CHAPTER INSTRUCTOR NOTES Chapter 1 – Strategic Market Management – An Introduction and Overview CONTENT OF CHAPTER 1 1. Strategy development needs to reflect the fact that markets are dynamic. There are implications to this reality. You need to be good at strategic analysis, innovation, managing multiple businesses, creating SCAs (sustainable competitive advantages), and developing growth platforms in the context of dynamic markets. 2. A business strategy is defined by the product-market investment, a value proposition, assets/competencies, and functional strategies. 3. The book systematically covers external analysis and the development of strategies— Figure 1.3 summarizes the elements of external and internal analysis plus the outputs of strategic analysis. 4. Marketing‘s role at the strategy table follows from the definition of a business strategy. Dynamic markets Ask the class if it can think of any industries that are not dynamic. As industries come up, ask if anyone sees any dynamics. In all industries it will be easy to identify areas of dynamics— there will be emerging submarkets, opportunities, threats, new competitors, changing faces of existing competitors, global realities, etc. Follow that up with questions about the implications for strategy of a dynamic market. This discussion should lead to the importance of the six tasks discussed on pages 2 and 3— strategic analysis, customer value, innovation, multiple business (to participate in emerging new markets and submarkets), SCAs (that work in dynamic times), and the need for growth platforms (that work in dynamic environments). Business strategy definition Logically, if business managers are to develop strategy, they should know what it means. It turns out that it is not so simple. Ask the class the simple question— ―What is Strategy?‖ Students will come up with concepts like strategy is a plan, a vision, planning, setting objectives, matching resources with objectives, or matching the 4Ps to your target market. You might then consider discussing one or more of the following definitions.