Provide a good definition and description of Porters Generic

Provide a good definition and description of Porter\'s Generic Strategy that your company is currently pursuing.

Describe the specific Marketing Strategy you are recommending to complement the Porter\'s strategy the company is pursuing.

Discuss the objectives for the strategy you are proposing   

Provide two to three specific (real world) examples of how this marketing strategy is used to enhance Porter\'s Strategy

Provide an example of how you would use this strategy with the company you are currently employed or for a company you chose in Discussion

This paper should be 5 – 8 pages in length (not including title or reference pages).

Avoid using 1st person style writing – especially since this is a scholarly paper. Instead or using I, substitute with this author or avoid using a specific reference. For instance, Starbucks coffee tastes great; instead of “I think Starbucks coffee is great

Solution

Porter Generic Strategy: Cost Leadership

The concept of cost leadership is that the company focusses on reducing the cost of operations and having a wide customer base such that it is able to cater to this wide customer base at lowest cost.

The company that we are discussing about in the current discussion is a fertilizer major which is operating in the Indian subcontinent. Since the product is a commodity, the company has decided to follow the market price and derive business viability by having a cost leadership approach. This approach is evident in the way all its processes from sourcing, manufacturing, supply and distribution and sales is structured and implemented. The company has got strict cost controls structures and mechanisms in place. It follows the lean methodology and total quality management concepts in all its business processes and seeks to reduce wastages and redundant processes in order to bring down the cost of operations.

By doing the above, the company has been successful in achieving the lowest cost of manufacturing and distribution of goods in the country and hence even after setting market rates on its products is able to be the most profitable enterprise in its industrial sector.

Marketing Strategy

The marketing strategy that the company should follow is that of following the price set by the market and sometimes even reducing the price below market price to leverage its low cost status and spend on marketing communications to increase the awareness about its low cost and good quality product. By doing so, the company would be appeal to a wide customer base of farmers, who are primarily low income household and has a preference for inexpensive but good quality products.

A combination of high visibility, low cost and good quality product campaign would complement the overall corporate objective of being a low cost leader and can garner significant market share from competitors.

Objectives of strategy

Examples of Cost leadership

Application of this strategy

To use the strategy for the fertilizer major, it is important to have very streamlined and focused processes to cut down the cost of operations of the company. Every business process should follow lean principles and its primary focus should be reduction of cost without reducing quality of products. Then the company in its marketing strategy should focus on a marketing campaign that is broad based and appeal to wide range of customers on providing good quality products at market rates or below that. So customers should recognize the brand with quality and low cost simultaneously. This will enable the company to implement this strategy effectively.

Important levers for implementation: