Marketing As Strategy: Understanding the CEO’s Agenda for Driving Growth and Innovation

　　Nirmalya Kumar argues that the only way for marketers to get back on the CEO\’s agenda is to tackle issues that merit the CEO\’s attention. The fate of marketing hinges on elevating the role of marketing executives from promotions-focused tacticians to customer-focused leaders of transformational initiatives that are strategic, cross-functional, and bottom-line oriented.

　　Based on more than fifteen years of researching, teaching, and consulting in the field of marketing, Marketing as Strategy outlines seven organization-wide transformation initiatives that will win marketing a prominent seat at the executive table. Through revealing company examples, Kumar shows how focus on the ”three Vs”—the valued customer, the value proposition, and the value network—can help marketers lead the shift:

• From tactical market segments to strategic segments that enable deep differentiation
• From selling commodity products to providing customer solutions
• From shunning new distribution channels to exploiting the right ones to generate growth
• From an organizational mind-set focused around countries and products to a global mind-set oriented around customers and relationships
• From aggressively acquiring brands to actively consolidating the brand portfolio

　　Marketing as Strategy reveals what marketers must do to secure the future of their field and shape the destiny of their firms.