The relationship between business unit strategy and the use of market research

A study of 42 Australian marketing managers was conducted linking strategy to the use of market research, with a measure known as USER. It was expected that the Miles and Snow strategic typology with its greater emphasis on internal organisational culture, practices and structure would be more powerful than the Porter strategic dimensions in determining the motivation and actual use of market research. The findings showed that neither strategic typology was superior in predicting market research practice. In the study, the USER characteristics most linked to strategy were “the misuse of market research for political purposes” and “internal improvements based on market research.” Two other USER factors “rational use of market research findings” and “use of market research to confirm decisionmaking” were not found to be related to marketing strategy.

Aligning marketing strategy and marketing implementation for marketing performance

The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences between “pure” and “mixed” marketing strategies in terms of implementation practices and performance. The strategies compared use the Miles and Snow (1978) typology to develop Pure Prospectors, Pure Defenders, Reactors and Mixed strategies the latter strategy type being similar to Analysers.

Previous strategy type implementation research has used debatable strategy classification methodologies and has not isolated “pure” marketing strategies. The purpose of this paper is to clearly identify and separate “pure” marketing strategies from “mixed” strategies.

In terms of strategy implementation a key finding was that the Miles and Snow implementation recommendations made in the 1970’s no longer appear to be appropriate in the 2000’s This appears to be the case because no need to align human resource practices and organisational structure with strategy was apparent in our findings.

In terms of strategy performance differences a key finding was that Pure Prospectors outperformed Reactor strategies in terms of new markets, sales growth, new products and market share. However, the financial costs of investing in new markets and new products undertaken by the aggressive Pure Prospector strategies results in only similar ROI performance to other strategies. This is consistent with the concept of performance equifinality.

Nucleic acid vaccines: tasks and tactics

There are no adequate vaccines against some of the new or reemerged infectious scourges such as HIV and TB. They may require strong and enduring cell-mediated immunity to be elicited. This is quite a task, as the only known basis of protection by current commercial vaccines is antibody. As DNA or RNA vaccines may induce both cell-mediated and humoral immunity, great interest has been shown in them. However, doubt remains whether their efficacy will suffice for their clinical realization. We look at the various tactics to increase the potency of nucleic acid vaccines and divided them broadly under those affecting delivery and those affecting immune induction. For delivery, we have considered ways of improving uptake and the use of bacterial, replicon or viral vectors. For immune induction, we considered aspects of immunostimulatory CpG motifs, coinjection of cytokines or costimulators and alterations of the antigen, its cellular localization and its anatomical localization including the use of ligand-targeting to lymphoid tissue. We also thought that mucosal application of DNA deserved a separate section. In this review, we have taken the liberty to discuss these enhancement methods, whenever possible, in the context of the underlying mechanisms that might argue for or against these strategies.

Differences in foraging strategy and maternal behaviour between two sympatric fur seal species at the Crozet Islands

Marine top-predators such as marine mammals forage in a heterogeneous environment according to their energetic requirements and to the variation in environmental characteristics. In this study, the behaviour of breeding females in 2 sympatric fur seal species, Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella and Subantarctic fur seal A. tropicalis, was investigated in relation to foraging effort. Foraging effort was hypothesised to be greater in Antarctic fur seal than in Subantarctic fur seal due to their shorter lactation period. Using satellite telemetry, time-depth recorders and satellite images of sea-surface temperature and chlorophyll a concentration, the foraging grounds, the at-sea activity budgets and the environmental features were determined for both species breeding on the Crozet Archipelago. Foraging cycle duration was similar for the 2 species, and the seals exhibited similar at-sea activity budgets. Only the proportion of time spent at sea was higher in Antarctic fur seals. Separate foraging areas were identified for the 2 species. Antarctic fur seal distribution was related to bathymetric features, while we did not find any direct relationship between chlorophyll a concentration and seal foraging areas. Our results suggest that Antarctic fur seals tend to respond to the higher needs of their pups by having a higher foraging efficiency and concentrating their foraging activity in the most productive areas.

