Marketing Strategies and Competitive Advantages of Fast Food Industries in the UK

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Purpose1

Significance3

Introduction to Organisation3

Aims and Objectives4

Research Questions4

Thesis Disposition5

CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW6

Competitive Advantage6

Types of Competitive Advantage7

a)The Cost Advantage8

b)Differentiation Advantage8

Competitive Strategies9

Food Advertising11

Marketing Strategy13

Characteristic13

Strategic Options14

International Marketing and Global Marketing14

Adaptation Strategy16

Standardization Strategy17

The Marketing Mix18

Characteristic19

Types19

1)Product19

2)Pricing20

3)Placement21

4)Promotion21

Theoretical Framework22

Attribution Theory22

Correspondent Inference23

The Discounting Principle23

Involvement25

REFERENCES27

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION

Background

To gain an edge in competitive landscape, firms must innovate to sustain their growth and development. New product development is the core of innovation. Therefore, since Schumpeter, researchers have conducted numerous studies' to probe the drivers of new product development, such as the role of R&D, team composition, organizational support, product champion, inter-functional cooperation such as marketing, engineering, manufacturing integration, etc. Also, past research suggests that in order to commercialize new products successfully, firms should assimilate a range of technological inputs into novel combinations, exploit market opportunities afforded by the environment, and ensure that these new products effectively meet the needs of the market. However, the odds of new product development projects succeeding are still sobering. Every year, we see thousands of new products introduced into the market, and simultaneously researcher see hundreds of new products exit the market. One would ask: Why are some firms more successful at commercializing new products than others? The researcher try to provide some initial answers built on previous research.

Purpose

First, the competitive landscape of firms has been changed from individual firms to firm networks. The new competition rules call for new theoretical explanations for how firms compete in market place. One theme of this stream of research is the importance of social network in building competitive advantage. The premise of this stream of research is built on the idea that networks can allow firms to create value that no single firm could have created alone. The growing importance of networks in innovation makes it urgent to develop a deeper appreciation how firms manage their web of networks over time.

Existing studies have explored how social structure shape innovation results. This stream of research has greatly helped us understand the nature of network relationships and their impact on performance. The problem with an orientation toward the 'why' question is that it is syntactically inclined to teleological or functional answers. Ironically, the two main perspectives (open networks and closed networks) in social network research have garnered both theoretical and empirical support, but they have also produced specialized versions of the two theories which retard the recognition of capability in managing relationships and have generated diatribes between proponents of the different horns of a dilemma. The focus on structural effects on performance can easily lead to an avoidance of the 'how' question, which focuses on some of the conditions under which certain behaviour and performance outcomes are likely. Networks do not naturally exist; they need to be established and nurtured over the course of firm development. Firms can play the role of the strategic centre in inter firm networks to manage their web of partners over time to sustain their innovativeness. Social network structure affords opportunities, but ...