Sustainable Management; Model Building for Decision Making

As Sun Tzu says: “Judge advantages when accepting advices, and then, in accordance with that, arrange your forces supplementing them with extraordinary tactics. Forces should be arranged strategically, based on that what gives the advantage.” This though directly points that strategy and tactics need to be developed in the same direction to gain success. This is the application of the research on building the new model which will combine strategy and tactics in marketing. The model will have to satisfy three conditions. It will have to be applicable, simple and interactive. The research will consist of three parts. research will be the main research in the form of interviews with managers responsible for the implementation of strategy and tactics in companies. The result of the main research, an experiment on the real company which is present on the real market. Results of the experiment will be evaluated through business results of the company before the implementation of the model and results after the implementation. The Stratics model will follow the line of modelling presented by Vraneševic, Vignali and Vrontis which includes the combination of various strategy and tactics models like Life Cycle of the Company, Boston Consulting Group Matrix, Ansoff Matrix and Marketing Mix. Resulting model will give the company’s management a chance to see whether company’s real position lies where management thinks it does. The other purpose of the model will be initial propositions on what should be done on tactical level in order to achieve company’s targeted strategy position. • Leeds Metropolitan University, Headingley Campus, Leeds, LS1 3HE, UK. ISSN 0328-5715 ISSN 2524-955X Professor Claudio Vignali 232|—————————————————————————————----—————————————----------—————| Palermo Business Review | Special Issue Introduction Matrix Marketing and the academic use of models in the strategic process has, in recent years, been accepted by practitioners. The frequent and recent changes in technology and the Internet allow greater access to both academic and tacticians in the commercial world. Vignali C. (2007) has developed the Stratics process and created a live model building process that adapts some of the academic models used by academics in the modern world. As Sun Tzu says: “Judge advantages when accepting advices, and then, in accordance with that, arrange your forces supplementing them with extraordinary tactics. Forces should be arranged strategically, based on that what gives the advantage.” This though directly points that strategy and tactics need to be developed in the same direction to gain success. In other way, the risk of failure increases significantly. The purpose of marketing is to make customers more interested in company’s products. Stralser (2004) describes marketing in the following way: “Often, people immediately equate marketing with advertising and see only the amount of money that advertising cost. However, by definition, marketing is actually the process by which we offer goods or services up for sale. Forwardthinking marketing strategies suggest that marketing is not a ‘cost’ or ‘expense’ but rather an investment, because much of the benefit of marketing is longerterm and may take years to fully provide its benefit.” Kennedy (1989) finds very important to answer the question: “Why should I, your prospective customer, choose you vs. any and every other alternative available to me?” This is the question that leads to identify the proper strategy for the company. Vraneševic, Vignali and Vrontis (2004) combine  Life Cycle of the Company, Boston Consulting Group Matrix, Ansoff Matrix and Marketing Mix. This approach has given the main direction for this research. According to Buble and group of authors (2005), marketing strategy represents the implementation of the whole strategy of the company and main duties of the marketing strategy are: analysis of market opportunities, the choice of the aimed market, marketing mix development and marketing management. The main focus of marketing strategy can be the development of marketing mix and marketing management. According to Thompson, Strickland and Gamble (2005) “Strategy of a company is a plan of the game which management uses for business increase, gaining market position, attracting and pleasing customers, successful competing, leading their operation and gaining desired aims.” On the other hand, Robbins and Coulter (2005) sate that strategic management is “That set of managerial decisions and action that determines a long-run performance of an organisation.” This definition can also be applied to the managing of marketing strategy. In the introduction sentence of the chapter “What is the Marketing Strategy”, Renko (2005) explains that “combining of terms Marketing and Strategy emphasises that the strategy has to be marketing oriented, i.e. leaded by the market and surroundings where the company operates.” Berry and Wilson (2000) have elaborated the way the strategy and tactics should work in combination: “The tactical decisions you make should directly complement your marketing strategy in a manner that is practical Sustainable Management; Model Building for Decision Making Palermo Business Review | Special Issue|——-—----------—————————————————————————————————————————————| 233 and can be implemented.” This means that tactics and strategy have to be consistent. Johnston and Bate (2003) state the following: “It is interesting to note how many companies in recent years have adopted ‘‘innovation’’ as a core value or as part of their mission statements. If we as a society have moved from the Information Age to the Knowledge Age, then this relatively new emphasis on innovation is quite logical. When information is ubiquitous and is no longer a source of competitive advantage, it is the innovative use of that information (via knowledge) that differentiates people, companies, and nations. Innovation may become the basis of all competition in the future. Innovation is the new competitive arena where present-day gladiators, equipped with similar information and access to similar resources, try to outsmart one another to victory.” This is the reason why the development of new models has potential to make companies more competitive on the market.