The Churchill & Lewis Growth Stage Model is a useful framework that helps analyse what particular stage of growth a small firm is at, and the issues and problems that they need to be aware of - now as well as in the future as the business grows. The … [Continue reading] about Churchill & Lewis Growth Stage Model
The Belbin Team Roles theory suggests how to select the right mix of people for a team that will help the team succeed. Every person has unique strengths and behaviour that can facilitate the progress of a team. Belbin's theory identify behavioural … [Continue reading] about Belbin’s Team Role Theory
Tuckman Model: Theory to understand the stages of team formation. This model reveals how teams transform as they go from the initial formation towards the completion of the project. You need a team to do take on bigger things and accomplish things … [Continue reading] about Tuckman’s theory: Various Stages of Group Development
The 7 O’s framework of consumer research helps marketing managers understand more about the consumers in the target market. The 7 Os stand for Occupants, Objects, Objectives, Organizations, Operations, Occasions, Outlets. Here's what they … [Continue reading] about 7 O’s framework of consumer research
Theories of Motivation: Understand how motivation is used to lead and manage people in organizations. What is Motivation Motivation is basically the intention or reason for an individual's activities and desires. It stimulates a person to do things … [Continue reading] about Theories of Motivation: Leading and managing people in organizations
Strategies for different functions of management are known as functional level strategy. Functional Level Strategy is concerned with operational level decision making, called tactical decisions, for various functional areas such as: … [Continue reading] about Functional Level Strategies
Organizational anthropologist Geert Hofstede is well known for his research studies on social values that suggest that cultures of different nations can be compared in terms of five dimensions. Developed by Geert Hofstede (1984), the cultural … [Continue reading] about Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory
McDonald's Internal External Factors, SWOT, Porter's 5 Forces, Strategy, Marketing Mix. About McDonald’s McDonald’s is a fast food chain which originated in America, and was founded by the McDonald brothers Richard and Maurice in California. On a … [Continue reading] about McDonald’s: Internal External Factors, Marketing, Competition, Strategy
Ethics in marketing promotes transparency, honesty, fairness in marketing. Marketing ethics is what guide companies to do "the right thing" - be it implementing acceptable practices, dealing fairly with customers, complying with law, or be it caring … [Continue reading] about Marketing Ethics: Various Concepts
Consumer Culture are the ideas, beliefs, and practices related to consumption of goods and services. Usually, marketing strategies tend to shape consumer culture. Understanding consumer culture (for example: Focus on sustainability in consumer … [Continue reading] about Understanding Consumer Culture: Theory and Definition
The triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability framework suggests that businesses today should strive to improve in three key areas: making profits, and caring for the people as well as the planet. The term Triple bottom line (TBL) was coined by John … [Continue reading] about Triple bottom line (TBL)
Crisis theory in management refers to the various plans (course of action) that firms could take when they are faced with a crisis. Crisis refer to the occurrence of sudden, unplanned events that cause major disruptions to the working of a company … [Continue reading] about Theories in Crisis Management
Best Entrepreneurship: Books, Journals and Resources Books Burns, P., 2016/2021. Entrepreneurship and small business: Start-up, growth and maturity, 4th ed. or 5th ed. Palgrave Macmillan Limited. Baron, R., and S. Shane, 2008. Entrepreneurship. A … [Continue reading] about Entrepreneurship: Books, Journals and Resources
The external environment comprises of all external (outside) factors or influences that has could potentially impact the operation of a business. There are large external environmental forces affecting the industry in which a business operates. … [Continue reading] about External Environment: Analysis of Micro and Macro Environment
Importance and implementation of key success metrics (CSFs, KRIs, KPIs) in Analytics. In order to compete, more businesses are finding it vital to monitor the various business processes so that performance can be measured and improved upon. Acronyms … [Continue reading] about CSF, KRI and KPI Explained
Corporate level strategies help to exercise the choice of direction that an organization adopts. What is Corporate Level Strategy? A corporate strategy refers to the actions that organizations undertake so that the company, or one or more of its … [Continue reading] about Corporate Level Strategies
This hypothesis emphasises the accumulation of debt by firms which in times of rising interest rates leads to corporate collapse and hence a fall in output thus compounding the fluctuations in the business cycle. The important intermediary role of … [Continue reading] about The Financial Instability Hypothesis
