The relationship between channel metrics, strategy and marketing performance

The role of marketing channels is to implement marketing strategy. The difficulty of channel strategy is compounded by the emergence of e-channels and the need to integrate e-channels into traditional or “bricks and mortar” channels (Rowley 2002). As a result, managing performance across a greater number of channels with diverse characteristics is more difficult.

Organization and marketing performance is to some degree a function of the quality of channel implementation and particularly channel performance measurement. The channels literature suggests a “channel performance metric paradox”. Approaches to channel performance metrics have been mutually orthogonal or even negatively correlated. (Jeuland & Shugan 1983; Lewis & Lambert 1991; Larson & Lusch 1992). This paradox implies that it is impossible for all channel performance metrics to be maximized simultaneously and tradeoffs exist.

This paper proposes a research model and propositions which extend previous research and attempts to reconcile this “channel performance metric paradox”. The model assumes that testing the relationship between the Miles and Snow strategy types and a comprehensive range of channel performance metrics may explain this paradox. Previous implementation performance research has focused more on the Porter strategies rather than the Miles and Snow strategy types.

Marketers' perceptions of the implementation difficulties of multichannel marketing

This paper identifies implementation difficulties associated with multichannel marketing as perceived by senior marketers. While, multichannel marketing is being increasingly used because of its revenue enhancing and cost reduction opportunities, it appears more difficult to implement than 'traditional' single channel marketing. Traditional strategy implementation frameworks as typified by Miles and Snow and Porter, do not appear to address the implementation complexities of multichannel strategies especially when considering the dynamism of contemporary external environments. Using the methodology of thematic analysis, three implementation difficulty themes were identified: (1) understanding multichannel customer behaviour; (2) delivering sales, service and pre-purchase information; and (3) dealing with organisational politics and conflict caused by emerging channels. We propose that dynamic strategic frameworks can better address complexity and uncertainty, and overcome implementation difficulties. The paper concludes with general and specific research propositions to test the effectiveness of dynamic strategic frameworks in terms of the three themes.

Implementation of a better choice healthy food and drink supply strategy for staff and visitors in government owned health facilities in Queensland, Australia

Objective The present paper reports on a quality improvement activity examining implementation of A Better Choice Healthy Food and Drink Supply Strategy for Queensland Health Facilities (A Better Choice). A Better Choice is a policy to increase supply and promotion of healthy foods and drinks and decrease supply and promotion of energy-dense, nutrient-poor choices in all food supply areas including food outlets, staff dining rooms, vending machines, tea trolleys, coffee carts, leased premises, catering, fundraising, promotion and advertising. Design An online survey targeted 278 facility managers to collect self-reported quantitative and qualitative data. Telephone interviews were sought concurrently with the twenty-five A Better Choice district contact officers to gather qualitative information. Setting Public sector-owned and -operated health facilities in Queensland, Australia. Subjects One hundred and thirty-four facility managers and twenty-four district contact officers participated with response rates of 48·2 % and 96·0 %, respectively. Results Of facility managers, 78·4 % reported implementation of more than half of the A Better Choice requirements including 24·6 % who reported full strategy implementation. Reported implementation was highest in food outlets, staff dining rooms, tea trolleys, coffee carts, internal catering and drink vending machines. Reported implementation was more problematic in snack vending machines, external catering, leased premises and fundraising. Conclusions Despite methodological challenges, the study suggests that policy approaches to improve the food and drink supply can be implemented successfully in public-sector health facilities, although results can be limited in some areas. A Better Choice may provide a model for improving food supply in other health and workplace settings.

