Feb 16

Competitive Intelligence (CI) – Definition, Need and Benefits

The growing competition in the business industry has made it necessary for any company to stay in competition or have a competitive advantage over its competitors, adequate and relevant information about the competitors need to be received or known at the right time in other to make a good strategic business decision.

Competitive intelligence is defined as a systematic process that transforms random bits and pieces of data into strategic knowledge. This information comprises about competitors, customers, technological, environmental, product and market in. other to make a good strategic decision. Competitive intelligence is described as those activities a company undertake in determining and understanding its industry as well as identifying and understanding the competitors, also determine and understand their weaknesses and strength and anticipate their next move(s). This definition of competitive intelligence tends to identify/determine, understand and anticipate industry and competitors. Furthermore competitive intelligence is a process of monitoring the competitive environment, with the aim of providing an actionable intelligence that will enhance a company competitive advantage over its competitors. Competitive intelligence propels the decision makers to smarter more successful decisions, thereby minimizing risk, avoiding being blind-sided and getting it right the first time.

Finally, competitive intelligence is a “process” because it involves gathering, analyzing and applying information about product, competitors and the entire environment which includes the supplier, regulatory body, partners and so on and it’s a “continuous activity” because the business environment changes as the world changes which usher in more competition. Also, its gather adequate “relevant” information at an appropriate “time” because it is vital a company gets its decisions and moves correctly at the first time.… Read the rest

Feb 15

The Business Applications and Benefits of Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence or BI is a computer-based system which is used by organizations for decision making purpose. It consist of huge data warehouse or data marts of business data, from which it performs mining, spotting, digging or analyzing operations to produce appropriate results or reports. BI applications include a wide range of activities for statistical analysis, Data mining, querying and reporting, business performance analysis, benchmarking, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), Decision Support System (DSS), forecasting and predictive analysis. It provides organizations with meaningful information regarding employees, customers, suppliers and other business associates, which can be used in effective decision making.

Applications of Business Intelligence

The implementation of business intelligence helps organizations to achieve their goals in an effective way. Its application is not restricted to limited segments. It has a wide-spread use. It has now become mandatory for organizations to implement BI to sustain and maintain their market share in the competitive market. Some of the industries in which BI can be implemented are listed below:

  • Retailing: Business Intelligence can be used to forecast the demand and analyse its fluctuations over time. This will help in optimizing the size of inventory in order to meet the customer demands. It will also help the companies to better understand the consumer behavior in order to direct their marketing campaigns. It will also help in enhancing relationship with suppliers.
  • Banking: BI will help the banks and financial institutions in identifying the customer base. This will help them in planning their marketing strategies. It will also help the banks in deducing performance metrics and benchmarks in order to measure the business performance.
… Read the rest
Feb 08

Green Strategies and Green Marketing Strategy Matrix

Industry green norms and potential green market size are key issues for companies looking to gain competitive advantage with green marketing. Companies should consider the likely size of green markets in its industry as well as how can they differ their green products or services from their competitor’s one’s before they take steps on going green.

There are four types of green strategies: Lean Green, Defensive Green, Shaded Green and Extreme Green. Following Green Marketing Strategy Matrix illustrates the need for companies to identify their position in regards to substantiality of green market segments and differentiability of greenness in order to choose the right strategy to enter a green market.

Promotions tools adopted by this strategy are rather quiet such as public relations versus mass advertising. The Shaded Green strategy puts some secondary emphasis on greenness in its more overt promotional efforts and also pursues green product development as well. Extreme Green strategy involves heavy use of all four marketing mix elements, including place as distribution systems, massive advertising, retailers etc.

Differences among these four green strategies can be seen by considering how the 4Ps of the marketing mix are utilized in each strategy. The Lean Green strategy is the one who mainly focuses on product development, design and manufacturing. The Defensive Green strategy also pursues greenness in product section but additionally, it involves the promotional aspect of the marketing mix.

