Strategic Marketing Management: Achieving Superior Business Performance Through Intelligent Marketing Strategy

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 207 ( 2015 ) 125 – 134
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1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the International Strategic Management Conference
doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.10.161
11th International Strategic Management Conference 2015
Strategic marketing management: achieving superior business
performance through intelligent marketing strategy
Hashem Aghazadeh
Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Terhan, Iran
Abstract
In the age of drastic changes organizations need sustainable competitive advantage to cope with changes and to succeed. They can
create, sustain and use competitive advantage through strategic management. Organizations can formulate strategies that their
implementation results in sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategies seem to be an important type of these strategies.
Traditionally, according to an integrated approach which integrates resource-based view (RBV) and market-based view,
organizations could develop marketing strategies based on their internal capabilities and external position. Then they implement
these strategies to create competitive advantage through their core competencies include creating value for customers, attracting
and satisfying them. Marketing strategies play two important roles to sustain competitive advantage: (1) encourage customers to
return (according to market-based view), and (2) create distinctive competencies through making core competencies VRIO
(according to RBV). VRIO refers to Valuable, Rare, not Imitable and to be able to Organize. In today's turbulent environment,
VRIO and customer retention are necessary but not adequate to sustain competitive advantage and achieve superior performance.
Then organizations must be market/customer oriented, think and act based on innovative knowledge, make a useful and long term
relationship with their customers. This qualification is for those organizations that are able to be knowledge-based, formulate its
marketing strategies and sustain its competitive advantage based on its own knowledge. In other words its marketing strategy is
intelligent. Organizations must consider innovative knowledge as a new input to sustain competitive advantage and to develop
intelligent marketing strategy (more than internal capability and external position as existing inputs). In this paper, we are going to
contribute a new perspective to develop marketing strategy. It is sustaining competitive advantage and developing intelligent
marketing strategy (IMS) through innovative knowledge to achieve superior performance. Accordingly we have developed a
comprehensive model of Intelligent Marketing Strategy.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the International Strategic Management Conference.
Corresponding author. Tel. [phone] fax. [phone]
Email address: [e-mail]
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the International Strategic Management Conference

126 Hashem Aghazadeh / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 207 ( 2015 ) 125 – 134
Keywords: Intelligent marketing strategy (IMS), Innovative knowledge (IK), Sustainable competitive advantage (SCA), Value creation, Superior
business performance
1. Introduction
All organizations attempt to survive and achieve superior business performance in their competing markets. The
success of organizations may be attained through different ways. Some organizations think of their internal capabilities
while others account on their external position. Third group of organizations think of both their internal capabilities
and external position. Anyway, an organization can achieve superior business performance only if it can provide
products that customers will pay more for than it costs the firm to provide them. It means that the organization must
be able to create value for its customers. Value creation seems to be at the heart of any successful strategy (specially
marketing strategy). In order to create value, the organization must obtain a competitive advantage and maintain it
sustainable (Saloner et al. 2001). But how an organization can sustain its competitive advantages? VIRO framework
was the answer of this question in the 1990. In terms of VRIO, A competitive advantage of an organization will be
sustainable when it can be valuable, rare, not imitable by competitors, and manageable by organization (Barney, 1991).
In the 21 century that life and business are taking new nature and the environment of organizations is going to be more
competitive and turbulent, VRIO seems not to be adequate for sustaining the competitive advantage of organizations.
In the new era that product, technology and even organization life cycle is going to be shorter and shorter, there is a
serious need to create and disseminate the innovative knowledge of anything related to organizational success. In
knowledge-based economy it is only creativity and innovation that makes and maintains an organization competitive,
whereas competitiveness is the mystery of survive and success (Sharkie, 2003; López Salvador Vivas, 2005; Tomaz
Cater, 2003).
Intelligent marketing strategy (IMS) is a source of think-tank or pool of creativity, innovation and knowledge
creation. IMS can play mutual important role for organizational success. In one hand it can provide requirements of
sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and in the other hand it can result in superior business performance using
SCA through marketing assets. Applying marketing assets (informational and relational), IMS creates value for
customers and satisfy them. As a consequence, satisfied customers return to the organization and bring it prosperity
(Tomaz Cater, 2003). This paper is structured as follows: Antecedents of IMS (including competitive advantage and
SCA), IMS (formulation and implementation), consequences of IMS (value creation and business performance), and
conclusion (model of IMS) as a contribution of paper.
2. Antecedents of Intelligent Marketing Strategy (IMS)
2.1. Competitive advantage
Competitive advantage is a factor or combination of factors that make an organization more successful than other
organizations in a competitive environment and cannot be easily emulated by its competitors (Feurer and Chaharbaghi,
1995; Lin and Chen, 2008). Strategy (specially marketing strategy) is related to competitive advantage mutually. In
one hand competitive advantage is a base or an essence for formulating strategy, in the other hand, formulating strategy
is to create and sustain competitive advantage in the line of organizational objectives (Fahy and Smithee, 1999; Harris
and Ogbonna, 2001; López Salvador Vivas, 2005; Tomaz Cater, 2003; Teece et al. 1997; Peteraf, 1993; Hunt and
Morgan, 1995; Woodruff, 1997). In the strategy and competitive advantage literature two main perspectives have been
suggested: marketing or market-based perspective and resource-based view of the firm (RBV) or competence-based
perspective (Prahald and Hamel, 1990; Barny, 1991; Juttner and Wehrli, 1994; Fahy and Smithee, 1999; Liu et al.,
2001; Siruastaua et al., 2001; Hax and Wilde, 2002; Harmsen and Jensen, 2003; Hooley et al., 2003; Weerawardena
and O’cass, 2003; Barney, 1991; Bharadwaj et al. 1993; Williams, 1992; Wernerfelt, 1984).
In order to achieve competitive advantage, an organization must consider its external position, based on marketing
perspective (porter, 1980), while according to RBV, internal capabilities must be addressed (Barney, 1991). In a recent
(third) perspective it is suggested not to consider sources of competitive advantage separately. According to this new
perspective an organization must think of itself (internal Capabilities) and its market (external position) interactively