The effect of market and learning orientation on strategy dynamics : The contributing effect of organisational change capability

McGuinness, T. and Morgan, R. (2005). The effect of market and learning orientation on strategy dynamics: The contributing effect of organisational change capability. European Journal of Marketing. 39(11-12), pp.1306-1326 RAE2008

Implementation of a service quality strategy: application to the Algarve hotel industry

Tese dout., Doctor of Philisophy, Sheffield Hallam University, 2001

How to increase and attract more tourists into Kenya throught experiental marketing

This marketing plan project is a culmination of extensive strategies with the use of experiential marketing to address issues confronting the Kenyan tourism industry in order to have a sustainable tourism sector. Following the terrorist attack carried out by Islamist militants’ belonging to al-Shabaab terrorist organization on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall in September 2013, tourist forecast has gone down sharply with an average of 20% fall in tourists’ arrivals which is likely to have an impact on the tourism sector in Kenya. Even before the deadly attack on Westgate, the most lethal attack by Islamist terrorists in 15 years in Kenya, the government through the Kenya tourist board had announced that in 2013 tourist arrivals were down by 12%, at 495,978, according to an October 2013 report by Bloomberg. Tourism revenues were also down by 7.4%, over FY12/13 (July-June) to reach KES96.24bn, according to a September 2013 report on the local Capital FM website. Beyond 2013, much will depend on how quickly the Kenya tourist board can regain control of the situation. The Kenyan government believes that the Westgate mall attack was a 'one-off' incident, with a low probability of a similar event happening again over the short term period. Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, France and Canada continue to be the key source market however; the Kenya tourist board can make continued growth stronger from new emerging markets in order to increase new arrivals into the country. The marketing plan outlines the objectives to be implemented and provides the implementation strategy, activity plans, monitoring and evaluation plans, financial requirements projections and proposes a new structure of experiential marketing. A number of regional forces are identified that will impact tourism into the country including global, social and economic forces, emerging trends in visitor motivations and behavior, emerging forces in experiential marketing. A major component of the strategy identifies target markets for Kenya to commensurate with the level of resources that will be available for marketing and promotion, in keeping with the forces and trends identified and the nature of the Kenya tourism environment. The agreed upon target market segments are: generic/mass travel, experiential travel, creative travel, adventure seeking travel, senior/extended/long stay travel, and business related travel. The strategy phases the development of the target markets over the years of the marketing strategies in order to yield the best opportunity for results. A core activity in developing a marketing strategy is determining the nature of experiences Kenya offers in tourism. The strategy’s experience development process will continue to develop within the context of the products identified which will be promoted regionally: culture/heritage, nature, community-based. Each county in the country has a significant number of attractions and experiences and the challenge of the country is to bring these together in a creative and innovative way in order to encourage tourists to visit more than one county in Kenya.

El uso en las organizaciones de venta al por mayor del marketing mediante la relación estratégica comunitaria y efectividad de la misma

Se busca ver cuál es el uso que las organizaciones hacen del concepto y estrategias comunitarias mediante el marketing; aunque existen varias formas de fidelizar el cliente, en el sector de comercio al por mayor, se vio una gran dificultad de acercarse al consumidor. Una de las formas más fáciles y efectivas de hacerlo es por medio de comunidades ya que elimina las barreras de mercado y crea vínculos entre cliente-empresa. Para esto se utilizó el análisis de caso, seleccionando una organización de relevancia en el sector de venta al por mayor. En dicha organización no se encontró el uso de la relación estratégica comunitaria de forma directa, aunque se vio un interés en incorporarlo; esto se evaluó mediante fuentes de evidencia, tales como entrevistas, informes financieros de la compañía, documentos que proporciono la organizaciones, pagina web e información del comercio de venta al por mayor y fundamentación teórica para realizar un óptimo análisis. A la empresa se le recomienda incorporar en sus planes estratégicos la relación estratégica comunitaria; esto ayudaría a eliminar barreras de mercado, identificar las necesidades o nuevos nichos de mercado.

