Introduction
Strategic management recognizes the importance of a business to plough back some of its returns for the continued increase in its value overtime. During this course, we came across various marketing strategies the three companies we had chosen – Louis Vuitton, McDonald’s and Sony 94 – apply in their everyday business activities to achieve success. The most significant issues I personally wanted to learn were the different ways the three successful organizations used their management strategies to accomplish their objectives and reach their set goals. I have always perceived strategic management as one of the reasons why most companies excel in their field as they enable their firm to reap profits and receive returns; thoroughly planned strategies and methods help companies to achieve better results and to remain competitive.
Cravens et al. (2002) describe how the strategic marketing management process can help propel an organization into greater heights. This is what drew my attention to the strategic management process as I wished to find out how the companies under research implemented diverse strategies to help them be successful in their field.
Discussion
Louis Vuitton is a renowned fashion house; it has left a considerable footprint in the fashion world by presenting the public with products ranging from shoes, designer watches, jewelry, sunglasses to clothing. I learnt a significant lesson when it came to dealing with the fashion industry. As opposed to general marketing in other industries, the fashion industry does not rely on demand and supply but rather pays attentions to how a fashion item will make a potential customer feel unique and fashionable. That is how Louis Vuitton earned its top seller position – by dwelling on its customers’ issues.
McDonald’s, on the other hand, is among the largest fast food chain restaurants in the world. Despite its major competitors being KFC and Pizza Hut, it has made itself unique and adopted a series of management strategies that have helped it survive the harsh economic times and still maintain its competitiveness. Fast food establishments have been on the rise in the USA for a long time due to the American fast way of life. McDonald’s takes advantage of this since, no matter what, there will always be those who consume fast food frequently; this makes McDonald’s stay afloat in the industry as they provide people with fast and quality services (Roberts 2012).
Lastly, Sony’s Trojan Horse Playstation 2 was the most amazing of the three companies to study about. I love video games; as a result, doing a research on Sony Company was not only informative but fun at the same time. This company emerged in Japan; they introduced a memory card which has propelled its demand to greater heights. This proved to become an effective management strategy; now they try to upgrade it even further while taking steps to tackle other customer satisfaction issues.
In the course of this module and during our presentation of the studied materials and facts, we used various assessments such as group discussions, marketing report and written case study. I have to admit that, at first, I thought it was going to be a difficult task; however, as the days went by, these assessment tools proved to have been rather beneficial. Group discussions enabled me to learn from other group members; we shared thoughts on strategic management and took pains to clarify any doubts and other difficult issues that arose. The written case study was the most difficult activity since raw facts had to be brought about and analyzed properly. Though that was rather challenging, it helped me recognize my abilities to research and analyze data as well as come up with a conclusive case study. Activities associated with the marketing report were easier for me. They helped me discover that each industry required quite diverse marketing strategies since the factors that determined sales were different. In some cases, the factors of demand and supply had a considerable effect on the sales; in other cases, like the fashion industry, that was not the case (Gummesson 2002).
The weekend marketing trip assisted me in learning more about marketing and business. It enhanced my knowledge of marketing strategies and how they helped propel companies to top positions. The assessment conducted in groups was also a good idea since all of us had different issues to discuss. Due to the difference in personal thinking and approaches, I had an opportunity to see the marketing world in the eyes of other group members. Thus, I strongly suggest that this module maintains such group assessment activities.
The module was a great experience as it helped us put various theoretical marketing concepts to practice in the real world; this helped me clearly comprehend some strategies that were difficult to understand without real life experience. The module itself and the way it was implemented exceeded my expectations. In most courses, the principal concept is highlighted by teachers or examples from exercise books. This module, on the contrary, offered additional practical experiences and helpful activities (reports, discussions, assessments etc.). This elevated my understanding of the module and the concept behind it. I definitely prefer this learning style as it leaves a mark in the mind that will remain for a very long time.
Conclusion
The strategic management module helped me improve my employability in terms of thinking outside the box and coming up with strategies that can aid a company I will be working for in future. The knowledge acquired while doing this module was very helpful; it helped me discover my search and analytical skills as well as made me realize what a great trait innovation was. This knowledge and information will be rather essential in my future career; nevertheless, I have to further improve my skills and abilities.