case study example

case study example

The Impact of Marketing Strategies on Sales Performance

1. Introduction

However, at present there is need for a deeper understanding on how marketing strategies might affect sales performance. This appears to be a crucial research issue during a period when many firms have adopted a marketing-oriented approach to business in an attempt to better cope with more competitive trading conditions. Marketing theory and managerial common sense suggest that the adoption of a marketing strategy in the form of a more segmented and targeted approach (Wensley, 1981) should improve sales performance relative to a scatter gun, undifferentiated approach. Yet there is little empirical evidence to confirm this exactly how “more segmentation” should be played out in terms of specific marketing mix and what impacts this might have on sales and on different market sub-divisions. This is concerning as a “marketing strategy” is not an isolated variable, simple to define and measure. To some extent, it is a complex of coordinated actions and activities designed to achieve a specified organizational goal (Baker and Hart, 1999). Therefore, the potential linkages between specific marketing strategies and the resulting impact on sales performance are not always obvious and need to be examined in defined context.

It is generally believed that marketing efforts have a substantial role to play when it comes to influencing sales performance. Heider et al. (1983, p.17) had claimed: “Common to the stance taken by many firms is the view that increased profitability can be achieved by increasing performance in the market place. Consumer package goods companies quite logically have a long-standing belief that improved sales will enhance their competitive positioning and profitability and have focused their marketing efforts to this end.” Such views have influenced productivity and marketing efforts as seen in the sales performance variation across different industries in North America and Europe over the past decade.

2. Overview of the Case Study Example

Case study methodology is one of the most effective methods to conduct research on a broad and deep topic. It involves intensively looking at a particular subject, compiling information from various sources, and organizing the facts. The main goal is to understand the complexity of the case and describe it thoroughly. This is the reason why case study is chosen for this research. By using a case study, the author could observe the actual condition and obtain complete information from the young SME being researched. This method can also explain what and why an event could happen, and how the event influences certain conditions. The case study not only focuses on a problem or causatory event, but it can also be used to describe a solution to a certain problem and can be used for future references. This research is proposed to a small medium enterprise that is planning to grow. Even though the company is still in a small phase, choosing a proper and effective marketing strategy is the most important part to be considered because it could determine the company’s future. The subject takes place in a company that provides consulting actuary services in a range of actuary knowledge and expertise to insurers, financial institutions, government, and others. This consulting actuary company is part of an actuary firm owned by two fresh graduates of actuaries from a university located in Petaling Jaya. The students were once scholars for a large scholarship organization within a certain Petaling Jaya district and were former actuary apprentice program participants in an insurer company.

3. Analysis of Marketing Strategies

As a conclusion, it is clear that marketing strategies are vital to the companies’ position in today’s competitive market. Illustrations of the different kinds of strategies were highlighted in the skimming article. The contrast of sales and marketing concepts and orientations highlighted the increasing importance in market-focused strategies. Amongst all the strategies, global marketing was viewed as the most effective strategy, a strategy which sees an organization treat the entire world as a single market and using the same marketing strategy across the globe. This was evident with the Japanese company and Finnish Company both undertaking strategies to enter overseas markets with great success. The success was measured through varying factors but firstly profit. Increased profits were shown with the Japanese company seeking a 10% increase in international profits and exceeding this figure. The Finnish company was seeking to achieve high profitability within the first two and a half years of international operations and with the sale of its subsidiary in 1 year later was able to get a 104% return on investment from the sale. Increased sales and turnover were noted as the Finnish company quadrupled its turnover within 5 years and the German Company increased its turnover by 30% over 4 years. This all shows that successful marketing strategies have led to increased sales for these companies and increased ultimate survival level in a highly competitive industry.

4. Evaluation of Sales Performance

Sales performance is the assessment of a sales team in terms of its achievement with respect to sales goals and the realization of potential in particular circumstances. This is a general measure of a firm’s sales effectiveness; however, more specific measures can be used as a means to evaluate performance. All firms use a form of sales measure, whether it is yearly sales or market share. These are only diagnoses of the outcome and offer no more analysis of what is good and bad in comparison to the use of efficiency and effectiveness measures. Measures of efficiency are concerned with the extent to which a firm has minimized the use of resources in achieving a specific level of sales, often in a given period of time. This is important because sales are an end result and it is the cost that is used to achieve this that is vital. High sales and market share are a concern to competitors who may react with a price war, and without efficiency, the firm is unable to sustain itself in the long run. Measures of effectiveness are concerned with a sales plan and the extent to which sales objectives are met. This is a comparison of what was supposed to happen with what has actually taken place. Effectiveness is a complex measure, and these two types of measures are only looking at sales as an overall and do not provide much diagnosis for firms’ marketing strategy, in how far strategies are the cause of sales levels.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

The current paper discovered the impact of different marketing strategies in attracting customers and improving sales performance. The findings are based on the scholarly articles found from the online database. There were two types of research conducted to accomplish this, which are case studies (impacts of marketing strategies on sales performance) and content analysis (impact of cultural and cross-cultural issues on buying behavior for marketing strategy globally). These were done to obtain a detailed explanation whether there is a certain relationship with the variables discussed in the topic. From the research conducted, the findings give a clear explanation about how different marketing strategies can impact sales performance. Based on statistical and comparative data in the cases, it shows that the implementation of using marketing strategies first shows great improvement in sales performance. This is shown in the Levi’s case where they used market segmentation as their marketing strategy and many more other cases. It also shows that the duration of the marketing strategies would also affect sales performance. This proves that the longer the duration, the better the improvement as shown in the Campbell Soup case. The increase in promotional activity would also give a great improvement in sales as shown in the PepsiCo case. From the case studies, it also shows how marketing strategies can also be very effective with cost efficiencies. This is shown in the change of marketing mix strategy by HP where it shows that there were increases in sales with promotions but decrease in cost of advertising. From the case studies, it shows that there are many different ways of marketing strategies that different companies use that can give different results. Customers’ preferences in the culture and relative perception of the company’s intentions played a main role in the effectiveness of marketing strategies on buying behavior and eventually on sales performance. This is further explained in the findings of the content analysis. This research also shows an impact of one successful marketing strategy used by Sony Corp where they change their global marketing strategy which increased their sales performance significantly.