Utilidad de la responsabilidad social en la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing en el sector del transporte público

Esta investigación se dirige a determinar el uso de la responsabilidad social como estrategia de mercadeo y de relación, y cuál es su impacto en la sociedad. De esta manera, se hace uso de los conceptos del mercadeo comunitario y el mercadeo relacional, para así desarrollar nuevas estrategias de marketing, en donde se logre incentivar y promover la responsabilidad social entre las empresas del sector de transporte público, por medio de la creación de una relación más estrecha entre las compañías y los clientes. Por esta razón, el objetivo general de la investigación es determinar cuál es la utilidad de la responsabilidad social en la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing en el sector del transporte público. Adicionalmente, se espera lograr una conexión entre la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing dentro del sistema de transporte público, por medio de la responsabilidad social. La importancia de éste proyecto consiste en determinar los beneficios que puede recibir el sector de transporte público con una aplicación estratégica de la responsabilidad social y el marketing comunitario. En Transmilenio se encontró que sí utilizan la relación estrategia comunitaria, a través de la implementación de las estrategias comunitarias mediante la responsabilidad social, usándolas de manera efectiva ayudando al marketing relacional. Lo anterior se evaluó mediante una revisión de la literatura sobre responsabilidad social, marketing relacional, la relación estratégica comunitaria, una investigación de las prácticas de responsabilidad social de la compañía así como investigaciones sobre Transmilenio.

Utilidad de las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias y el marketing en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos

Este trabajo de grado propone identificar la utilidad de las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias y el marketing en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos, también se toman en cuenta conceptos como el marketing organizacional y relacional, estos conceptos ayudan en la investigación a determinar relaciones estratégicas entre las empresas, y el beneficio que estas le generan a las corporaciones; para así fomentar la implementación de estas estrategias en a las empresas a nivel nacional e internacional, así mismo, identificar el concepto de comunidad que tienen los clientes corporativos y como este concepto se puede adaptar al entorno que los rodea. Con el fin de entender las funciones y características de un cliente corporativo, así como su comportamiento, los objetivos específicos de la investigación son describir las estrategias de marketing en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos, determinar si existe el concepto de comunidad en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos y determinar si se utilizan relaciones estratégicas comunitarias en la administración de negocios con clientes corporativos. La metodología que se planteó usar fue teórica-conceptual, teniendo en cuenta el marketing y las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias de los clientes corporativos. Llevando la investigación al ámbito de la gerencia y dirección, los resultados que se obtuvieron gracias a la investigación, ayudaran a potenciar la dirección de las empresas, donde se evalué la verdadera utilidad de las estrategias basadas en las relaciones comunitarias y marketing en los negocios con clientes corporativos. Las estrategias comunitarias y el marketing influencian de manera directa las relaciones de las compañias con sus clientes corporativos, debido a que marketing nos permite extender la relación y generar una utilidad a futuro entre ambas partes. De la investigación se concluye que las empresas que logran crear estrategias comunitarias y relaciones estrechas entre ellas, tienden a tener mejores utilidades en el largo plazo y ser empresas más sostenibles.

Utilidad de la relación estratégica comunitaria y el marketing en el sector de extracción de petróleo crudo y gas natural

El presente trabajo pretende investigar y analizar la utilidad de las relaciones estratégicas comunitarias y el marketing en el sector de extracción de petróleo crudo y gas natural. El mercadeo juega un papel importante a la hora de vender cualquier tipo de producto o servicio. Dependiendo de las características de cada sector, las estrategias de mercadeo pueden llegar a ser más o menos útiles y/o efectivas que otras. Por esta razón, esta investigación pretende analizar la utilidad de las estrategias de marketing comunitario y marketing en el sector de extracción de petróleo crudo y gas natural. La forma de llegar a esa respuesta, puede hallarse por medio de tres caminos: el primero de ellos es encontrar y analizar las características del sector, el segundo es identificar cuáles son las estrategias que están utilizando las empresas que operan este campo, y por último, consistiría en analizar la utilidad de integrar el concepto de relación estratégica comunitaria y marketing al sector de extracción de petróleo crudo y gas natural, en cuanto a los beneficios que el marketing comunitario le traería al sector de interés. El sector de petróleo crudo y gas natural es uno de los más importantes en la economía global y sus clientes son numerosos y totalmente heterogéneos. El mercadeo se vuelve muy complejo para esta industria ya que al tener tipos de clientes tan distintos se dificulta alcanzar las expectativas de cada uno de ellos con una misma estrategia y por supuesto la forma de vender un producto es más compleja. Estos factores mencionados anteriormente están generando relaciones entre empresas y clientes totalmente transaccionales de corto plazo, y es ahí donde se cree que la inclusión de mercadeo relacional y estrategias de mercadeo relacional pueden ser de utilidad para el sector, generando desarrollo y beneficios mutuos tanto para clientes como empresas.

