Managerial Judgment in Strategic Marketing - Research Proposal Example

Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………2 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………….2 Literature Review …………………………………………………………………………3 Research Questions ………………………………………………………………………..5 Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………….5 The Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………..7 References ………………………………………………………………………………….8 ABSTRACT This research examines the different aspects of managerial judgment and its relation with strategic marketing. This interaction is critical, if a company is to achieve maximum use of its competitive advantage for the highest attainable profit margins and high customer ratings. This research will examine this interaction and identify areas that need to be worked on to achieve the company’s objectives. This research will achieve this through the help of a hybrid approach which involves mostly qualitative methods of research with a grounded theoretical bias and quantitative methods of research where especially statistical data will inform the process of analysis and drawing conclusions. MANAGERIAL JUDGMENT IN STRATEGIC MARKETING INTRODUCTION Management Judgment determines the success of a company’s strategic marketing policy. Strategic marketing is viewed by several companies as a critical part of their operations. It is in most cases not considered as a management function. In recent years, marketing has increasingly been viewed as a management function of a company. (American Marketing Association, 2007) Strategic marketing is all about identifying areas where the company has a competitive advantage over the rest of the players in that sector of the market, and using the available resources to ensure that this advantage is used for the achievement of the company’s goals; chief among which is maximizing profits. This is makes it such an important aspect of a company’s operations that it needs to de deliberated on at the managerial level. This is because management deals with allocation and control of resources (Mason and Swanson 1979). If strategic marketing is to be given the due consideration it deserves, then it must be handled at the management level. One of the most important aspects of management is Judgment. Judgment refers to making a decision on what should be done. Decisions play a very vital role in management. (Goodwin & Wright, 2004) Therefore management judgment has a direct relation with strategic marketing. This is because it determines what resources are allocated towards the competitive advantage, how the resources will be handled and areas of weakness are identified and solutions got. (Kardes, F. 2001) Therefore it is very crucial that management judgment is viewed as a direct link and contributor to successful strategic marketing. For one to achieve the best results out of strategic marketing, one must analyze the factors of managerial judgment that enhance strategic marketing. (Mayo, et al 2012) In this research, this link will be identified, and the different relational aspects examined and areas of enhancement examined for a better and more accurate account of how these two concepts should be put together to ensure the success of a company. Background Firms base their marketing plans around a concept that is a synthesis of what the customer’s desire. (Adcock, et al 2001) The demands of today’s marketing strategy require that specific emphasis be put of managerial judgment’s interaction with strategic marketing. This is especially more so in today’s marketing regime which is heavily customer centered. Therefore more demands are placed on the management of firms to make decisions and choices on what is the best option to take. (Hailstone, J. 2000) It is upon this background that this study is based. Objectives of the study To establish the link between Managerial Judgment and Strategic marketing To highlight the aspects of managerial judgment that affect strategic marketing To make recommendations on how enhance strategic marketing through managerial judgment LITERATURE REVIEW: Managerial judgment precipitates the contemplation of tactical options. These could include the consideration of what is happening on the outside of the company that presents chances and fear to which a timely and suitable reaction should be generated. It also involves considering what strategic issues face the firm and what options should be considered. (Aaker, 1988) Judgment in this case is “the human creative response to the absence of knowledge”. It is dealing with the unknown and deals with knowledge asymmetry. Judgment involves the presumption that there uncertainty, which requires action. Thus managerial judgment is to come to terms with this uncertainty as the central issue and filling this gap. (Spender, et al 2012) Strategic marketing concept is a viewpoint that focuses and places emphasis on the accurate identification of marketing opportunities as the basis for marketing planning and corporate growth. (Lingham, 2006) Marketing entails the company pointing out what competitive advantage best suits them in their quest for getting what they want and deliberately applying their resources to enhance it. (Mullins, 2011) Central to this idea is what the customer wants. Some of the key variables in this regard are the ever changing environment. This is what calls in to play the need to be strategic. The company must come up with a plan on the allocation of resources to enhance their competitive advantage. This plan cannot work each and every time thus the need to keep track of its effectiveness and coming up with alterations and different plans in reaction to various stimuli in the dynamic economic environment. Strategic Marketing has been defined as the management function responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably (Hagel and Brown, 2005). A good strategic marketing plan is able to deliver good profit margins while maintaining a good customer relationship. This marketing strategy should consist of “an internally integrated but externally focused set of choices about how the organization addresses its customers in the context of a competitive environment.” (Lingham, 2006) This is a huge challenge and calls for near perfect managerial judgment skills. This at times is referred to as strategic management. Strategic management is the identification of one or more sustainable competitive advantages a firm has in the markets it serves or intends to serve, and allocation of resources to exploit them (Business Dictionary, 2012). THE RESEARCH QUESTION: Does managerial judgment enhance the effectiveness of strategic Marketing? HYPOTHESIS: H1: Poor managerial judgment leads to ineffective strategic Marketing H2: Deliberate managerial judgment leads to effective strategic marketing THE METHODOLOGY Both primary and secondary methods of research will be employed in