Marketing audit, SWOT
matrix, TOWS matrix

Customer Orientation
NO YES
Competitor
Orientation
NO Product
orientation
Customer
orientation
YES Competitor
orientation
Market
orientation
Customer and Competitor Orientations

Product
• product management
• new product development
• branding
Price
• pricing
• discount structures
• terms of business
Place/distribution
• channel management
• customer service
• physical distribution
Promotion
• advertising
• sales promotion
• public relations
• personal selling
• merchandising
• sponsorship
People
• employee selection
• employee training
• employee motivation
Physical evidence
• layout
• decor
• ease of access
Process management
• how customers are handled and
managed from the point of very
first contact with the organization
through to the point of very last
contact
7 Ps of Marketing Mix

Stage one
Where are we now?
(beginning)
Stage two
Where do we want to be?
(ends)
Stage three
How might we get there?
(means)
Stage four
Which way is best?
(evaluation)
Stage five
How can we ensure arrival?
(implementation & control)
Analysis phase
Planning phase
Implementation phase
Evaluation phase
SMM PROCESS

OPERATIONS
SMM
MM
SMM vs. MM
Strategic
level
Tactical
level
Operational level

The
Management
audit
Finance
audit
HR audit
Production
audit
EXTERNAL (Opportunities and threats)
INTERNAL (Strengths and weaknesses)
Past performance and present activities
Marketing Audit

# Stage Description
1 Pre-audit activities defining the scope of marketing audit
2 The assembly of
information
on the areas which affect the
organization’s marketing performance
– industry, market, firm, and elements
of marketing mix
3 Information analysis
4 The formulation of recommendations
5 The development of an implementation program
5 Stages of Marketing Audit

SWOT: a summary
STRENGTHS : Areas of (distinctive) competence that:
 Must always be looked at relative to the competition
 If managed properly, are the basis for competitive advantage
 Derive from the marketing asset base
WEAKNESSES : Areas of relative disadvantage that:
 Indicate priorities for marketing improvement
 Highlight the areas and strategies that the planner should avoid
THREATS : Trends within the environment with potentially negative impacts that:
 Increase the risks of a strategy
 Hinder the implementation of strategy
 Increase the resources required
 Reduce performance expectations
OPPORTUNITIES : Environmental trends with positive outcomes that offer scope
for higher levels of performance if pursued effectively:
 Highlight new areas for competitive advantage

avail
ignore
evaluate
evaluate

must avoid
monitor
monitor ignore

 In essence, four possibilities exist:
# Business Possibility Opportunities Threats
1 Ideal Many Few
2 Speculative Many Many
3 Mature Few Few
4 Troubled Few Many

1 Organizational advantages
• Economies of scope and /or scale
• Flexibility
• Competitive stance
• Size
• Speed of response
• Past performance
• Financial strengths
• Patterns of ownership
• Reputation
2 Functional advantages
Marketing
• Customer base
• Customer knowledge
• New product skills
• Pricing
• Communication and advertising
• Distribution
• Sales force
• Service support
• Reputation
Research and development
• Product technology
• Patents
Production
• Technology
• Process efficiency
• Economies of scale
• Experience
• Product quality
• Manufacturing flexibility
Personnel
• Good management–worker relations
• Workforce flexibility
3 External relations
• Customer loyalty
• Channel control
• Preferential political and legislative treatment
• Government assistance
• Beneficial tariff and non-tariff trade barriers
• Cartels
• Intra-organizational relationships
• Access to preferential and flexible financial
resources

6 Types of Capabilities
1 Managerial capability
2 Financial capability
3 Operational capability
4 Distribution capability
(geographic coverage and penetration)
5 Human capability
(knowledge, skills, and experience)
6 Intangible capability
(brands, customer loyalty)

SETTING PRIORTIES

Low importance,
high performance
Average importance,
good performance
Average importance,
average performance
High importance,
low performance

SWOT Analysis
Internal Environment
Positive
S W Negative
O T
External Environment

TOWS Analysis
Internal Environment
S W
External
Environment
O
SO WO
T
ST WT

SWOT and TOWS analysis for Daimler-Benz’s Mercedes-Benz car
division 1990
Notes:
Daimler-Chrysler
Daimler-Benz
Daimler AG
Commonly known as Mercedes
Also manufactured series of engines for air crafts, tanks,
and submarines during world war II
EC 1992 = European Commission
(European market project 1992)

S W
1 Cash position
2 Luxury car image
3 New car models
4 Location close to suppliers
5 Engineering and technology
1 High costs
2 Venturing into unrelated businesses
3 Organizational diversity
4 Reliance on past successes and
bureaucracy
5 Long cycle for new model
development
6 Relatively weak position in Japan
1 Demand for luxury cars
2 Eastern Europe, especially East
Germany
3 Prosperity through EC 1992
4 Electronics technology
1 Decrease in defense needs
because of easing of East–West
tensions
2 BMW, Volvo, Jaguar, Lexus, Infinity
in Europe
3 BMW in Japan
4 Diesel emissions
5 Renault/Volvo cooperation
6 Political instability in South Africa
O T

S W
O
S-O strategy
1 Develop new models (using
high-tech) and charge
premium prices
2 Use financial resources to
acquire other companies or
increased production capacity
W-O strategy
1 Reduce costs through
automation and flexible
manufacturing
2 Manufacture parts in Eastern
Europe
3 Reorganizations
4 Daimler-Benz management
holding companies
T
S-T strategy
1 Transform defense sector to
consumer sector
2 Develop new models to
compete especially in Europe
W-T strategy
1 Retrench in South Africa
2 Form strategic alliance with
Mitsubishi to penetrate the
Japanese market
TOWS Matrix

Davidson’s Model of Asset and Competency-based Marketing (ACM)
any business consists only of :
assets competencies
things that the
organization owns, and
typically include brands,
property, databases,
machinery and cash
Skills or capabilities
created by staff both
individually and in groups,
and might include brand
development, database
management, cost
management or
investment strategy
Strengths
Future Opportunities
Competencies
Assets