An integrative marketing channel performance measurement framework

This paper proposes a number of channel performance measurement research propositions. The paper reviews the strategy implementation, strategic control, marketing metrics, marketing channels and performance measurement literature to develop a conceptual model and research propositions. Current channel performance measurement guidelines are too generic for marketing managers and too reliant on financial measures. The introduction of contextual variables such as strategy, culture and manager's personality may provide measures more useful for an individual company's context and requirements. The alignment of channel measures with business strategy should result in more effective and efficient use of channel resources.

Masochistic marketing : Volvo Australia's not "so safe" strategy

Purpose – The objective is to describe a marketing approach used by Volvo in the Australian marketplace. It appears to be a rare approach and could be perceived to some extent as being “masochistic”.

Design/methodology/approach – The research is based upon a case study. The term “masochistic marketing” is introduced.

Findings – The “masochistic marketing” approach applied by Volvo in Australia should be seen as a process. It is dependent upon the outcome of a series of cause and effect relationships.

Research limitations/implications – The masochistic marketing approach may be divided into four cause-related phases, all of which create a dualistic outcome of either positive or negative effect-chains in respect to the corporate image in the marketplace and society.

Practical implications – A masochistic marketing approach is a high-risk venture. It is a challenging and demanding marketing process, because it plays on the humiliation of the corporate image itself. The core idea of the masochistic marketing approach violates, or at least appears to oppose, the fundaments of marketing.

Originality/value – Masochistic marketing is not recommended to be used as a common approach, unless a series of events has turned the corporate image in the marketplace into something that is highly undesirable and a stigma.

A qualitative study of multi-channel marketing performance measurement issues

The aim of this study was to provide quantitative research propositions for future researchers studying multi-channel marketing performance. The literature suggests that multi-channel marketing is becoming more prevalent and offers many opportunities to organisations. Multi-channel marketing is, however, more complex to implement and measure than 'traditional' single or dual-channel marketing. Thirty-one senior marketing executives from a diverse range of industries were asked to provide a 'single key challenge' in the area of multi-channel marketing. The findings suggest that the main areas of multi-channel marketing measurement problems are: (a) understanding return on channel investment, (b) understanding customer channel preference and (c) isolating individual channel impact. The paper concludes by using both the qualitative findings and implementation theory to provide propositions for future research as well as tentative management Guidelines.

Structure, people and process challenges of mutichannel marketing : insights from marketers

The aim of this study was to explore the utility of strategic implementation theory as a guide for dealing with issues marketers face when implementing multichannel marketing. Although marketers attempt to harness the potential of emerging marketing channels, implementation is proving difficult. This is because the complexity of multichannel marketing has implications for existing organisational structures, people and processes. Further, the reliance on external suppliers and vendors in implementing new channels is causing organisational conflict and the development of new management processes. A qualitative research approach using insights from senior marketers of 'Bluechip' organisations was used to identify multichannel marketing implementation difficulties. The major contribution of this article was to show the areas for which strategic implementation theory provides practical implementation guidelines and future research directions.

Replacing Place In Marketing-Mix Strategy For Hospitality Services

In the conventional marketing mix, a focus on physical distribution handicaps the use of "place" in planning marketing strategy for hospitality services. To replace it, the article introduces a new group of variables called "performance," which focus instead on availability and accessibility. The author does not intend to offer detailed descriptions of specific variables but rather to suggest associations and relationships among issues and options in marketing hospitality services that may not previously have been recognized, and to address the diverse segments of the hospitality services industry in general, including lodging, food, beverage, private club, cruise ship, and travel-destination services.