Mercadotecnia estratégica y planeación
From diagnosis to decision
Strategic marketing answers three questions before any tactic is chosen: which markets and customers we serve, how we will win against alternatives, and what resources that commitment requires. A candidate must recognize the audit tools - PESTEL for the macro environment, Porter's Five Forces for industry attractiveness, SWOT for the internal–external synthesis - and, more importantly, the choice tools: the Ansoff matrix (penetration, product development, market development, diversification), the BCG portfolio grid (stars, cash cows, question marks, dogs, plotted on market growth against relative market share), and Porter's generic strategies (cost leadership, differentiation, focus).
The marketing plan then sequences objectives, strategies, tactics, budget and control. Objectives should be specific and measurable; budgets are commonly built top-down against a target, bottom-up from activity costs, or by competitive parity.
Traps. (1) Confusing Ansoff cells: a new product for existing customers is product development, not diversification; an existing product sold abroad is market development. (2) Misreading BCG axes - a dog has low growth and low relative share, whereas a question mark has high growth but low share and requires an invest-or-divest decision. (3) Treating SWOT as a strategy rather than an input; strategies emerge from matching strengths to opportunities. (4) Calling cost leadership the same as low price; the strategy is a structural cost advantage that may or may not be passed on. (5) Mixing strategic (long-term, market-level) with tactical (short-term, mix-level) decisions in questions that ask "which is strategic".
Rule of thumb. Classify any proposal by two axes - new or existing market, new or existing product. If a firm sells its current shampoo line into a new regional market, the label is market development, and the plan should stress distribution and adaptation, not product redesign.
Key points
- Strategy = market selection + value proposition + resource commitment.
- Ansoff classifies growth by product/market novelty.
- BCG: growth (vertical) × relative share (horizontal).
- Porter: advantage (cost/differentiation) × scope (broad/narrow).
- SWOT feeds strategy; it is not strategy itself.