Happy 9th Blogiversary (Not April Fool)

My first blog post was on 3 April 2009. As shown above, the most popular post (by far) is Yes, competitors are stakeholders written more than 5 years ago and updated several times more recently.

Unquestionably, competitors are truly stakeholders of any marketing organisation, from the smallest single-person operation to multinational giants. Remember, stakeholder is defined as 'a group or individual that has an interest in or can potentially affect the marketer's performance and activities'. Surely competitors qualify because they have the ability to begin or escalate price wars, influence market share and marketing trends, influence customers and suppliers and so on.

An academic paper found six good reasons to include competitors as stakeholders. McKinsey has noted that organisations must try to anticipate competitors' strategies so they can plan ahead to deflect challenges.

At times, a marketer may want to collaborate with competitors on issues of mutual interest, such as industry standards or sustainability projects. Not on pricing--such collusion is illegal in most nations--but on larger issues that affect many stakeholders, including the public.

Happy 8th Blogiversary

This blog was born in April, 2009, and has continued through 760 posts in 8 years.

Happy blogiversary!


The all-time most viewed blog posts are:

• Yes, competitors are stakeholders (from 2012)
• Updating Tesco's marketing plan (from 2013)

Clearly, competitors as stakeholders continues to be a topic of great interest. As my posts over the years have noted, many countries outlaw certain types of collaboration among competitors (specifically, coordinating prices, for example).

However, research shows that participating in non-market activities with competitors is a good way to implement certain strategies for mutual benefit. Industrywide initiatives are a good example of competitors working together for a common goal. The fashion industry could collaborate on eco-friendly activities for a cleaner planet, for instance. Some are already working with recycled materials to keep items out of landfills.

As for Tesco's latest marketing plan, the UK retailer's strategy currently focuses on four key areas:

- value and sustainability (marketing goal)
- reducing food waste (societal goal)
- healthy living (societal goal)
- local communities (societal goal)

Most popular posts of the past 7 years

In a few days, my blog celebrates its 7th anniversary. It's time to see which posts were the most popular during the first 7 years.

Above, the results via Google's stats: Yes, competitors are stakeholders is clearly the winner--by far. Nearly 10% of the visitors to this blog want to know whether competitors are stakeholders (or want to see the arguments in favour). It's an important and relevant topic, with good arguments on both sides.

Tesco is one of the largest retailers active in international retailing. It's also a case study in many college classrooms, and my book analyses its marketing activities, so two of my many posts about the retailer are among the most-viewed of all time.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) attract many views, as do product lifecycle and sustainability posts.

Thank you for reading. Welcome to my 8th year of blogging about marketing in the UK and around the world.