Convergence Marketing

The convergence marketing has emerged as an outgrowth of relationship marketing. Many firms in the competitive marketplace prefer on developing strategies by convergence of technology with customer value in promoting products and services. It is argued in this chapter that such convergence among the firms involve consumers, social networks, and technology that influence the decision making process for gaining competitive advantage. This chapter discusses the attributes of convergence of technology with customer value that provides higher competitive advantage to the business through frequent interactions among the market players and customers. The convergence marketing emphasizes on strategic, reflective, and organizational look at relationship marketing and contributes to existing knowledge within three fundamental elements including organizational customer focus, customer management focus, and customer knowledge focus. This chapter also examines how convergence of technology and customer value drives value co-creation in the firms and discuss that in an increasing market competition, customers interact with emerging technologies, and consumer communities co-create value with firms.

Systems Thinking in Strategy Development

Systems thinking is considered as an important tool in developing strategic decision in marketing. The systems approach enables connecting objects of various types to a single platform of thinking, to organize different forms of activity within the given time and space of the situation in business. This chapter describes how systems thinking could provide a framework to various marketing process and create a map of the value chain that specifies relationships among the components of the marketing processes. Discussions in the chapter provide a conceptual framework of the development of systems thinking and systems methodologies and explain how such approaches can deal with issues of market complexity. Causal models in developing marketing strategy are illustrated, and new insights on thinking as a method to achieve desired business performance are also discussed.

Competitive Advantage

Many factors determine the nature of competition, including not only rivals, but also the economics of particular industries, new entrants, the bargaining power of customers and suppliers, and the threat of substitute services or products. This chapter emphasizes that outmaneuvering the rivals is the core of changing the rules of marketplace and argues that the strategy for outperforming the competitor is largely based on two basic issues- the performance parameters and assessment criteria of the performance. The discussion also guides understanding and analyzing each move of the competitor, and using the output to develop counter strategy may be defined as the process of competitor learning. Learning, as the detection and correction process, has varied implications for outwitting, outmaneuvering, and outperforming competitors.

Performance Measuring Process

Performance of any organizational is a dynamic process and needs to be measured periodically. The performance measurement is a process involving development of control measures that help in coordinating organizational tasks and motivating people to improve their performance. This chapter discusses managing the values and organizational change in financial institutions during economic recession and how to sustainable growth. The discussion demonstrates a sustainable paradigm for managing performance and sustainable growth of financial institutions by converging traditional design activities, work culture, and monitoring and evaluation measures. It is argued in the chapter that the performance of managers is demonstrated by effective administrative skills not only in developing new ambiance to carry tasks effectively but also to resolve conflicts and ambiguities during the task handling process and dynamics.

Process Dynamics in Strategy Implementation

Process dynamics in developing and implementing business strategies demonstrate a conceptual framework that decomposes the overall acquisition integration process into four sequential and co-evolving processes, which include: formulating the integration logic and performance goals, establishing the integration planning approach, executing operational integration, and executing strategic integration. The concept of process dynamics and process completeness are discussed in this chapter in reference to firms doing business in a competitive marketplace. It is argued that process completeness is achieved when a firm’s delivery system synchronizes with the expectations of consumers in the competitive marketplace. The discussions in the chapter guide readers to understand the process dynamics and determine the ways to drive leadership in a competitive business environment.

Systems Thinking and Cognitive Process in Marketing

Cognitive process in marketing builds behavior of consumers and other players involved in carrying out various marketing functions. The cognitive maps in a firm help developing customer portfolios for evaluating and optimizing profit. This chapter discusses that in developing marketing strategies in a competitive business arena, such cognitive frameworks are often driven by the infinite choices ranging from what products or services to sell, how to determine market segment, and how to target consumers towards managing the competitive markets. It has been observed that as income is one of the critical variables, the cost factor also plays significant role in determining the market size and its scale of economy. The discussion in the chapter accentuates that cognitive analysis and behavior integration in business firms drive the marketing efficiency and profit as sustainable value drivers.

Dynamics in Developing Pricing Strategies

The most responsive element in the marketing functions is considered to be the pricing, which drives consumer decision making. Prices respond to supply and demand pressures in real time or near-real time. In this chapter, how systems thinking can be applied to develop right pricing strategy is discussed. Product pricing and tactical moves that help stabilizing the business and build its performance in the future among competitors have also been emphasized in the chapter. Also examined in the chapter is how many companies serving business markets believe that practicing value-based pricing is changing. The benefits of value based pricing approach are revealed in improved relations with customers that often lead to longer-term, more profitable relationships. It is argued here that pricing is a creative exercise, and companies should stay focused on profits. Further discussion provides guidelines for creating effective base prices using systems thinking approaches and enhancing profitability of firms.

Product Development and Market Governance

Product development and its management in the competitive marketplace have become one of the principal determinants of performance of firms. In product conceptualization, customer requirements play a crucial role. In the competitive and globalized business environment, one decisive factor for a company to out-perform its competitors is its ability to incorporate customer preferences in new product development projects. This chapter discusses the role of systems thinking in developing new products and establishing an effective performance measurement system in the firms. Various perspectives of product innovation, performance criteria, customer-centric product development, and managing products in the bottom line markets have also been discussed in the chapter. The factors influencing strategic positioning of products in competitive markets that are required in creating a market-focused approach are also deliberated in the chapter.

Challenges Ahead

This chapter discusses challenges among the transforming business cultures that are emerging across the world. Globalization has increased the access to the markets as the remote markets have been reduced following the political and economic changes worldwide. It is emphasized in the chapter that the globalization moves have opened up high comparative advantages in many manufactured goods through partnership deals to explore the business in the emerging economies. They generally display an increasing specialization trend and high consumer values. This chapter offers guidelines on improving the competencies and capabilities of firms using systems thinking approaches are argues that modernization, systematization, and consolidation significantly influence in driving firms competitive.

Marketing Modeling and Validation

Most existing mathematical models of consumer choice behavior assume that individuals’ preferences remain invariant over time. Although the assumption of invariant preference functions may be reasonable in some choice contexts, consumer preferences are largely influenced by variety-seeking effects. This chapter presents four models on consumer choice behavior, shopping performance, marketplace advantage, and buying decisions involving several cognitive, economic, and relational determinants affecting consumer behavior. These models are based on sequential structural equations using interrelated variables and can be applied in research on consumer shopping channel choices based on cognitive characteristics and consumer risk profiles. The framework for measuring the consumer behavior discussed in this chapter provides analytical dimensions for delineating the prediction of intangible variables affecting consumer preferences in order to optimize the purchase decisions in a given marketplace.