Culture and Positioning as a Determinant of Strategy: Personality and the Business Organization

285 Pages·2004·1.36 MB·English

by  Tony Ellson

Culture and Positioning as
Determinants of Strategy
Personality and the Business Organization
Tony Ellson
Culture and Positioning as Determinants of Strategy
This page intentionally left blank
Culture and Positioning as
Determinants of Strategy
Personality and the Business Organization
Tony Ellson
© Tony Ellson 2004
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the
author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2004 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom
and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European
Union and other countries.
ISBN 1–4039–1751–5
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ellson, Tony, 1953–
Culture and positioning as determinants of strategy : personality and
the business organization / Tony Ellson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–1751–5 (cloth)
1. Marketing—Management. 2. Corporate culture.
3. Communication in marketing. 4. Customer relations. 5. Target
marketing. 6. Market segmentation. I. Title: Personality and the
business organization. II. Title
HF5415.13.E45 2004
658.8—dc22 2003065683
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne
Contents
List of Tables and Figures ix
Preface x
Part I Prelude
1 Context and Rationale 3
The way things are now 3
An age of advertising 5
A paradox of success and failure 7
A complicity of purpose 10
A plan of the book 12
Structure of the book 14
Part II Literature Review
2 Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning 21
Segmentation 21
Targeting 24
Positioning 26
A strategic role for positioning 30
A few thoughts about STP 33
3 Positioning 35
A strategic approach to positioning 35
Positioning and differentiation 40
The source of strategic positioning 43
Positioning as personality 50
Personality as a driver of strategic positioning 54
Further thoughts about positioning 56
4 Organizational Culture and Positioning:
the Link to Strategy 58
Organizational culture 58
Vision and mission 64
Culture and the family business 66
v
vi Contents
Change 69
The link to strategic positioning 72
Positioning as a determinant of strategy 76
Some concluding remarks 80
5 Reports from Contemporary Business 81
The source of identity in the organization 81
A sense of identity in the marketplace 82
Personality and the way forward 83
The ability to compete 86
Implications 87
Coment 89
Part III Research Design and Methodology
6 In Pursuit of the Paradigm 93
Methodological approach 93
A framework for collecting and analyzing empirical material 99
Use and selection of a case study 104
Method of application to the case study 106
Ethics and responsibilities of the qualitative approach 108
Reflexivity and representational style 110
Validity and reliability of phenomenological
research methods 111
Triangulation 13
Methodology of triangulation 116
Findings and implications 118
Part IV A Case Study
7 Parteisch International and Parteisch UK: A Tale 123
Introduction 123
In the beginning 127
First meeting with UK managers 132
Early days 135
Travels around Europe 143
An unexpected departure 146
The remnants of the Board 149
The lost Board: If you don’t know where you are
going, any road will do! 151
Sell these! 152
Contents vii
Times are changing 152
A welcome departure 154
What the customers think 155
A new way forward – or is it the old way? 156
A clear statement of the way forward 157
The new way 158
Restructure Parteisch UK 163
Some closing remarks 164
Part V A Conceptualization of Positioning
and Culture as Determinants of Strategy
8 Conceptualization of the Case Study 169
An overview of the case study 169
Positioning and strategy: some propositions 171
Manifestations of strategic positioning 176
The source of strategic positioning 179
Positioning and culture as determinants of strategy 183
Closing comment and conceptual summary 187
9 Triangulation 189
Sales perceptions of sales staff 189
Discussion about sales perceptions 195
Concluding remarks 196
Market and customer perceptions in the UK 197
Discusion 20
Concluding remarks 202
Senior manager perceptions 202
Evaluation and validation of propositions 204
Part VI Finale
10 Discussion and Conclusions 211
Summary 21
Overview 218
Positioning as personality 220
Positioning and strategy 221
Positioning and change 224
Positioning – past, present and future 225
Positioning and culture as determinants of strategy 232
Implications for marketing management 237
viii Contents
Future research 242
In a nutshell 243
References 245
Index 264
List of Tables and Figures
Table
3.1 Three value disciplines of positioning 48
Figures
1.1 Traditional process of segmentation, targeting
and positioning 4
1.2 A possible alternative to the process of segmentation,
targeting and positioning 16
7.1 Pie chart showing category of customers of Parteisch
UK in 2001 126
10.1 A possible alternative to the process of segmentation,
targeting and positioning 219
10.2 Traditional process of segmentation, targeting
and positioning 226
10.3 Principal drivers of strategic positioning 233
10.4 A strategic alternative to the process of segmentation,
targeting and positioning 235
10.5 The personality of the organization and the role
of strategic positioning 238
ix