3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Strategic Marketing - the only way..., July 23, 2006
This review is from: Creating Value, Second Edition: Successful Business Strategies (Paperback)
I have had the privilege of having Shiv Mathur as my professor of Strategy during my MBA at CASS Business Schools. Actually we have been an small number of privileged students who had this privilege over the years...
The standing joke from new minted MBAs to freshmen like me was "How, well, and Shiv is also writing his book". He had been for the best of 20 years... So we were all surprised when it eventually happened. Not because of its content - we knew better. But simply because Shiv actually thought one day that he had thought enough about the whole strategy field to actually finish it and share these thoughts with the rest of the world...
One of the first marketing and strategy thought leaders to argue that cinemas where competing with restaurants as well as cafes [8-10pm slot], he also broke most of the marketing worlds' rule, pushing all of us to think not in terms of processes [4/5Ps], but in terms of pure strategy. In direct line with Porter and Omae, his thoughts are unique and totally about strategic positioning offerings [as they contain a service as well as a product elements] so that they are perceived as valuable in the eyes of an organisation's customers...
But the beauty of this book is not just that... It is also linking inputs to outputs, arguing effortlessly that any organisation is only the custodian of its assets, which it should forever look at divesting should a better owner be identified... In other words, thanks to Alfred Kenyon's rigorous financial input, linking marketing strategy to financial stewardship... Marketing becoming an extension of the financial rigour expected from any manager these days, as opposed to being a self centred void shell based upon loose and unleashed creativity of sorts... What a novel idea!
The bottom line? Almost all of us who understood and followed Shiv's teachings and spirit have been unordinary successful in whichever field we decided to evolve in. And all of us grateful for his unique contribution. In today's hyper competitive world, our own competitive advantage has been Shiv's teaching. So, according to Shiv's own thinking, I/we should be protecting jealously that know how in order to generate inordinate profits, above and beyond the cost of capital. Yet, that would be a shame: Shiv's gave me so much that I feel it is time to give back... So, buy the book, read it many times, grasp the theory, apply it daily and you will beat your competitors hands down...
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fresh approach to strategy - especially relevant for b2b, April 7, 2006
This review is from: Creating Value, Second Edition: Successful Business Strategies (Paperback)
I have a 20-year-old article in my files. It's by Shiv Mathur and I originally found it in McKinsey Quarterly. Since then, I have wondered why this bright thinker did not publish more on strategy.
Well, now I have found the extended version in this 2001-book.
Beware! There are very many books on strategy and management out there, but not very many that are really insightful. My suggestion is that you pick this one next time ... especially if you work in b2b or industrial markets.
The real reason why I kept the original article is his work on differentiation, which is elaborated in chapter 5. Mathur and his co-author Kenyon outline 4 different ways of positioning a competitive strategy.
In a deceptively simple 4-square matrix they present four situations and their related strategies. The two dimensions are merchandise and support. Those features that customers see as differentiating how the seller helps them choosing, obtaining and then using the offering, constitute SUPPORT differentiation. All other features are MERCHANDISE differentiation. I my old article, I think Mathur used the terms hardware vs. software. Other authors sometimes use the dimensions of physical vs. non-physical attributes when the core element is a physical good.
An example: An automobile's merchandise features could include colour, shape, size, performance characteristics. Its support dimensions could include the test drive, instruction book, delivery service, servicing arrangements and service agent network.
If an offering is bought with little attention of differences in any of the dimensions, it is a COMMODITY-BUY. If the offering is highly differentiated in both dimensions, it is a SYSTEM-BUY. If high in support, but not in merchandise, it's a SERVICE-BUY, and in the reverse case a PRODUCT-BUY.
If you have read the strategy books by Michael Porter and Treacy/Wiersema, then you will find a clear connection between these findings. A commodity-buy is the obvious choice for the Porter's cost leader and Treacy/Wiersema's operational excellent strategy. A product-buy looks a lot like the original meaning of Porter's differentiation strategy and Treacy/Wiersema's product leader strategy. Service-buy is Treacy/Wiersema's Customer Intimacy strategy. System-buy is a new dimension that clearly suggests that there are four different generic strategies. Not only three.
Mathur manages in this book to explode the original four strategies to 16 different strategies by subdividing each of the four. This section includes very practical insights for the skilled reader.
This book is also readable because it doesn't just repeat old strategy thinking, but manages to both add to current state-of-the-art thinking and also criticize old thinking. One example is Porter's ubiquitous Five Forces industry analysis. The authors argue that it is very seldom this analysis - presented in most strategy books - provides really valuable lessons by analysing an industry. We need to dig much deeper. All the way down to the "offering". Otherwise the conclusions may become too general. Having spent 15 years with business strategy, I must say that I have experienced the same problem over and over again. After having done the Five Forces industry analysis, we quickly realize that if we did not get much closer to the "offering", the effort would have been wasted. Interesting work of course, but wasted...
Interestingly, Mathur's framework is very close in their insight to the Swedish network theorists (focusing on industrial relationships and network) that today are integrated into the European Industrial Marketing and Purchasing group of researchers. Unfortunately this IMP group is not very good at gaining access to a broader audience. But Mathur's book is a great substitute to some of their findings ...
Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business
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