Business strategy, marketing strategy and manufacturing strategy: an overall alignment

Abstract: Today’s businesses face a competitive war; conceptually, similar to the ones in ancient times. The arena in which this war is battled is the market and it is characterized by being highly dynamic and uncertain. The enemies to be beaten are the competitors who use their core competences (weapons) to conquer the customers’ orders. But no battle is won by chance, neither in business. So, there is a need for a strategy that provides the chance to defeat the enemy by gaining a sustainable competitive advantage over him. The question is: how to do it? The functional investments, mainly in marketing and manufacturing, need to be aligned with the mainstream strategy (business strategy) so they pull all together in the same direction. The existing literature links these strategies in pairs but not at the same time. In this study, an analysis of such alignment approaches will be the base to create a model for the simultaneous fit of business strategy, marketing strategy and manufacturing strategy, and to provide some suggestions on how to achieve this match in practice. Product design strategy will play a key role in order to attain the overall alignment.