MBA 725 – Reflections on Module 4 Concepts

How would you go about communicating your desire for a strategic alliance to another organization? What would you have to do to persuade them to strategically align with your organization?

When looking back over my learnings so far in the MBA process, social capital comes to mind. By developing strong social capital with the planned alliance partner, it will be easier to open a dialogue to pursue the alliance. It will be important to convey the idea of a win-win situation by entering into the alliance. The potential partners will also need to agree on the stipulations for performance and create contracts to codify these stipulations.

How is technology impacting marketing channel operations? How does a leader keep well-informed of what is happening in the marketing channels that may have a direct impact on the business activities?

Technology continues to evolve at a unbelievably rapid rate. Information is literally available in the blink of an eye (or the click of a mouse). Marketing methods that worked in the past are not always as successful today. Television commercials have been overtaken by digital video recorders that allow bypassing the commercials. Companies have begun using more blatant “product placement” in movies/TV shows in order to combat this potential loss of an advertising stream. With the world of blogs (just like you are reading now!) “word-of-mouth” advertising goes a lot farther than just your neighbors. Consumers do a lot more research today before buying items, particularly big-ticket items. The internet has become a consumer tool and companies need to be highly aware of the power this tool carries.

A leader needs to stay current. Technology changes so rapidly that it is important for a leader to stay on top of what is happening. It may even pay dividends for the leader to build a team that focuses on forecasting what the next technology of advertising will be.

Integrated Marketing Communications (ICM) systems are typically designed for external audiences. As an effective leader, why would it be important for you to establish an IMC internally within your organization?

If the plan is to be integrated, your internal organization needs to be just as aware of the plan as the external organization. Developing an IMC internally will allow your team to be on the same page and have a guide to keep everything integrated. An internal IMC will pull together marketing, sales, operations, and other departments so that everyone is aware of the marketing plans for the organization.

June 10, 2007 | Filed Under MBA 725 

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