Successful Marketing Strategy for High-Tech Firms (Artech House Professional Development Library) (Artech House Technology Management and Professional Developm) [Hardcover]

Eric Viardot (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0890068542 | ISBN-13: 978-0890068540 | Publication Date: July 31, 1998 | Edition: 2

From analyzing competition and identifying market segments, to capitalizing on Internet marketing opportunities and creating valuable after-sale services, this practical new book helps you understand and apply marketing principles that are essential for success in designing high-tech product marketing strategies in today's fiercely competitive international marketplace.

Packed with contemporary real-world examples and focusing on the key success factors behind the management of leading global high-tech firms, the book helps both novice and veteran marketing professionals focus on the critical factors that can determine success or failure for high-tech products. You learn how to objectively evaluate and manage your company's technological and knowledge-based competencies, develop effective product and pricing strategies, more precisely target your marketing efforts, and utilize the very latest distribution and sales channels. Also included is an insightful look at the most effective positioning of the marketing department within the organization, and a step-by-step guide to writing a strategic marketing plan.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Eric Viardot, Ph.D., is professor of marketing and management strategy at Group CERAM, France.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Artech Print on Demand; 2 edition (July 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890068542
• ISBN-13: 978-0890068540
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,925,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Every Penny...and Then a Great Deal More, January 4, 2005

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Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Successful Marketing Strategies for High-Tech Firms (Artech House Technology Management and Professional Developm) (Hardcover)

This is the third edition of a book which has developed what could be called a cult following (especially in Europe) among senior-level executives in high-tech organizations. I think it will also be of substantial interest and value to others who are directly associated with those executives. Viardot carefully organizes his material within these ten chapters:

The Meaning of Marketing for High-Tech Firms
Corporate and Marketing Strategies in the High-Tech Industry
Knowing Customers and Markets
Understanding Competitors
Selecting Markets
Product Strategy
Distributing and Selling High-Tech Products
Communication Strategy for High-Tech Products
Pricing High-Tech Products
The Position of Marketing Within High-Tech Companies

I have included the chapter titles so as to indicate both how the material is organized and to suggest that what Viardot provides is a cohesive and comprehensive program, one which offers all manner of strategies by which an organization can avoid joining "a cemetery full of companies that [incorrectly] thought they could win the world with their innovations." Why did they fail? Because they did not have "the marketing ability to connect their innovative offer with the actual needs of the markets." Viardot cites several "famous failures" of high-tech firms which include EMI, the R&D division of Xerox, and AMD. Why have other companies succeeded? Because they have tended to market two or three times as many new products as their competitors while incorporating two to three times more technical innovations into each new product, thereby bringing actual value to their customers. "Also, they introduce their products to the market two times faster than their competitors thanks to operational excellence [which Viardot discusses in Chapter 6], one of the main weaknesses of so many dot-coms that underestimated the importance of manufacturing and logistics." For these companies, marketing is their main objective: the ultimate key to their success and resilience is their ability to "determine the needs of the [given] market and to assure that the products manufactured by [them] correspond precisely to these needs with a competitive advantage and at a profit." According to Viardot, companies which demonstrate these attributes include Nokia, IBM, Cisco Systems, Samsung, SAP, Yahoo, Vodaphone, Amazon, and eBay.

Thoughtfully, Viardot provides a Summary at the end of each of the ten chapters and then two appendices after the final chapter: "[Seven] Key Success Factors of a Marketing Department in a High-Tech Company" and "The Marketing Plan" which includes a "SWOT Analysis" by which to identify the Strengths and Weaknesses of current marketing strategies, Opportunities and Threats, and issues which must therefore be addressed. According to Viardot, successful high-tech firms must first deliberately define the place of their marketing structure within their entire organization, then design (or redesign) the internal organization of their marketing structure with the utmost attention and care, and finally, optimize the cooperation of the marketing structure with all other departments. Hence the importance of effective internal communication, productive collaboration, and sufficient resources. At all times, senior management must support these initiatives "wholeheartedly."

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Marketing As Strategy: Understanding the CEO's Agenda for Driving Growth and Innovation in which, as Philip Kotler notes in the Foreword, Nirmalya Kumar "introduces a framework for analyzing and planning marketing strategy in terms of the three Vs: valued customer, value proposition, and value network...[he also] proposes ways to deal with growing commoditization, price pressure, and the increasing market power of global mega-retailers...[as he strives] to show how the marketing discipline 'could become more strategic, cross-functional, and bottom-line oriented' than ever before." As will Viardot's, Kumar's book will be of substantial value to all organizations (regardless of their size and nature) which are in urgent need of driving their growth and innovation. I also highly recommend Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton's The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction to the Special Challenges of High Tech, March 18, 2005

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Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Successful Marketing Strategies for High-Tech Firms (Artech House Technology Management and Professional Developm) (Hardcover)

When marketers transfer into high-tech businesses for the first time, they often ask me what book I recommend to help them understand the special issues they face. Such executives would be well advised to acquire, read and understand the many valuable lessons in this book. There is no major theme related to high-tech marketing that is not explored in this book. For those who would like to know more, each chapter references the top sources for these issues.

The book is well organized, each segment is easy to read and understand, and all of the chapters have helpful summaries at the end to help you absorb what you have just studied.

The book will not, however, be of as much value to those who have worked in the industry for at least five years. These executives will have absorbed most of the book's lessons on their own. For that reason, I suggest that this book will be of most value to those who are new to high-tech marketing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for everyone new to technology marketing, September 2, 2007

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Phillip Schwarzmann "Stand-up comic. Writer. ... (Helsinki, Finland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Successful Marketing Strategies for High-Tech Firms (Artech House Technology Management and Professional Developm) (Hardcover)

A complete and well-written guide to technology marketing strategy. If you're new to technology marketing, or maybe you've only concentrated on one aspect of it, this book will be your bible. Lots of case studies and very easy to read. Highly recommended.