127Hashem Aghazadeh / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 207 ( 2015 ) 125 – 134
as sources of achieving competitive advantage and/or formulating marketing strategy (Sirvastava et al., 2001; Hax
and Wiled, 2001; Juttner and Wehrli, 1994; Hooley et al., 2003). In the line of this new perspective, it would be useful
if we merge RBV and marketing perspectives (Sirvastava et al., 2001; Juttner and Wehrli, 1994). Marketing
capabilities seems to be a concept that can make this interaction and include both internal and external attributes,
simultaneously (Hooley et al., 2003; Sirvastava et al., 2001; Harris and Ogbonna, 2001; Tomaz Cater, 2003; Barney,
2010; Calof and Wright, 2008; Lin and Chen, 2008; Vorhies and Morgan, 2005).
Marketing capability - as its name shows - integrates environment, market or outside of an organization (external
factors: opportunities and threats) with its inside (internal factors: strengths and weaknesses). As figure (1) shows,
marketing capability is an important source of competitive advantage and itself is outcome of internal capabilities and
external position interaction. It is in the very nature of competition that rivals try to duplicate or eliminate a firm’s
competitive advantage (saloner et al., 2001, 48). Then an organization must attempt to maintain its competitive
advantage for long enough and prevent it from imitation, duplication or elimination by competitors. In other words it
must be sustained (Barney, 1991; Fahy and Smithee, 1999; Sirvastava et al., 2001; Sharkie, 2003; Weerawardena and
O’cass, 2003; Harris and Ogbonna, 2001; López Salvador Vivas, 2005; Barney, 1991; Bharadwaj et al. 1993;
Williams, 1992; Wernerfelt, 1984).
Fig. 1. Sources of competitive advantage: Interaction of internal capabilities and external position.
Therefore and organization’s efforts must be focused on acquiring sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) and
formulating a marketing strategy based on SCA which leads to superior performance.
2.2. Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA)
Achieving SCA allows the organization to obtain superior performance (Fahy and Smithee, 1999; McNaughton et
al., 2002; Liu et al., 2003; Li and Tsai, 2009). Now, one important question is that how an organization can sustain a
competitive advantage? Both marketing perspective and RBV, focus on SCA as a core and main source of
organizational success. In terms of SCA, both perspectives emphasis leveraging resources to create and sustain value
for the organization’s stakeholders particularly customers (Sirvastava et al., 2001; Teece et al. 1997; Peteraf, 1993;
Hunt and Morgan, 1995; Woodruff, 1997). According to RBV, a competitive advantage of on organization is
sustainable when it is valuable, rare, not imitable for competitors and manageable for organization. Barney (1992) has
called these criteria «VRIO framework» which includes: Value, Rareness, Imitation and Organization. VRIO
framework seems not to be adequate for maintaining sustainability of competitive advantage in today’s uncertain and
competitive environment, whereas organizations’ success depends on the speed at which they can capture, generate
and disseminate innovative knowledge and then use this knowledge to develop capabilities that cannot be easily copied
by rivals. This ability to create innovative knowledge and continue to learn from it can sustain competitive advantage
in a turbulent environment. It must be noted that innovative knowledge developed today will become the core
knowledge of tomorrow (Sharkie, 2003; Li and Tsai, 2009; López Salvador Vivas, 2005; Tomaz Cater, 2003; Barney,
2010; Calof and Wright, 2008; Lin and Chen, 2008; Vorhies and Morgan, 2005).
In a very competitive environment, to sustain their competitive advantage and to formulate their best marketing
strategy organizations need some new sources and criteria more than VRIO. These new requirements include: focus
on quality and speed, orientation to market and customer, consideration of competitors, high degree creativity and
Internal capabilities
External position
Competitive advantage
Marketing capabilities