Fluent Essays

For this assignment: Choose a macro topic, a sub topic, and then pick any one of the questions within that section (you can choose from either Tier 1 or Tier 2). This will be your primary research problem/topic for your class project, so please choose wisely.  This may mean conducting some preliminary research on the topic first to see what you can find. The topic has been chosen as   Research Problem (Tier 2) In the age of GDPR and the increasing importance of preserving customers’ privacy, what is the appropriate tradeoff between privacy and personalization, and what are the ethical ramifications of customer data collection and use? How will regulation/compliance affect marketing?   Next I will need you to create a research perspective and 2 research questions  Identify a research perspective, that is the hypothetical firm, client, customer, etc. you will represent and the problem or issue you will be looking to solve. Develop two (2) specific research questions from the primary topic that interest you. These more refined RQs can be specific to industries, trends, firms, brands, or mark segments. (See example attached or Exhibit 2.6 in your textbook.) Selected references should be included. Cite references you have already used (including the textbook) and any references you intend to use. Please note that the literature review will have at least six references with a minimum of four references from peer-reviewed research. Literature Review The Marketing Science Institute (MSI) is a highly-regarded organization that researches and publishes of new trends in strategic and functional marketing. Its research agenda often sets the pulse for both academic and practical research.  For your class project, you will choose one of the research areas/questions identified in the MSI report and will develop a research proposal to address research questions (RQs) refined from the MSI report from a specific research perspective. Your final proposal will include both secondary data collection through a literature review and a proposed primary data research design (you will not be conducting primary research but designing the tools for a hypothetical situation). Project Part 2: Literature Review Secondary data is critical for many marketing research projects. Conducting a literature review or review of secondary data helps in framing primary research projects, providing context for issues, informs what research had already been performed, and gives key insights into new or developing ideas and trends. For this part of the project, please complete the following and see submission guidelines below: Review any feedback received on your outline from Part 1. Complete a brief literature review to address the research questions posed in Part 1. Submission guidelines are below. Here is a sample for an idea of formatting and content. SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 THIS IS A SAMPLE/EXAMPLE ONLY TO BE USED FOR FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS Project Part 2: Literature Review: Marketing Strategy Research Tessa Rose Evans Missouri Baptist University Tessa Rose Evans Missouri Baptist University MRKT 373: Market Research Prof. Stephanie Kontrim-Baumann September 12, 2021 WORD COUNT: Should be between 1250 and 1500 words NOT counting the title page, abstract or references. The body of this paper is 1463 words to give you an idea of length. SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 2 Abstract This brief literature review involves analysis of several secondary resources including peer reviewed journals to address the research questions posed by Marketing Science Institute’s Research Priorities 2020-2021. The research questions developed investigate marketing theory. Included are broad applications of decision-making processes toward marketing strategy development and specifically addresses how marketing impacts strategic decision making through the customer value proposition, global market advancements, and supply chain management. The paper concludes with a summary and implications for future research. Keywords: marketing, strategic planning, plan implementation, competitive advantage, customer value proposition, branding, supply chain management An abstract gives a summary of your work. It does not count toward your word count. Make sure to include keywords. SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 3 Introduction The marketing orientation (MO) continues to dominate business strategy and planning, that is the focus on customer wants and needs and the relationship that firms must manage and encourage to be successful in not only today’s marketplace but also for the future firm performance (Payne et al., 2020). Marketing strategy must be an integral part of firm strategy, that is the culmination of the information, environmental scanning, internal resource allocation, and execution all of which allow managers to formulate strategy to create business model in which the organization to operate. The Marketing Science Institute (MSI) research initiatives for 2020-2022 include a category on organizing for marketing agility which propel research questions about how marketing can impact the process of strategy execution (MSI. 2020). Within this literature review, research questions are explored as a means to further identify issues that hinder marketing strategy development and execution how marketing as function, and as a strategic partner, impacts strategy development and execution. Research Question 1: How can marketing impact the process of business strategy development and execution? Strategizing the Customer Value Proposition through Brand Building While some would argue that customer value proposition (CVP) is not a new concept with origins in the early 1900s as an offer-acceptance model, it has evolved over the last century to become a fundamental