Place in Marketing Mix refers to the distribution channels that are needed to take the products to the end-users. Location Layout Distribution channels Retail / wholesale Internet Telephone Face-to-face selling … [Continue reading] about Place in Marketing Mix
The Solow Model of economic growth is a model that explains the growth of an economy and suggests that sustained growth in the economy is due to growth in technology and not really due to other factors such as increase in capital and labour. The … [Continue reading] about Solow Model of Economic Growth
Benchmarking is a strategy tool used to compare the performance of the business processes and products with the best performances of other companies inside and outside the industry. Benchmarking is used as a way to understand how an organization … [Continue reading] about Benchmarking strategy tool
Economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen studied the relationship between the economy, society, and culture and suggested that a lot of people make purchases to display their status and accomplishments and not really to fulfill their needs. He is … [Continue reading] about Theory of conspicuous consumption (Thorstein Veblen)
The value chain describes the categories of activities within an organisation which, together, create a product or service. What is Value Chain? Understanding how the company creates value, and looking for ways to add more value, are critical … [Continue reading] about Porter’s Value Chain
VRIO (acronym for value, rarity, imitability, and organization) framework helps understand the business elements that provides the business with a long-term competitive advantage. The VRIO Analysis was developed by Jay B. Barney as a way of … [Continue reading] about VRIO Analysis
The model was developed by McKinsey & Company in the 1980s. Specifically, it was developed by Robert H. Waterman, Jr. and Tom Peters. Their research has shown that the success of an organization depends on a number of mutually supporting variables, … [Continue reading] about The McKinsey 7S Framework
It is important to use the PESTLE and Five Forces Technique together for analysis as it helps to get a detailed picture of the situation that an organization faces. Both PESTLE / PEST and Porter's Five Forces analysis provides an organization with … [Continue reading] about Using Pestle and Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Together
Gaining and sustaining Competitive Advantage is particularly important for businesses today. Businesses are now constantly evaluating how innovation and new advances in technology can assist them to stay ahead of their competition by enabling them to … [Continue reading] about Competitive Advantage (Strategic Management): Various ways to achieve
The General Electronic (GE) Matrix was developed by Mckinsey and Company Consultancy Group in the 1970s. Whereas BCG is limited to products, business units can be products, whole product lines, a service or even a brand. The GE matrix is plotted in a … [Continue reading] about The GE Planning Grid / GE 9 Cell
In the book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" written by Yuval Harari, Harari takes us through the various revolutions that humans have undergone, right from their days as hunters to the present day. Harari also goes deep into the topic of … [Continue reading] about “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Harari
The modern world is more connected than ever before and globalisation is ensuring that its benefits such as technology, employment and capital are now available to poorer countries as well. It has also made the western world aware that most of these … [Continue reading] about “Another knowledge is possible” by Sousa Santos
The BCG matrix framework by Boston Consulting Group evaluates the strategic position of the products in the portfolio of a business. While the Product Life Cycle is a great tool to determine how one or a group of products in the portfolio are doing, … [Continue reading] about The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix
Bowman's Strategy Clock presents various ways to position product/services and is a useful tool to understand how firms compete based on price and perceived value. Bowman’s strategic clock is another strategic tool that provides businesses with … [Continue reading] about Bowman’s Strategic Clock
The Suitability, Acceptability and Feasibility (SAF) method helps in evaluating strategies; as per the framework, a strategy must meet three criteria for it to be successful - it must be suitable, acceptable and feasible (JOHNSON and SCHOLES, … [Continue reading] about SAF (SAF) Strategy Model
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries is a book written for entrepreneurs and talks about how startups should go about launching their business. The author also provides several examples of companies that have used innovation to develop radically new … [Continue reading] about The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Porter’s generic strategies refers to strategies that companies can use to gain a competitive advantage in the market, such as Cost Leadership, Differentiation and Focus (Porter, 1985). Every business wants to assess and understand competition so … [Continue reading] about Porter’s Generic Strategies
