Part -1:

Increasing Competitive:

So far in this module you have explored strategic approaches to marketing, from aligning marketing and business strategies to segmenting, targeting and positioning to creating new brand propositions and analysing both internal and external environments to create marketing mixes. One of the main goals for all of these strategic efforts is to enable organisations to get and keep their competitive advantage in order to thrive.

Attaining and sustaining competitive advantage takes more than just satisfying customers. Consider some food group you particularly like, such as bread. You may like several different types of bread and not really care who makes it. Most types of bread satisfy you, and you purchase whatever is on sale. Several companies that make bread are therefore satisfying you as a customer, but none have a competitive advantage over you. Then along comes a bread company that catches your attention. The naan, the challah, the white, the rye-they are all so delicious! Or perhaps it is not the best bread you have ever had, but it is good quality for the price. Suddenly, this bread company has captured your loyalty. Multiply your own consumption by thousands of bread eaters with similar needs, and the bread company has most likely managed to attain a competitive advantage. Its bread not only satisfies you, but it satisfies you more than the bread made by its competitors.

For this unit's Individual Assignment you will develop strategies for your chosen brand that will foster a competitive advantage for your proposed product.

To prepare for this Individual Assignment:

• Read Day (2003). Consider what author views as the components of customer-relating capability. How can these components be leveraged to build a competitive advantage?

• Read the module text chapters. In Chapter 11, consider how organisations can develop objectives and strategies to manage a product or brand through inception, growth, decline and new growth through new products or brands. In Chapter 19, review Porter's 5 Forces model.

• Read Hamel and Pralahad (1985), focusing on the strategies for building a global presence, defending domestic position and overcoming national fragmentation.

• Review some of the Sector Overviews in the Interbrand Web site. Consider how some of the world's top brands strategise to maintain competitive advantage.

To complete this Individual Assignment:

In a 1,000-word paper, create a plan for increasing competitive advantage for the selected organisation and brand. The plan should include three appropriate strategies for increasing competitive advantage in your chosen organisation. For each strategy, include the following:

• Explain how the strategies support overall corporate business and marketing strategies to increase competitive market advantage.

• Identify essential resources required to execute these strategies for increasing competitive advantage.

• Explain how you might measure performance related to meeting strategy objectives for increasing competitive advantage.

Part -2:

Using a PESTLE Analysis

No product or brand exists in a vacuum. An organisation must have a full understanding of not only its internal environment, but also of the external environment surrounding its products and brands. For the purposes of this unit, the external environment will be divided into the distant and near environments (also known as macro- and microenvironment or distal and proximal). The distant and near environments are associated with two analysis models respectively: the PESTL (political, economic, social, technological and legal) or one of its many variations and the Porter's 5 Forces model. It is essential to analyse both the distant and near environments in order to make informed decisions about the market for products and brands. An external analysis may also be used for control and evaluation purposes throughout a product's life cycle.

In the field of marketing, the distant environment is perceived as being composed of broad forces. These forces are often grouped together for analysis under some variation of PESTL. Some models also include an additional E for environmental which, in this case, refers to environmental issues such as pollution or ‘green' strategies rather than an organisation's internal and external environments. Growing environmental concerns across the globe are such that it is highly recommended that this factor is included. In addition to providing context for a marketing campaign, considering environmental factors may provide a competitive advantage by appealing to customers' growing desire to associate themselves with environmentally-awareorganisations and products. Other versions with similar areas of analysis include SLEPT, STEEPLE, EPISTEL and so forth. Each of the PESTLE forces is briefly described in this unit's Unit Introduction, accompanied by some questions that organisations should attempt to answer through analysis. These forces are also addressed in more depth in the Readings.

For this Shared Activity, you will conduct a PESTLE analysis on your featured organisation and brand, which will become the focus of your Final Project.

Imagine that the organisation you chose is in the decision phase of determining where to market new products and has selected one international market to research.

To prepare for this Shared Activity:

• Review Evans and Richardson (2007). Consider how the featured business used a PESTLE tool to analyse its environment.

• Review Chapter 3 from the module text. Consider the environmental responses listed such as ignorance, delay and retrenchment for your discussion on amelioration strategies for environmental issues.

• Research similar PESTLE tools in the Readings and online. Select a template you think is a good fit with your Final Project organisation and proposed fictional product or create a PESTLE tool of your own.