Second entry of the mini series of posts in which we have as protagonists the different levels of strategic development. On this occasion (part 2) we will look at the so-called commercial strategy.
This is the set of actions that are planned, developed and executed to achieve the sales objectives of the organization. Therefore, it must be very well defined what will be done and how it will be done to achieve the goals in a specific market with a specific product or service and in a specific time frame.
Levels of strategic development: Business strategy
The focus areas for these types of strategies are:
Core competencies
These are those elements of a business that differentiate it in the marketplace and provide value to customers.
Customers
Who are the customers? What products or services do customers need? How can the company satisfy customer needs?
In general, there are five common strategies that organizations can use to foster competitive advantage, which are:
Cost leadership
This is offering a product or service at a lower price than the competition. Business units can reduce costs by building better facilities, investing in tools or reducing the cost of overhead, minimizing R&D costs, etc.
Differentiation
They emphasize developing and marketing products or services in ways that bring greater value to customers.
Focused low cost
Companies may choose to further focus their efforts by targeting only a subset of the market.
Focused differentiation
In addition, companies can choose to differentiate themselves from their competitors while focusing their efforts on a smaller subset of their customer base.
Integrated low-cost differentiation
For some companies, the optimal approach may be a hybrid strategy, emphasizing both low cost and differentiation.
In the next post we will look at the last type of strategies, namely functional strategies.
Photo credit: IO
