Marketing Management 2. Ted Levitt: Marketing Myopia
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Transcript Marketing Management 2. Ted Levitt: Marketing Myopia
Marketing
Management 2.
Ted Levitt: Marketing Myopia
The Future according to
Chambers and Grove
John Chambers (Cisco)
Everything changes, so managers and firms must change too
Technological Revolution
Globalization: flexible manufacturing, educated (skilled) work
force, supportive governments
Internet: every firm must incorporate it for survival
Competitiveness through Speed (flexibility), Human Talent,
and Branding
Andy Grove (Intel)
Information society minimizes competitive advantages
Competitiveness through human talent, systematic teamwork
and satisfied employees
Theodore (Ted) Levitt
Managers are often myopic (shortsighted)
It means, their brands, divisions, firms, or even whole
industries became obsolete
Levitt thinks that top managers should be blamed for any
strategic failure
Myopia:
Shadow of Obsolescence
Every industry starts out as a growth industry
Dry cleaning; Electric utilities; Grocery stores
Need for strategic vision at least to follow changes
Wrong beliefs:
Myopia:
The Population Myth
Growth is assured by a growing population of
customers?
Is there a competitive substitute product out
there?
Myopia: Production Pressures
What Ford put first:
Reducing the Price because no costs should be
considered as “fixed”
It pressures employees to keep costs down
Expanding Production
Improving the Product
Myopia:
Creative Destruction
The shadow of obsolescence and the population myth
threatens every industry
How to be competitive in the long-run?
What does Microsoft do?
Managers will face decisions like eliminating existing
products, brands, divisions in order to develop (create)
new ones
Myopia:
Dangers of R&D
Paying too much attention to R&D?
High-tech products: management becomes top-heavy with
engineers
Selective bias: products themselves become the primary
focus in marketing
Solutions recommended:
Strategic Terms
Strategy: developing and using available resources to
accomplish company’s goals in a competitive arena
Strategic Marketing Plan: a document describing strategic
objectives and the ways to achieve them in terms of
competitive activities
1. Mission: definition of business(es) the company
operates in (“we serve the health-conscious food
customers”)
2. Vision: the desired image of the company in the mind of
its employees (“we want to be the best”)
3. Positioning: the desired image of the company’s
products / services / brands in the mind of the targeted
customers
Fun, Canadian,
and “off-the-wall”
WestJet's mission and vision
There is something special about WestJet's culture.
It's a company with a unique corporate spirit...
a close knit family that's building something legendary...
and in the process changing the world.
Our mission:
To enrich the lives of everyone in WestJet's world
by providing safe, friendly, affordable air travel.
Our vision:
WestJet will be the leading low-fare airline that:
People want to work with...
Customers want to fly with...
and Shareholders want to invest with.