Ashwin W. Joshi, Ph. D. Director, MBA Program

OBJECTIVES
* Objectives
* Metrics
DRIVERS
* Key Strength
* Key Opportunity
* Key Prior Success Lessons
IMPEDIMENTS
* Key Weakness
* Key Threat
* Key Prior Failure Lessons
ALTERNATIVES
Strategic
Tactical
EVALUATION
* Leverage Key Strength
* Avoid Key Weakness
* Exploit Key Opportunity
* Mitigate Key Threat
* Consistent with Strategic Identity
IMPLEMENTATION
* Marketing (People, Position, Product, Price, Promotion, Place)
* HR (Selection, Motivation, Control)
* Operations (inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, sales/marketing, after sales)
* Finance (Marketing Expenses; Contribution Margin)
VALUE PROPOSITION
* Cost Leader
* Differentiation

Component 1: Plan Development
Objectives and Metrics: What is the desired state?
Drivers: What are the present situational enablers that will get us there?
Impediments: What in the present situation will prevent us from attaining the desired state?
Value Proposition: Why should the customer buy from us?
Lessons Learned: How do we avoid repeating prior mistakes and replicating prior successes?
Alternatives: What are the different approaches to attaining the desired state?
Evaluation/Recommendation: What is the best approach?
Implementation Planning: How do we execute the best approach?

Plan Development: Objectives for laptops of the future
State Objective(s):
What is the “big picture”/long-term goal that will be addressed by the Strategic Marketing Plan?
State Here:

Plan Development: Metrics
State the Specific Metrics (Across Functional Areas: Marketing; Operations; HR; Finance)
Metrics = what needs to be measured to know that the objective is being attained?
Metric 1:
Metric 2:
Metric 3:

Plan Development :
Identifying the Enablers
Enablers
Key Strength
Key Opportunity

Finding Your Key Strength
Step 1
For each element in your marketing mix ask 2 questions
What is Customer Assessment of Own Performance on that element?
What is Customer Assessment of Competitor Performance on that Element?
Step 2
Key Strength = The element that has
High Customer Assessment of Own Performance, AND
Low Customer Assessment of Competitor Performance

Finding Your Key Strength: Step 1

Finding Your Key Strength: Step 2
State your KEY Strength Here:
NOTES:
While you may have many strengths, the challenge is to identify your CORE strength
Simplicity (Clarity) not Simplistic

Finding Your Key Opportunity:
Step 1 - List All Opportunities

Finding Your Key Opportunity:
Step 2 - Diagnostic Tool
Rate the opportunities from the previous page on the extent to which they enable you to attain your strategic objective.
Key Opportunity = the opportunity that has the most direct bearing on your strategic objective
State your KEY Opportunity Here:

Plan Development:
Identifying Impediments
Impediments
Key Weaknesses
Key Threats

Finding Your Key Weakness
Step 1
For each element in your marketing mix ask 2 questions
What is Customer Assessment of Own Performance on that element?
What is Customer Assessment of Competitor Performance on that Element?
Step 2
Key Weakness = The element that has
Low Customer Assessment of Own Performance, AND
High Customer Assessment of Competitor Performance

Finding Your Key Weakness: Step 1

Finding Your Key Weakness: Step 2
State your KEY Weakness Here:
NOTES:
While you may have many weaknesses, the challenge is to identify your CORE weakness
Simplicity (Clarity) not Simplistic

Finding Your Key Threat:
Step - List All Threats

Finding Your Key Threat:
Step 2 - Diagnostic Tools
Rate the threats from the previous page on the extent to which they negatively impact your strategic objective.
Key Threat = the threat that has the most detrimental impact on your strategic objective
State your KEY Threat Here:

Lessons Learned: Prior Successes
The Lesson:
The Experience on which the lesson is based:
The Lesson…:
The Experience:

Lessons Learned: Prior Failures
The Lesson:
The Experience on which the lesson is based:
The Lesson…:
The Experience:

Clarifying The Product’s Value Proposition (Strategic Identity)
Is the product intended to be…
A Cost Leader
A Differentiated Player (specify the dimension: technology, design, customer service, image)
A Focused Cost Leader
A Focused Differentiator
State Product Value Proposition Here:

The Players in the Plot
Re-State….
Objective:
Key Strength:
Key Weakness:
Key Opportunity:
Key Threat:
Value Proposition:
Lessons Learned:

Plan Development: Generating Strategic and Tactical Alternatives
Level 1: Strategic
Strategic alternatives are conceptually distinct and completely exhaustive
Examples: Ansoff Matrix; push vs. pull; punish vs. reward; incremental vs. radical change
Level 2: Tactical
Tactical alternatives are subsets of strategic alternatives. Thus, if you picked the “punish” strategy, tactical alternatives refer to the different types of punishment you can impose.
Examples of tactical alternatives: severe punishment vs. gentle punishment;

