Competitive Strategies Marketing Reading

Jill  Avery; Sunil  Gupta

Other Teaching and Training Material | 2015

Competitive Strategies Marketing Reading

Abstract

Core Curriculum Readings in Marketing cover the fundamental concepts, theories, and frameworks that business students must study.
This Reading illuminates the dynamics of companies in competition and offers a process for planning and executing marketing strategies to compete in a rapidly changing marketplace. It will also enable marketers to make decisions that account for competitors' likely responses. The Reading delineates processes for understanding the opportunities and challenges of competitive play, providing guidance for choosing contexts that enable success while avoiding those in which profitability will be elusive. It then examines how marketers can create opportunities by alleviating constraining competitive forces and by opening up new ways to compete that are more conducive to growth. The Reading concludes with insights into how consumers respond to marketplace competition and examines how companies can frame competitive games to their advantage in brand positioning and marketing communications.
This Reading includes an Interactive Illustration that explains how the prisoner's dilemma theory applies to pricing issues in industries with two dominant competitors (Pepsi and Coke). It also includes 3 video clips: (1) "The Two Choices to Make in Strategy," which distills strategy into two basic questions: "Where will you play?" and "How will you win there?"; (2) "Marketing Myopia," an animation presenting Theodore Levitt's concept of marketing myopia and identifying ways to avoid it; and (3) "Porter's Six Forces," which explains the key elements of Michael Porter's strategy model.

Keywords: Competitive Strategy;

Language: English

Format: Print

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Citation:

Avery, Jill, and Sunil Gupta. "Competitive Strategies Marketing Reading." Core Curriculum Readings Series. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing 8158, 2015.

Shiseido was in the midst of a six year corporate turnaround, trying to reverse the effects of decades of under-investment in R&D and marketing which had led to a cycle of declining customer support and brand value. Would the CEO’s VISION 2020 plan, centered on four strategies: 1.) increasing R&D spending from 1.8% to 3% of sales, 2.) investing an incremental ¥120 billion in brand-building marketing, 3.) moving to a “think global-act local” matrixed brand management structure, and 4.) rethinking brand portfolio strategy, be enough to achieve aggressive 8% per year sales goals while simultaneously increasing the company’s operating margin from 8% to 10% in the highly competitive and slow growing beauty industry?

Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2019 (Revised July 2019)

Kraft Heinz: The $8 Billion Brand Write-Down

Jill Avery

On Friday, February 22, 2019, following an unexpected and disappointing earnings report, The Kraft Heinz Company’s stock price fell 27%, wiping out $16 billion in market value. CEO Bernardo Hees had announced that the company had taken a $15.4 billion asset write-down, that the company would be cutting its annual dividend from $2.50 to $1.60 and that it was under SEC investigation for accounting irregularities related to its procurement process. $8.3 billion of the asset write-down was related to a loss in value of the firm’s intangible assets, specifically its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands. As Kraft Heinz looked ahead to the future, it was time to recalibrate its brand management strategies. With $50 billion in brand assets remaining on its balance sheet, effectively managing its brands going forward was critical to avoiding another brand asset write-down and to regaining the $8 billion brand value the company had just lost. Was Kraft Heinz's brand asset write-down the beginning of the end of the market dominance of "Big Food" brands across the board or was it idiosyncratic and a result of the firm's brand management resources, capabilities, and strategies?

Keywords: brand management; Brand Value; Brand equity; marketing ROI; brand storytelling; Intangible assets; brand valuation; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Management; Corporate Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Food; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Private Equity; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; North America;

Citation:

Avery, Jill. "Kraft Heinz: The $8 Billion Brand Write-Down." Harvard Business School Case 519-076, April 2019. (Revised July 2019.) View Details

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Competitive Strategies Marketing Reading

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