this research. The research will also employ both qualitative and quantitative methods of research to achieve the objects of the research. On the qualitative front the research will employ a grounded theory research method which puts significant responsibility on the researcher to present and interpret the study from a more subjective perspective. This has the advantage of maximizing the benefits of a process that is aimed at providing the goal of generating concepts that explain people’s actions regardless of time and place. The descriptive parts of this qualitative method will be used to illustrate the concepts. The grounded theory is also perfect for studying and examining the relationship between two different concepts. (Glaser 1998) The three elements of the grounded approach of theoretically sensitive coding, sampling and comparing the two concepts of managerial judgment and strategic management will be employed (Schervier-Legewie, 2004). This highly flexible and yet effective method of research will ensure that the research addresses the two critical topical themes of study adequately. On the quantitative side the research will collect statistical data based on the hypothesis or theory of the research. The data will then be verified, validated, recorded and then it will be analyzed and conclusions drawn. A general background on the two concepts will show how the two concepts have developed and how their interaction has impacted on the successful use of resources by companies to accomplish their business objectives. The research conclusions will build an interpretive account from the data collected and endeavor to capture the convolution of the observable facts under study. (Wikipedia, 2012) Data collection The sample in this study will include students of strategic marketing and management courses, professional practitioners specializing in strategic marketing and management, other people involved in the two economic aspects of corporations. Data will also be collected from various studies carried out in the two areas of management judgment and strategic marketing. These will mostly be sourced from libraries and the internet. Observation The sample professionals’ and students’ reactions to the discussions about the research topic will be recorded in field notes and on audio tape for later coding and classification, with observations collaborated and compared with a qualified observer. Interview The study interviews will consist of informal and formal Q&A sessions. The formal and in-depth interview sessions and surveys will mostly be employed to solicit for answers from professionals. While the informal ones will be used on the sample students. Both open-ended and constrained questions will be employed during both session types. Desk research This will mostly involve library sessions and internet/online research sessions where articles, books, and others document types will be examined for relevant data and information that will be used to inform the discussion and attainment of the research’s objectives. THE ANALYSIS The Data analysis procedure will entail coding, sorting and grouping of the qualitative data that will be gathered. This will be done in line with the reversed research paradigm/grounded theory as this is the first step in developing the theories explaining the data. (Glaser 1998) Write-ups of field notes, transcription and computers programs will all be employed to analyze the information. The information gathered will then be examined for connections with existing literature and from the connections that are made, concepts will be drawn. The data will also be reconstructed to develop categories and from these categories findings conclusions and recommendations will be drawn. I will mostly use systematic procedures and triangulation of the various concepts with those from existing literature to test the reliability and validity of the concepts and theories developed. References Books Kardes, F. (2001). Consumer Behavior and Managerial Decision Making. USA: Prentice Hall; 2 edition. Orville C. Walker, Jr. and John W. Mullins, Marketing Strategy: A Decision-Focused Approach, 7th edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2011. Damien McLoughlin, David A. Aaker 2010, Strategic Market Management: Global Perspectives 3rd Edition. John Wiley and Sons David A. Aaker, 1988, Strategic Marketing Management 2nd Edition Wiley Michael Baker, 2008. The Strategic Marketing Place Audit, Cambridge Strategy Publications. Paul Goodwin, George Wright 2004, Decision analysis for management judgment 3rd Edition illustrated, John Wiley & Sons. Richard O. Mason and E. Burton Swanson 1979. “Measurement for Management Decision: A Perspective”, reprinted from the California Management Review, Vol 21, No 3 accessed at http://www. mdm.gwu.edu/forman/Chapter8.pdf on January 19, 2012 Journals Adcock, Dennis; Al Halborg, Caroline Ross 2001, Marketing: principles and practice (4th ed.) Financial Times/Prentice Hall John Hagel III, John Seely Brown (2005). The Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends On Productive Friction And Dynamic Specialization 1st Edition Harvard Business Review Press Hailstone, J.  (2000). The Decision-making Pocketbook. USA: Management Pocketbooks Websites American Marketing Association, 2007, Definition of Marketing. Accessed at http://www.marketingpower.com/Community/ARC/Pages/Additional/Definition/default.aspx on January 19, 2012 Business Dictionary 2012, accessed at http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/strategic-management.html on January 19, 2012 Legewie, Heiner & Schervier-Legewie, Barbara (September 2004). "Forschung ist harte Arbeit, es ist immer ein Stück Leiden damit verbunden. Deshalb muss es auf der anderen Seite Spaß machen". Anselm Strauss interviewed by Heiner Legewie and Barbara Schervier-Legewie. Forum: Qualitative Social Research On-line Journal, 5(3), Art. 22. Interview as MP3 audio (english) / edited German translation of interview. Accessed at http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/3-04/04-3-22-e.htm on January 19, 2012 Leo Lingham 2006 Marketing/strategic marketing accessed at http://en.allexperts.com/q/Marketing-1090/Strategic-marketing.html on January 19, 2012 Glaser BG, 1998. Doing Grounded Theory - Issues and Discussions. Sociology Press. Accessed at http://www.sociologypress.com/books/classic_series/doing_the_grounded_theory.htm on January 19, 2012 JC Spender, LUBS & CUSM, Managerial Practice: Shaping the reasoning and Imaging of Others accessed at www.jcspender.com/uploads/Managerial_Practice_v6.pdf on January 19, 2012 Donna T. Mayo, Evangelos Grigoroudis, Constantin Zopoundis 2012, Strategic Planning Tools, Reference for Business Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd ed. Accessed at http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Sc-Str/Strategic-Planning-Tools.html on January 19, 2012 Read More