Go to Market Strategies

ECTS : 3

Description du contenu de l'enseignement :

Course Presentation

This course focuses on the strategic process and decisions related to the way companies go to market. Leveraging generic strategy frameworks (Porter, Strategic Capabilities, 4/7 P) as well as GTM specific frameworks emerged from consulting practices (Lawrence, Bain, McKinsey..), it covers the strategic process to select target market segments, and to adjust accordingly their products, value propositions and commercial strategy, in order to offer a powerful customer experience, and to drive growth at the lowest possible cost. A particular attention will be given to internationalization strategies and to GTM for startups and scaleups. The discipline of GoToMarket has been significantly transformed by innovation and specifically by digital technologies. This course will explore the digitally enabled sales and marketing methods, and how they can contribute to successful GoToMarket strategies. As one of the driver for GTM strategy is to achieve a superior customer experience, the course will also cover the basis of customer experience concepts and metrics.  

Course Structure

• #1 - GTM definition and relation to company overall strategy and marketing strategy. GTM conception process , key decision points and performance metrics, based on Lawrence framework.
• #2 - Quick review of strategy toolset leveraged in GTM analysis: Porter, RBV, SWOT, Ansoff Matrix, 4/7 P. GTM strategies in B2B and in B2C: differences and convergence. Focus on internationalization strategies.
• #3 - Business case : By team, apply GTM framework and concepts to a real company case and present recommendations to the company leadership.
• #4 - Impact of digital transformation on marketing (including digital marketing, content marketing, marketing analytics, artificial intelligence)
• #5 - Impact of digital transformation on sales (including e-commerce, marketplaces, Social selling, omnichannel strategies, integration of sales and marketing processes)
• #6 - GTM strategy for startups. Customer Experience focus: the drivers for the change of paradigm towards customer experience centered strategies, the key metrics of customer experience and integration of customer experience in the Go-to-Market System

Compétence à acquérir :

Course Objectives 

• Understand the concepts of Go-to-market strategy, the process to build a go-to-market strategy, and how it serves the overall company strategy.
• Understand the difference of focus and approach in B2C versus B2B, and specific GTM questions to address in context of international growth strategies and new companies.
• Understand the range of new options opened by the digital revolution on GTM strategies, and be able to propose appropriate solutions to different business cases.
• Understand the concept of customer experience, the changes of perspectives in the measures of customer satisfaction over time, and the role of customer experience in GTM strategies.

Learning Outcomes

• Awareness of GTM problematic, decision points and their respective importance in B2B and B2C
• Awareness of the importance of customer experience to build a successful GTM strategy and main methods to measure customer experience
• Awareness of impact of digital innovation in the transformation of GTM strategies, through new marketing and sales methodologies
• Acquisition of based concepts and vocabulary required to engage productively in conversations with the teams constructing and executing go-to-market strategies
• Ability to collect information and analyse company cases. Ability to articulate relevant GTM strategy recommendations at a strategical and tactical level.

Mode de contrôle des connaissances :

In-Cours assessment :  50 % By team : Presentation of an article from academic or business literature , Business case analysis and presentation. Individually: 2 Quiz

Final assessment :  50 % Individually: Written report analyzing a GTM strategy from a company, 8 pages, including critical perspective and recommendations

Bibliographie, lectures recommandées :

• Laurence G. Friedman , Go to Market Strategy, Routledge 2002.
• Building routes to customers. P Raulerson et al., 2009 .
• Creating and adaptive go-to-market system, Mark Kovac, Diane Ledingham, Lewis Weinger , Bain & Company.
• The Elements of Value, Eric Almquist, John Senior, Nicolas Bloch, Harvard Business Review, 2016.
• The B2B Elements of value, Eric Almquist, Jamie Cleghorn, Loro Sherer, Harvard Business Review , 2018 .
• Perceived value in B2B and B2C: a comparative approach and cross-fertilization, Remi Mencarelli, Arnaud Riviere, Marketing Theory, Sage, 2013 .
• Understanding Customer Experience, Christopher Meyer, Andre Schwager, Harvard Business Review 2007 .
• Appetizer or main course : Early market vs Majority market GTM strategies for radical innovation, Monika C. Schuhmacher , Sabine Kuester, and Erik JanHultink, PRODUCT INNOV MANAG 2017.
• Get the show on the road: go to market strategies for e-innovations of start ups Sabine Kuester, Elisa Konya-Baumbauch, Monika Schuhmacher, Journal of Business Research 2017 .
• Conceptualization of omnichannel customer experience and its impact on shopping intention: A mixed-method approach, Si Shia , Yi Wanga,? , Xuanzhu Chenb , Qian Zhang, International Journal of Information Management, February