Page 63 - Foundations of Marketing

30 Part 1 | Strategic Marketing and Its Environment

Figure 2.2 Levels of Strategic Planning

Mission statement

Corporate strategy

Business-unit strategy

Marketing strategy

Marketing mix elements
• Product
• Distribution
• Promotion
• Pricing

From Pride/Ferrell, Marketing 2014, 17E. © 2014 Cengage Learning.

with the organization’s overall mission in mind. Business-unit strategy should be consis-
tent with the corporate strategy while also serving the unit’s needs. Marketing strategy uti-
lizes the marketing mix to develop a message that is consistent with the business-unit and
corporate strategies.

Corporate Strategies
Corporate strategy determines the means for utilizing resources in the functional areas of
marketing, production, finance, research and development, and human resources to achieve
the organization’s goals. A corporate strategy outlines the scope of the business and such con-
siderations as resource deployment, competitive advantages, and overall coordination of func-
tional areas. Top management’s level of marketing expertise and ability to deploy resources
to address the company’s markets can affect sales growth and profitability. Corporate strat-
egy addresses the two questions posed in the organization’s mission statement: Who are our
customers ? and What is our core competency ? The term corporate does not apply solely to
corporations. In this context, it refers to the top-level (i.e., highest) strategy and is used by all
organizations of all sizes.
Corporate strategy planners are concerned with broad issues such as corporate culture,
corporate strategy A strategy
that determines the means competition, differentiation, diversification, interrelationships among business units, and
for utilizing resources in the environmental and social issues. They attempt to match the resources of the organization
various functional areas to with the opportunities and threats in the environment. KiOR, for example, is a biofuels
reach the organization’s goals company whose corporate strategy planners identified a demand for ecofriendly fuels and

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