Green Strategy 1: Lean Green

Companies that choose lean green strategy indicate that they are low at both substantiality of green market segments and differentiability of greenness.… Read the rest

Nov 23

Impact of Service-Dominant Logic on Strategic Marketing and Relationship Marketing

The Stephen Vargo and Robert Lusch paper “Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing” (2004, Journal of Marketing) redefines and redirects the age-old economic view of goods and services. Their paper states, “Over the past several decades, marketing has been evolving toward a new dominant logic… The evolving logic represents a shift away from the exchange of tangible output (goods) toward the exchange of services, which are defined as the application of specialized competences (knowledge and skills), through deeds, processes, and performances for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself.”

This philosophy of marketing argues that firms are not really providing goods, but are actually rendering a service to consumers through their goods. This new service-dominant logic view of marketing has already made a huge impact on both the strategic marketing and relationship marketing of firms and will continue to further impact future marketing strategy.

For nearly a century, firms have placed the marketing emphasis on their products. Companies focused on the benefits and competitive advantages that their specific product provided. Whether it was a car, a toaster or a can of soda, the marketing stemmed from what was great about that product. This goods dominant logic was based on economics and the movement of goods from producer to consumer. This philosophy was unchallenged until the early 90s. Then it was questioned as the discrepancies between goods marketing and service marketing came into view.

This philosophy of Vargo and Lusch redefines marketing so that it is primarily, a service providing activity.… Read the rest

Nov 17

What is Stealth Marketing?

Due to the fact that new generations of consumers are becoming less drawn to the conventional, in your face advertising, advertising industries have created a more ‘under the radar’ approach of advertising. This is done by making consumers believe that they are responding to a promotion, rather than an advertisement. This promotional advertising is a more subtle approach of communication, as much of the public does not want to be associated with the obvious advertisement of products. This way, consumers don’t feel like they are being sold something, rather they feel like they are discovering something.

This approach is called stealth or covert marketing, which employs marketing activities easily into consumer’s lives without awareness. These campaigns stay away from traditional advertising, where consumers are continuously aware that they are being sold something. This new form of advertising is discreet when communicating messages to consumers, working best by “flying below the consumer’s radar”. Since this new form of advertising is so hidden and is able to take on multiple forms of media and public communication, consumers stand to lose privacy, trust, freedom of choice, and control due to the fact that they are unaware that they are being persuaded, taking away their power of consent.

Stealth marketing presents new products and services by creating a “buzz” around it. By quietly letting a few individuals know of a product or service it gives it a sense of exclusivity and “cool”. This relies heavily on consumers spreading the message to others in a unique way, making sure the product is talked about without appearing to be an advertisement or company-sponsored.… Read the rest

Nov 06

Ambush Marketing Strategies

What is Ambush Marketing?

Ambush marketing occurred when a non-sponsor of an event attempted to pass itself off as an official sponsor. Ambush marketing is defined as the practice whereby another company, often a competitor, intrudes upon public attention surrounding the event, thereby deflecting attention toward themselves and away from the sponsors. In simple words, non-sponsors to gain benefits available only to official sponsors exploit ambush marketing.

When a sponsor purchases a sponsorship program, he aims towards orchestrating public attention onto its company or brand. In a typical sponsorship arrangement the sponsor purchases the sponsorship property rights and uses support promotion to further draw public attention to its involvement. The practice whereby another company, often a competitor, intrudes upon public attention surrounding the event, thereby deflecting attention toward themselves and away from the sponsor, is now known as “ambush marketing.”

The term ambush marketing was initially coined to describe the activities of those companies who sought to associate themselves with an event, without paying the requisite fee to the event owner. They thereby ambushed the legitimate sponsor in terms of giving the impression to consumers that they – the ambusher – were in fact the sponsor. While this narrow view of ambush marketing still exists, the term is now often used more generically to also describe a variety of wholly legitimate and morally correct methods of intruding upon public consciousness surrounding event.

In the current context, the following definition covers the concept comprehensively – Ambush marketing is a form of associative marketing, utilized by an organization to capitalize upon the awareness, attention, goodwill, and other benefits, generated by having an association with an event or property, without that organization having an official or direct connection to that event or property.… Read the rest