concern of the firm (Payne et al., 2020). How a firm delivers value to the customer, and therefore, creates value within the firm is an organizing principle that dominates strategy development and execution and sets the course for the firm’s business model (Payne et al., 2020). At the heart of the CVP is how a company organizes its products and services to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Brand building is an effective way Use an introduction and a separate section for each research question. This example just has one research question but you will have at least two sections, one for each question. Make sure your introduction discusses how you arrived at the questions and gives a background for your specific scenario/research project. SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 to develop a competitively advantageous CVP, development chain and supply chain integration, and financial performance of the firm are all elements of strategy through the CVP (Payne et al., 2020). Pursuit of Global Markets toward Competitive Advantage Global markets represent vast potential for most firms and many firms seek internationalization as way to build competitive advantage. In 1983, Levitt wrote on the globalization of markets in which he theorized that the global marketplace for consumer goods would devolve into a homogeneity as advances in technology and decreasing transportation costs would open strategic decisions toward a unified global marketplace (Levitt, 1983). Although Levitt’s central theme of the growing homogeneity of consumer tastes and preferences has received criticism, Levitt always acknowledged multi-culturalism as a challenge and opportunity for firms in strategic and marketing planning (Levitt, 1983). The globalization phenomenon accelerated at rapid pace throughout the end of twentieth century with declining trade barriers and the fall of communism in the east leading conglomerates and small business alike to enter the global marketplace (Borchardt et al., 2018). The entrenchment of most nation states in cross- border business has never been more evident than in the marketing and supply disruptions of the external shock of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, international markets are still viable strategic choices even while multilateral institutions may face more restrictions in the near term (Levy, 2020). Strategic questions for most firms are not whether or why to pursue international markets but where, when, and how. Seeking new customers through global branding, decreasing production costs through global production and knowledge-sharing, spreading democracy through capitalism, and bettering the lesser developed world especially in emerging markets at SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) are all reasons for pursuing international strategy (Borchardt et al., 2018). Marketing can inform the strategic decision toward internalization through the aforementioned ideas of global markets. Firms which choose to enter the global space must adopt and adapt both strategies and tactics for success (Borchardt et al., 2018). Supply Chain’s Evolving Relationship with Marketing for Strategy Development There is currently a philosophical impasse over how and whether supply chain management fits into the marketing paradigm in today’s business environment (Noci, 2019). As supply chain management has evolved over the last several decades to encompass a wide- ranging organization of tasks and strategies of development, production, delivery, logistics, and services of the firm’s inputs and outputs, the marketing connection has eroded (Golgeci & Gligor, 2017). Strategic emphasis has shifted to the need to achieve cost and operational efficiencies, so the traditional idea of place in the marketing mix is in flux. Current literature suggests that marketing, though, has significant role in supply chain to aid in the strategy development and execution of that strategy, especially in the development of customer-centric theories that place value on collaborative and integrative mechanisms between marketing and supply chain (Autry, 2021; Golgeci & Gligor, 2017; Noci, 2019). In a recent article, Autry (2021) provides a historical picture of the milestones in the growing separation between supply chain management activities and marketing activities within the firm, calling into question how much latitude and oversight marketing still provides in the place element of the marketing mix. By way of definition, the marketing activities of the firm provide the means for long-term exchange for customer demand while the supply chain management activities provide the time, place and form utility “in effect, serving as the how that SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 6 underpins marketing’s what” (Autry, 2021, p. 103). The article further provides areas where marketing and supply chain can bridge the divide, by implementing customer-focused and centric strategies for supply chain and providing areas of collaboration (Autry, 2021). Specifically addressed are the areas of demand-chain forecasting and planning, supplier management, logistics and manufacturing, disruptive technologies, global societal changes, and sustainability all of which are ripe for an infusion of marketing collaboration not only to drive a more integrated strategy but for competitive advantage opportunities. In a more reflective piece, Noci (2018) ruminates on the interface between marketing and supply chain as a lack of communication and common purpose, citing the changes in the competitive landscape and customer-firm relationships as reasons to improve collaboration between the two functions. While presenting that marketing has a distinct set of functions from supply chain management, Noci (2018) states that marketing should take a pervasive, integrated role in helping supply