Marketing and Strategy Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing and Strategy Assignment - Essay Example Companies are spending billions towards research and development in order to create innovations in their product lines. Firms like Apple are generating their core competence in the market based on innovations and research and development (Ireland, Hitt, & Hoskisson, 2011, p.82). The increased competition in the market has also led to marketers spending huge amounts towards improving their positioning and brand image in an attempt to create a distinction between the products and services offered by the competitors in the market (Davis, 2009, p.148). The present study would analyse the marketing strategies adopted by various organizations in an attempt to create segregation and generate competitive advantage in the market. The study would specifically focus upon marketing strategies with real life examples in the industry so as to help generate competitive advantage for business organizations. Analysis The role of marketers in the present business is essentially to analyse the needs an d wants of the customers and design product mix in a manner that tends to satisfy the unfulfilled needs of consumers. Marketers are spending billions on conducting marketing research in order to analyse the demands of the consumers and design an optimum product mix that can be used to generate competitive advantage in the market. Marketing research can help marketers and strategists in determining the gaps in the present level of product or service offering and the demands of the consumers. These gaps can be consequently help in generating a product mix that would help enhance the positioning of the organization. Market research can also help companies find the perceptions of their brands among the members of the target market audience. Strategists can then take up policies that can help in improving their image through the feedbacks gathered from the research (Duboff & Spaeth, 2000, p.106-108). One such example can be found in the case of South Central Bell Company that was continu ously losing its market share. Using market intelligence tools and conducting market research, the company was able to able to identify the reason behind the debacle and take up corrective measures that helped it to again regain its lost position in the market (Hair, Bush & Ortinau, 2007, p.116). Pricing is another critical strategic aspect that can be used to generate market advantage in business. Companies are trying to generate organizational excellence by using technological innovations like Total Quality Management, Kaizen and Six Sigma to ensure minimal operational costs. Examples of this form can be traced in the business strategies of companies like Toyota that has generated competitive advantage based on Just in Time approach (Imai, 1997, pp.4-6). Predatory pricing is one strategy that is very commonly used by marketers to gain market share and eliminate competitors. This strategy involves selling products at lowest rates that helps them capture a large share of the market (Greene, American Bar Association & Section of Antitrust Law, 1996, p.55-56). However critiques have also slammed the benefits of using this strategy as they believe that predatory pricing strategy leads to unfair competitive