Pacing strategy and high-intensity cycling performance

This thesis found that a brief maximal acceleration, followed by a steady effort thereafter is the most effective pacing strategy for intense, short-term cycling performance. This strategy leads to an increase in aerobic energy supply early in exercise, which contributes to a faster speed throughout the race.

The alignment of market research with business strategy and CRM

This study investigated the alignment between market research, business strategy and customer relationship management (CRM). With the introduction of advanced IT systems which collect and model internal customer data (CRM), marketing managers face new choices when seeking information to facilitate their particular business strategy. A survey of market research (MR) and CRMusage was conducted among 207 marketing managers. The findings showed the Miles and Snow Prospector strategists placed greater reliance on both MR and internal CRM data systems than did Defenders. This applied in their tasks of developing new strategies and in enlisting senior management support for their actions. As Prospectors were the most reliant on both traditional market research and CRM systems, they need to be skilled in using CRM in conjunction with traditional research methods. Marketing managers who use CRM will need to foster functional relationships with the technical specialists who run CRM systems.

Strategy and continuous improvement in small-to-medium Australian manufacturers

While Australian firms have generally recognised the value of continuous improvement (CI) in improving performance, many have yet to develop systems to ensure that the efforts of the CI program are focussed on issues of strategic importance to the company. In fact, as recognised in operations management generally, CI activities can have a significant impact on the development of strategy as well as its implementation. The research reported here uses a CI mapping methodology to chart the relationship between CI and strategy in small- to medium-sized manufacturers. Analysis of the link between the firms’ strategies and CI programs indicates that most firms involved in the study made little attempt to link the two and some appear to be unaware of any need to do so. However, such findings seem to be dependent on company size, the maturity of the CI program and the competitive position of the firm. The paper also includes an examination of the role of operations and shopfloor CI in company strategy, particularly as related to SMEs.

Non-market strategy and the 'race to the bottom': lessons from the Baywatch experience

This article examines how international firms operate strategically in the non-market environment to secure advantages which improve their cost and/or revenue structures and, hence, their economic performance. It centres on a detailed case study of the globally popular Baywatch television show's efforts during 1999 to secure attractive locational subsidies by placing the states of New South Wales, Queensland (both in Australia) and Hawaii into competition with each other in a 'race to the bottom'. The article is organized into three main sections: the first briefly reviews the concept of non-market strategy; the second examines the Baywatch case in detail; and the conclusion presents some lessons for various stakeholders involved in this and similar non-market contexts.

Knowledge management culture, strategy and process in Malaysian firms

Malaysia is one of the leading countries in Asia that are at the forefront in the development of a knowledge-based economy (KBE). The Malaysian government has been making substantial investments in both physical and technological infrastructure to facilitate knowledge-intensive economic activities. Foreign and local firms in Malaysia are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunities brought by the emerging KBE. However, little is known as to how firms in Malaysia respond to this new trajectory of economic development. In particular, there is paucity in the literature as to how Malaysian firms manage knowledge in their organizations as they strive to achieve sustainable competitive performance. Little is known as to how and why firms in Malaysia develop and manage their intangible and knowledge-based resources as they operate and respond to the modern knowledge-based competitive economic arena. This paper examines a type of organizational culture that supports and promotes knowledge management (KM) within firms in Malaysia. The paper argues that KM-oriented culture shapes the overall KM strategy of firms, which consequently shapes the organizational process required to manage the firm's knowledge-based resources. The study uses survey data from a sample of 153 firms from Malaysia. Structural equation modelling was used to develop and test the measurement model of KM-oriented culture, KM strategy and KM process of the sample firms, as well as the structural model of their hypothesized relationships. The results show that firms with high level of KM-oriented culture demonstrated well-defined KM strategies. Firms that implemented well-defined KM strategies also reported that they have better KM processes in place. Building a KM-oriented culture within the organization is a pre-requisite to the implementation of any KM systems in Malaysian firms. Successful implementation of KM strategies, processes and the supporting technological infrastructure depends on whether organizational members consider KM as a norm within the firm. The study's focus on the linkages between KM-oriented culture, strategy and process in the context of Malaysian firms contributes to a more nuanced understanding of KM among firms in the Asian context in general, and in the Malaysian context in particular.