chain management processes and strategy become more customer oriented. The rationale is that marketing impacts decisions along the supply chain in that marketing must help to reshape supply chain “in order to reconfigure the essence of competition and the value to customers” (Noci, 2018, p. 380). Another rationale for the melding of the two involves the customer journey and customer expectations of product quality and effect on brand equity (Noci, 2018). As marketing is more involved in supply chain activities, strategies toward consumer expectations can be aligned. The focus of the literature on supply chain is to aid strategy in integrating supply chain into a customer-centric model. Gligor et al. (2020) discuss rightly that the configuration of supply chain can become a competitive advantage and strategic resource by appropriate use of the triple-A framework, that is agility, adaptability, and alignment. In a study that investigated SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 7 how to best deploy the triple-A framework, a presented solution for creating competitive advantage through the framework is to develop the components simultaneously, but with a market orientation in order to maximize the return (Gligor et al., 2020). Achieving the market orientation, practically, is seen in an integration model developed by Golgeci and Gligor (2017) showing how marketing can impact strategy by identifying integrating mechanisms between the marketing functions and supply chain management. Practically, this represents the need for firms to use technology in order to share information throughout the firm and also with the firm’s strategic partners (Golgeci & Gligor, 2017). These mechanisms include organizational alignment, cross-functional awareness, holistic approach, and streamlining within the framing boundaries of innovativeness, relational capabilities, supply chain agility, and market learning capability (Golgeci & Gligor, 2017). While processes may be organizationally siloed, an integrating framework can help firm ensure that strategy is appropriately aligned and executed. Conclusion and Future Research Marketing, as both a function and strategic position, can impact strategy development and implementation in many ways. This section has discussed three specific areas of marketing impact with regard to the customer value proposition through brand building, gaining competitive advantage in the global marketplace, and supply chain management integration opportunities. All of these areas are imperative for firms to continue to meet the needs of customers and to provide value and achieve competitive advantage. Further research in this area will involve primary qualitative investigation of the research questions toward firm management. Make sure your conclusion includes additional research options. WORD COUNT: Should be between 1250 and 1500 words NOT counting the title page, abstract or references. The body of this paper is 1463 words to give you an idea of length. SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 8 References Autry, C. W. (2021). Supply chain research: considering the discipline’s evolving relationship with marketing, current issues, and future research directions. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 29(1), 101–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2020.1860684 Borchardt, M., Pereira, G., Viegas, C., Reolon, D., Xavier, Y., & Battaglia, D. (2018). Providing goods to the base of the pyramid: Opportunities for micro, small and medium-sized local producers. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 28(2), 80-89. Gligor, D., Feizabadi, J., Russo, I., Maloni, M. J., & Goldsby, T. J. (2020). The triple-a supply chain and strategic resources: developing competitive advantage. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 50(2), 159–190. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijpdlm-08-2019-0258 Golgeci, I., & Gligor, D. M. (2017). The interplay between key marketing and supply chain management capabilities: the role of integrative mechanisms. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 32(3), 472–483. https://doi.org/10.1108/jbim-05-2016-0102 Levitt, T. (1983, May). The Globalization of Markets. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-globalization-of-markets Levy, D. (2020). COVID‐19 and global governance. Journal of Management Studies, 58(2), 562–566. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12654 Noci, G. (2019). The evolving nature of the marketing–supply chain management interface in contemporary markets. Business Process Management Journal, 25(2), 379–383. https://doi.org/10.1108/bpmj-07-2018-0202 Marketing Science Institute. (2020) Research priorities 2020-2022. https://www.msi.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/06/MSI_RP20-22.pdf This is APA7 reference formatting. Please follow as closely as you can. Please link the DOIs for peer-reviewed journals as here. (The DOI is usually on the front page of the article. https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2020.1860684 https://doi.org/10.1108/ijpdlm-08-2019-0258 https://doi.org/10.1108/jbim-05-2016-0102 https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-globalization-of-markets https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12654 https://doi.org/10.1108/bpmj-07-2018-0202 https://www.msi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MSI_RP20-22.pdf https://www.msi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MSI_RP20-22.pdf SAMPLE: LITERATURE REVIEW 9 Payne, A., Frow, P., Steinhoff, L., & Eggert, A. (2020). Toward a comprehensive framework of value proposition development: From strategy to implementation. Industrial Marketing Management, 87, 244–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.02.015 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2020.02.015