Michael Porter is one of the most influential strategic thinkers of the twentieth century. he is credited for coming up with several theories, models and frameworks that helps analyze businesses in strategic ways. "He has influenced more executives - … [Continue reading] about Michael Porter: Top theories, models and frameworks
Sales Promotion: Tool of the Communication Mix. Sales promotions work by offering customers an incentive to buy now rather than in the future; they ‘accelerate’ sales. They provide additional value, in order to induce an immediate sale. Sales … [Continue reading] about Sales Promotion: Tool of the Communication Mix
Advertising is a critical tool in the marketing communication mix that enables businesses to reach their target audiences and promote their products or services. It involves creating and delivering persuasive messages through various media channels … [Continue reading] about Advertising: Tool of the Communication Mix
Marketing communication (MarCom), which comprises the promotion P of the marketing mix, refers to all forms of communication used by organizations to inform, remind, explain, persuade, and influence the attitudes, and buying behaviours of customers … [Continue reading] about Marketing Communications (MarCom) and Integrated marketing communication (IMC)
Marketing distribution channel (also known as the distribution channel) refers to the functions performed by the producer (marketer) or intermediaries to make a firm's goods or services available to the end-user (customer). Most producers do not … [Continue reading] about Distribution Channels (Place in the Marketing Mix)
Consumers today have several options to choose from, be it a product or a service. Whether you want to buy a product or book a hotel room, there are several brands out there waiting to serve you. As a result, firms use innovative marketing strategies … [Continue reading] about Branding Guide: Key concepts and strategies to craft strong Brand Identity
Public Relations: Tool of the Communication Mix. Public relations is a management activity that attempts to shape the attitudes and opinions held by an organisation's stakeholders. It attempts to identify its own policies with the interests of its … [Continue reading] about Public Relations: Tool of the Communication Mix
Despite the increasing significance of non-price factors in modern marketing, pricing remains an important element of the marketing mix and the only element that generates revenue; the others elements produce costs for the firm. Understand price and … [Continue reading] about Pricing Concepts (Marketing Mix)
Every new product goes through a product life cycle and the various stages in the life cycle impacts the marketing strategy and the marketing mix, and management decisions within the firm. Before Porter’s famous Five Forces Model came into existence … [Continue reading] about Industry or Product Life Cycle
Marketing Planning is the process of analysing marketing situations, deciding marketing objectives, and implementing various marketing strategies to achieve those objectives. Here's more on marketing planning and its process. What is Marketing … [Continue reading] about Marketing Planning (& Marketing Plan)
Consumer behaviour refers to the physiological process related to the emotions of the consumer. For Marketers, it is important to understand Consumer behaviour as it provides them with a better understanding of the buying pattern of consumers. … [Continue reading] about Consumer Behaviour: Theories and Concepts
A perceptual map (P-map) is a tool used to illustrate the consumer's perceptions of a product/ brand. A perceptual map is a tool for determining the position of a brand in the marketplace, based on consumer perceptions of the brand and its … [Continue reading] about Perceptual Maps (Positioning maps/P-maps)
The SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) analysis is a useful tool for any business. SWOT is a two-dimensional analysis, in which the 'Internal' and 'External' dimensions of an organization are analysed. The objective of SWOT is to … [Continue reading] about SWOT Analysis
Marketing mix includes the "set of marketing tools that a firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target segment". Marketing mix refers to activities that a firm carries out to effectively promote its products/services. This is done by … [Continue reading] about Marketing Mix (4P’s and 7P’s Explained)
Essential Reading Bhattacharyya, D. K. (2009) Organisational Systems, Design, Structure and Management, 1st ed), Himalaya, Mumbai. Buchanan, D. A. & Huczynski, A.A. (2013) Organisational Behaviour: An Introductory Text (8th ed), Prentice Hall, Hemel … [Continue reading] about Organisation Structures for Effective Management: Books & Journals
Strategy involves setting goals, determining the best course of actions and allocating resources to achieve those goals. Here's an introduction to Strategy and Strategising. Strategy is a set of processes and activities which involves: assessing … [Continue reading] about What is Strategy?