State Your Strategic Alternatives
Strategic Alternative 1:
Strategic Alternative 2:
Strategic Alternative 3…:

Plan Development : Evaluation and Recommendation of Strategic Alternatives
Evaluation Criteria…The chosen strategic alternative should:
Leverage Key Strength (Feasibility)
Exploit Key Opportunity (Likelihood of Success)
Avoid Key Weakness
Mitigate Key Threat
Consistent with Value Proposition
Based on Lessons Learned
Rate each alternative using a scale of Low, Medium, High (L,M,H) against each criterion
Strategic Recommendation typically has the most number of Hs

Evaluation and Strategic Recommendation

From Strategic to Tactical Alternatives…
Re-State Your Strategic Recommendation:
Identify Tactical Alternatives that flow from your strategic recommendation
Tactical Alternative 1:
Tactical Alternative 2:
Tactical Alternative 3…:

Evaluation of Tactical Alternatives
Tactical Alternative 1:
Pros
Cons
Tactical Alternative 2:
Pros
Cons
Conclusion: State why the pro/con ratio of one alternative is superior to that of another
Conclusion:

Plan Development: Implementation
Marketing
People:
who is the “Linda” (I.e., core customer)?
Positioning:
What is the REAL ESTATE you want in Alex’s mind?

Plan Development: Implementation
Marketing
Product:
Customer Experience
User Interface

Plan Development: Implementation
Marketing
Price:
Retail Selling Price (RSP); Discounts
Skim vs. Penetration

Plan Development: Implementation
Marketing
Promotion:
Medium
Message (Rational, Emotional – fear, sex, humour)

Plan Development: Implementation
Marketing
Place:
Structure – direct vs. indirect
Process – handling opportunism through contract, trust, power

Plan Development: Implementation
HR
Headcount Implications
Employee Selection Criteria
Employee Motivation Tools

Plan Development: Implementation
Operations
Inbound Logistics
Operations
Outbound Logistics
Sales and Marketing
After-Sales Service

Plan Development:
Implementation (Key Performance Indicators)

Plan Development: Implementation
Timeline

Plan Development: Implementation
Contingency
Plan

Summary

OBJECTIVES
* Objectives
* Metrics
DRIVERS
* Key Strength
* Key Opportunity
* Key Prior Success Lessons
IMPEDIMENTS
* Key Weakness
* Key Threat
* Key Prior Failure Lessons
ALTERNATIVES
Strategic
Tactical
EVALUATION
* Leverage Key Strength
* Avoid Key Weakness
* Exploit Key Opportunity
* Mitigate Key Threat
* Consistent with Strategic Identity
IMPLEMENTATION
* Marketing (People, Position, Product, Price, Promotion, Place)
* HR (Selection, Motivation, Control)
* Operations (inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, sales/marketing, after sales)
* Finance (Marketing Expenses; Contribution Margin)
VALUE PROPOSITION
* Cost Leader
* Differentiation

Methodology Components: Plan Development and Plan Communication
Methodology
Plan Development
* Objectives
* Drivers
* Impediments
Value Proposition
* Lessons Learned
* Alternatives
*Evaluation/
Recommendation
*Implementation Planning
Plan Communication
* Situation
- Objectives
- Drivers
* Complication
* Impediments
* Resolution
- Alternatives
Evaluation/
Recommendation
* Implementation Planning

Plan Communication: The Story
Situation
Objectives
Drivers
Complication
Impediments
Resolution
Alternatives
Evaluation/Recommendation
Implementation

Plan Communication: The Story
Having developed your plan, ask if there is a fable (e.g., Aesop), moral (e.g., the early bird gets the worm) and/or metaphor (e.g., the pig in the python) that captures the essence of your presentation.
Start and conclude your presentation with the fable/moral/metaphor. Note, this could also be used to create the title of your presentation.

Plan Communication: The Story
The Situation
State and Discuss the Objective and associated metrics
State and Discuss the Enablers

Plan Communication : The Story
The Complication
State and Discuss the Impediments

Plan Communication: The Story
The Resolution
Discuss the Strategic Alternatives that can be used to meet the change objective
Evaluate these alternatives against decision criteria
Discuss the Tactical Alternatives that can be used to meet the change objective
Evaluate these alternatives on the basis of the advantages/disadvantages of each
State your strategic recommendation and emphasize two points: feasibility and likelihood of success
State your tactical recommendation and emphasize why its advantage/disadvantage ratio is superior to the alternatives

Plan Communication: The Story
The Resolution
Discuss the Implementation Plan in terms of the action implications for the functional areas
Discuss the Timeline
Discuss the Contingencies
Discuss the Summary Slide
Conclude with the fable/moral/metaphor