractive resource should yield high returns”. Clifford reaped the benefits from being the first mover to convert an accredited non-profit university into a for-profit business. Clifford along with John Sterling became market drivers by giving students convenient way to obtain a degree with the use of online technology which gave them a competitive advantage over traditional education. Ultimately, Clifford took one of the most valuable resources (an education with an accreditation) and increased the accessibility of it in order to obtain profitability.