Low cost competitors, who offer “good enough” products and services at very attractive prices, are currently significantly impacting the businesses of many leading companies, and some are starting to “move up” to challenge the traditional companies in their core markets. It’s only a matter of time before most companies will feel the pressure from these aggressive, cut-price competitors. Beating Low Cost Competition offers a step–by–step structured approach to help executives in traditional companies with premium brands think through the options for responding to their low cost rivals and select the most appropriate strategy to win in their chosen markets. By examining a wide-ranging group of companies from around the world, Adrian Ryans provides numerous examples of how different companies in different industries have responded to low cost competitors and analyses the effectiveness of their strategies. He also discusses the leadership and cultural challenges that many companies are facing as they take steps to respond to their low cost rivals. Ultimately, the insights gained from this book will lead to better and more profitable business decisions. Adrian Ryans is Professor of Marketing and Strategy at IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland. He has designed and taught on executive programs for organizations in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, including GE, Bank of Montreal, Medtronic, Deloitte, Borealis, Saurer, Vestas, IBM, Boeing, National Semiconductor, BioWare, ASML, Holcim, Varian, Hoechst, Amgen, Fluke, LSI Logic, Hutchison Port Holdings and Qualcomm. He has also acted as a consultant for a number of leading global corporations.

This book identifies and addresses the seven transformation journeys that are reshaping corporations today. It integrates and builds on the collective experience and learning of IMD’s professors, who work directly with many organizations around the world and observe their transformation struggles at close range. By taking a holistic and interdisciplinary view of how organizations are transforming themselves, IMD’s faculty accompany global executives - as individuals and as leaders of global corporations - on their transformation journeys.

Strategic Marketing Management: Theory and Practice offers a systematic overview of the fundamentals of marketing theory, defines the key principles of marketing management, and presents a value-based framework for developing viable market offerings. The theory presented stems from the view of marketing as a value-creation process that is central to any business enterprise. The discussion of marketing theory is complemented by a set of practical tools that enable managers to apply the knowledge contained in the generalized frameworks to specific business problems and market opportunities. The information on marketing theory and practice contained in this book is organized into eight major parts. The first part defines the essence of marketing as a business discipline and outlines an overarching framework for marketing management that serves as the organizing principle for the information presented in the rest of the book. Specifically, we discuss the role of marketing management as a value-creation process, the essentials of marketing strategy and tactics as the key components of a company’s business model, and the process of developing an actionable marketing plan. Part Two focuses on understanding the market in which a company operates. Specifically, we examine how consumers make choices and outline the main steps in the customer decision journey that lead to the purchase of a company’s offerings. We further discuss the ways in which companies conduct market research to gather market insights in order to make informed decisions and develop viable courses of action. Part Three covers issues pertaining to the development of a marketing strategy that will guide the company’s tactical activities. Here we focus on three fundamental aspects of a company’s marketing strategy: the identification of target customers, the development of a customer value proposition, and the development of a value proposition for the company and its collaborators. The discussion of the strategic aspects of marketing management includes an in-depth analysis of the key principles of creating market value in a competitive context. The next three parts of the book focus on the marketing tactics, viewed as a process of designing, communicating, and delivering value. Part Four describes how companies design their offerings and, specifically, how they develop key aspects of their products, services, brands, prices, and incentives. In Part Five, we address the ways in which companies manage their marketing communication and the role of personal selling as a means of persuading customers to choose, purchase, and use a company’s offerings. Part Six explores the role of distribution channels in delivering the company’s offerings to target customers by examining the value-delivery process both from a manufacturer’s and a retailer’s point of view. The seventh part of the book focuses on the ways in which companies manage growth. Specifically, we discuss strategies used by companies to gain and defend market position and, in this context, address the issues of pioneering advantage, managing sales growth, and managing product lines. We further address the process of developing new market offerings and the ways in which companies manage the relationship with their customers. The final part of this book presents a set of tools that illustrate the practical application of marketing theory. Specifically, Part Eight delineates two workbooks: a workbook for segmenting the market and identifying target customers and a workbook for developing the strategic and tactical components of a company’s business model. This part also contains examples of two marketing plans—one dealing with the launch of a new offering and the other focused on managing an existing offering.

Strategic Management for Tourism, Hospitality and Events is the must-have text for students approaching this subject for the first time. It introduces students to fundamental strategic management principles in a Tourism, Hospitality and Events context and brings theory to life by integrating a host of industry-based case studies and examples throughout. Among the new features and topics included in this edition are: Extended coverage to Hospitality and Events to reflect the increasing need and importance of a combined sector approach to strategy New international Tourism, Hospitality and Events case studies from both SME’s and large-scale businesses are integrated throughout to show applications of strategic management theory, such as objectives, products and markets and strategic implementation. Longer combined sector case studies are also included at the end of the book for seminar work. New content on emerging strategic issues affecting the tourism ,hospitality and events industries, such as innovation, employment, culture and sustainability Web Support for tutors and students providing explanation and guidelines for instructors on how to use the textbook and case studies, additional exercises, case studies and video links for students. This book is written in an accessible and engaging style and structured logically with useful features throughout to aid students’ learning and understanding. This book is an essential resource to Tourism, Hospitality and Events students.

Written by experts on global marketing, Contemporary Brand Management focuses on the essentials of Brand Management in today’s global marketplace. The text succinctly covers a natural sequence of branding topics, from the building of a new brand, to brand extension and the creation of a global brand, to the management of a firm’s brand portfolio. The authors uniquely explore global branding as a natural expansion strategy across markets and offer numerous international brands as examples throughout. Designed for shorter strategic branding courses (half-term or 6 weeks in length), this text is the ideal companion for upper-level, graduate, or executive-level students seeking a practical knowledge of brand management concepts and applications.

Pricing and the Sales Force is the first book to link pricing strategy and the sales force together. Pricing strategy is now well established as an important means of driving profits for many organizations. Countless companies are now mastering price-setting. But what about "price-getting" – converting those list prices into the realized sales, and as a result, greater profitability? This is the domain of the sales force. A selection of the world’s leading specialists explore different aspects of sales force and pricing strategy integration: introduction: overview on the state of the art; building key capabilities: best practices for building sales force capabilities in pricing and value quantification; engaging the sales force: driving organizational change processes with the sales force; designing effective selling processes: designing and implementing processes that enable superior performance, and; aligning sales force incentives and building the infrastructure: insights into how to align sales force incentive schemes; tools and instruments to enable the sales force to perform. The third in Hinterhuber and Liozu’s successful pricing series, this book is essential reading for pricing strategy and sales scholars and practitioners.