/pdf/basic-marketing-a-managerial-approach-2844nz4i0a.pdf

Basic marketing, a managerial approach

Doing research in business and management: An essential guide to planning your project, by Mark Saunders and Philip Lewis, Harlow, Pearson Education Limited, 2012, 233 pp., £26.99 (paperback), ISBN...

Doing research in business and management: An essential guide to planning your project

Transforming Microfinance Institutions: Providing Full Financial Services to the Poor

The mind of the strategist : the art of Japanese business

Board Composition, Corporate Performance, and the Cadbury Committee Recommendation

This paper presents strategic management as an important business management concept. It defines strategy and explains the key concepts in strategic management; strategic vision, objectives, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, evaluation and initiating corrective action. The research also focuses on the corporate governance aspect of strategic management; role of the board of directors in crafting and executing strategy. The different levels of pitching strategy are also discussed in this paper; corporate, business, functional and operational. All these concepts are examined with a view to highlight their importance in the effective and efficient management of business organizations. In an operating environment that is dynamic and highly competitive, business organizations need to appreciate the importance of crafting and effectively executing strategies that can help them create sustainable competitive advantage.

The Importance of Strategic Management to Business Organizations

The microfinance sector has become a major conduit for the provision of financial services to the poor citizens and the informal business sector who are shunned by the conventional banking system on the basis of being high risk. Quite a significant number of microfinance institutions have been struggling for survival since the adoption of the multicurrency owing to the general meltdown of the economy. This study focuses on key drivers of success underpinning the performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Zimbabwe. It adopts both inferential and descriptive methods to identify the antecedents of success in the microfinance business. The study identifies prudent risk management, regulatory framework, corporate governance, technology and innovations, and staff training and motivation as significant drivers of success for microfinance institutions in Zimbabwe. Other factors affecting the success of MFIs include management and leadership, access to resources as well as coverage, reach and marketing.

Key Success Drivers for Microfinance Institutions in Zimbabwe: Developing Core Competences for Financial Inclusion

The Zimbabwean Insurance Industry has continued to see an increase in the number of players entering the market on one hand and a shrinking market at the back of an underperforming economy on the other hand. This has resulted in both old and new players in the insurance industry scrambling for the few clients who still see value in taking up life assurance policies especially after the losses that they suffered when the Zimbabwean economy adopted the multicurrency system. This challenge has been coupled with the influx of many new insurance companies that have joined the industry since the introduction of the multicurrency system. Competition in the industry has therefore been inadvertently on the increase over the years. It is against this background that the researchers sought to investigate into the various strategies that different players within the insurance industry have implemented in creating competitive advantage to attain improved organizational performance and sustainable growth. The objectives of this research were; to identify the different strategies that have been formulated and implemented by various organizations in the insurance industry in creating competitive advantage within the insurance industry; to measure the effectiveness of these strategies in creating competitive advantage; to identify the various challenges in the formulation and implementation of marketing strategies designed to create competitive advantage; an, to identify and recommend possible solutions to challenges faced in strategy implementation as organizations endeavour to continuously create competitive advantage. A cross sectional survey methodology was used to gather data from a sample of organizations within the insurance industry and two instruments were largely used for data gathering; the questionnaire and the depth interview guide. Results were analyzed and the following conclusions were drawn; organizations in the insurance industry largely use differentiation and low cost strategies, their products are intensely distributed using multiple agents and brokers, personal selling and advertising are also used as the main promotional strategies, and the use of human capital to create competitive advantage is becoming more extensively used by most organizations in the industry. It was on the basis of these conclusions that the researchers made the following recommendations; organizations in the insurance industry to regularly carry out comprehensive market researches to identify customers’ ever-changing needs in a dynamic environment, efforts have to be made to satisfy these identified customer needs if insurers are to effectively create competitive advantage, there is need to increase the level of giving customers value for money through enhanced product features and benefits, insurers can aggressively use ICTS to extensively promote their products to their various target markets, the use of physical evidence to create competitive advantage can be further explored and there is need for redefining organizational systems so that they become more robust in facilitating efficient service delivery. These recommendations are envisaged to significantly benefit players in the insurance industry, if they are to continuously create competitive advantage for superior performance and sustainable organizational growth.

An Investigation into the Effectiveness of Marketing Strategies Employed By Zimbabwean Insurance Companies for Creating Competitive Advantage

This study, using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression Model, investigated the extent to which good corporate governance practices can minimise or alleviate corporate failure in the Zimbabwean Financial Services Sector. The results of the study reflected that sound corporate governance has a positive effect on corporate success and can alleviate corporate failure. It is thus recommended that financial institutions continuously adhere to sound corporate governance practices to guarantee corporate success and alleviate the collapse of financial institutions as has been witnessed in the past. The findings of the study will assist policy makers, regulators and players in the financial services sector to adhere to sound corporate governance practices, given its impact on corporate success. Further research could be carried out with regards the implementation of sound corporate governance in parastatals, quasi-government institutions and private sector companies in other sectors other that the financial services sector and how it can be monitored or enforced.

Can Sound Corporate Governance Alleviate Corporate Failure? A Study of the Zimbabwean Financial Services Sector

This paper examines branding as a marketing concept and how organizations can explore it for creating competitive advantage. It defines branding and explores the various aspects that organizations can pay attention to, in marketing either their products or services, in making their brands distinct. Product features and benefits, company logos, corporate wear, unique ambience and exquisite office furniture are some among the key aspects that various organizations can exploit to create cutting edge brands that would distinguish their organizations, products and services from the rest of the players in their respective industries. Branding objectives, elements of branding, types of brands, branding strategies and principles of brand strategy are the key concepts covered in this paper. The use of social media in exposing your brand is also discussed in this paper.

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Julius Tapera

Papers

The Importance of Strategic Management to Business Organizations

Key Success Drivers for Microfinance Institutions in Zimbabwe: Developing Core Competences for Financial Inclusion

An Investigation into the Effectiveness of Marketing Strategies Employed By Zimbabwean Insurance Companies for Creating Competitive Advantage

Can Sound Corporate Governance Alleviate Corporate Failure? A Study of the Zimbabwean Financial Services Sector

Maximizing brand exposure in the 21st century; branding as a strategy for creating competitive edge