Marketing strategy and competitive positioning

Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning deals with the process of developing and implementing a marketing strategy. The third edition focuses on competitive positioning at the heart of marketing strategy and includes in-depth discussion of the processes used in marketing to achieve competitive advantage.

Within-country ethnic differences and product positioning:a comparison of the perceptions of two British sub-cultures

While cross-cultural consumer behaviour and its impact on marketing strategies has received considerable interest within the marketing literature, differences between ethnic groups within countries have received significantly less attention. This study examines the effect of within-country ethnic differences on brand positioning, using the UK automobile industry as a context. Both qualitative and quantitative research is used to identify the perceptions of two sub-cultural groups: British of Indian extraction, and Caucasian British. It was found that these two groups display appreciably different values, and also place different levels of importance on different product attributes when evaluating brands. Furthermore, the two groups exhibited different perceptions of the same set of brands. The results suggest that, to position brands effectively, marketers should take account of cultural diversity within countries as well as between them.

Positioning gender in discourse:a feminist methodology

This book introduces a newly emerging approach to the analysis of talk. FPDA offers a means of analysing the ways in which speakers construct their gender identities within a complex web of power relations. The FPDA approach challenges the traditional feminist view that females are often disempowered within mixed sex settings. This approach shows that both male and female speakers constantly shift between positions of powerfulness and powerlessness - even within the same conversation. The methodology is demonstrated through a study of teenagers' conversations in class and a study of senior managers' discussions in business meetings, concluding with suggestions that while female speakers are often 'silenced' by dominant social discourses, they are far from uniformly powerless.

16,000 km, 10 Gbits-1 soliton transmission over standard fibre by reduction of interactions through optimum amplifier positioning

We show that by optimizing the amplifier position in a two-stage dispersion map, the (dispersion-managed) soliton-soliton interaction can be reduced, enabling transmission of 10-Gbits-1 solitons over standard fiber over 16,000 km

Strategic positioning in voluntary and non-profit organizations in the UK : exploring the experiences of British charitable organizations:Exploring the experiences of British Charitable Organizations

This thesis explores the strategic positioning [SP] activities of charitable organizations [COs] within the wider sector of voluntary and non-profit organizations [VNPOs] in the UK. Despite the growing interest in SP for British COs in an increasingly competitive operating environment and changing policy context, there is lack of research in mainstream marketing/strategic management studies on this topic for charities, whilst the specialist literature on VNPOs has neglected the study of SP. The thesis begins with an extended literature review of the concept of positioning in both commercial [for-profit] and charitable organizations. It concludes that the majority of theoretical underpinnings of SP that are prescribed for COs have been derived from the commercial strategy/marketing literature. There is currently a lack of theoretical and conceptual models that can accommodate the particular context of COs and guide strategic positioning practice in them. The research contained in this thesis is intended to fill some of these research gaps. It combines an exploratory postal survey and four cross-sectional case studies to describe the SP activities of a sample of general welfare and social care charities and identifies the key factors that influence their choice of positioning strategies [PSs]. It concludes that charitable organizations have begun to undertake SP to differentiate their organizations from other charities that provide similar services. Their PSs have both generic features, and other characteristics that are unique to them. A combination of external environmental and organizational factors influences their choice of PSs. A theoretical model, which depicts these factors, is developed in this research. It highlights the role of governmental influence, other external environmental forces, the charity’s mission, organizational resources, and influential stakeholders in shaping the charity’s PS. This study concludes by considering the theoretical and managerial implications of the findings on the study of charitable and non-profit organizations.

Marketing strategy and competitive positioning

Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning 5e deals with the process of developing and implementing a marketing strategy. The book focuses on competitive positioning at the heart of marketing strategy and includes in-depth discussion of the processes used in marketing to achieve competitive advantage. The book is primarily about creating and sustaining superior performance in the marketplace. It focuses on the two central issues in marketing strategy formulation – the identification of target markets and the creation of a differential advantage. In doing that, it recognises the emergence of new potential target markets born of the recession and increased concern for climate change; and it examines ways in which firms can differentiate their offerings through the recognition of environmental and social concerns.