Consumer Strategy: A non-marketeer's view

It is six months since the sad demise of Prof. Uditha Liyanage. His collection of articles was posthumously published by the Postgraduate Institute of Management as Consumer Strategy. This article is an attempt to share thoughts as a reader, or rather as a consumer about Consumer Strategy. I am not competent enough to review this masterpiece. Hence, in essence, it is a non-marketeer's perspective.

Consumer Strategy is a compilation of comprehensive articles written by perhaps the most conceptually rich person I have ever met. His ingenious ideas have immensely inspired us, in inviting us to be intellectually enriched and interactively engaged. I am glad that I had the privilege of being mentored by him but indeed sad that it could not be continued.

The twenty articles in this volume were all selected by Prof. Uditha Liyanage himself, some time ago. They cover a wide range of topics in the broad domain of management, with specific emphasis on marketing and strategy.

The depth of conceptual appeal and the breadth of concrete application appear as the hallmark of the veteran author. A variety of valued marketing models developed by Prof. Liyanage has been included in the volume, inviting readers to think afresh, instead of blindly transplanting the western marketing models. This is true for strategy as well.

In writing the acknowledgement, the daughter of the late Prof. Uditha Liyanage, Ms. Chathuri Liyanage states:

"Life is a journey. A journey that takes you to places and situations you never intended or thought you will ever face. Such is the malleable and unpredictable nature of the journey called life. My father too, like everyone else, embarked on this journey but due to unforeseen circumstances had to face a steep hill on his own. Although my father climbed this hill with laudable courage and determination, fate overtook him.

Legacy

"Throughout the years I have watched my father write these articles with great enthusiasm," said Chathuri. "I would like to thank everyone who contributed even in the smallest measure to make this publication a reality," she said.

We were keen on launching Consumer Strategy with a felicitation ceremony for this fascinating human being. Destiny decided otherwise. Nevertheless, Prof. Uditha Liyanage, the author, will continue to be alive in our minds through his myriad of insights. We at PIM committed ourselves to carry his legacy forward. Publishing Consumer Strategy is one significant step in that solid endeavour.

As it has always been, Prof. Uditha Liyanage invites us not just to read the book, but to recognise the key themes, reflect on the main ideas and relate the concepts covered to the current challenges. It should reinforce the way one professionally applies the key lessons, in playing a managerial and leadership role in one's workplace. In essence, knowing should lead to doing and which in turn will deliver results.

Consumer Strategy essentially revolves around two key themes, viz. consumer and strategy. Among the articles related to the consumer aspect in the broad spectrum of marketing, Marketing Strategy and Society: From CSR to SRB is interesting. Prof. Liyanage clearly differentiates philanthropy from strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). We need this clarity, as I saw in the judging process of the last National Business Excellence Awards, where there is often confusion between the two terms.

Among the other insightful papers, 'Brand Marketing: From 1P to 6Ps', 'Five Hats of the Consumer', 'Goods-Services Dichotomy: The Place of the Tangibility Construct', 'Towards a Positioning Strategy for Tourism in Post-war Sri Lanka' and 'Consumer Behaviour and the Anatomy of a Brand' appear prominently. Also, 'Profiling the Sri Lankan Consumer', 'A Customer Value Typology: Beyond the Functional-Emotional Dichotomy' also offer much insight.

Prof. Liyanage's conceptualisation of 'Sri Lanka's New Mod-tradi Consumer' is indeed interesting. "The harmonisation of the traditionalist and modernist forces gives rise to postmodernist tendencies in the Sri Lankan marketplace," said Prof. Liyanage. "A mis-match of the two, produces either an overly traditional, and, therefore, an old fashioned and obsolete proposition or a hyped rendering of an overt western and modernist proposition."

"The challenge of today's marketeer is to sense the emerging postmodernist propensities of the emerging consumer and develop propositions and products that avoid the two extremes of being either overly traditionalist or modernist," says Prof. Liyanage.

Strategy

"Such an endeavour must be based on the recognition of the points of confluence and fusion that appeal to a new breed of postmodern consumers. This in turn would be possible only through the deep-going understanding of the psyche and the behaviour of the new and emerging Sri Lankan postmodern consumer," he concludes.

Prof. Liyanage gave a new twist to the often hacked term, strategy. His bold arguments are present in the article, 'Planning is not Strategy: Big 5 Strategy Questions'.

Strategy is often confused with planning. The many definitions and delineations of strategy, which highlight one or more aspects of strategy, while ignoring the others, have led to a state of confusion as to what strategy really is (Liyanage, 2015).

To avoid the confusions in the minds of practitioners, and as reflected in the literature itself, Prof. Liyanage proposes a Strategy Quadrant, consisting of Stand, Standing, Shared values and Supportive Resources and Capabilities, and Steps.

"Seeing strategy as action is also flawed. "Our strategy is to merge ...," and "....to double our research and development expenditure" are commonplace expressions which tend to pass-off as strategy," says Prof. Liyanage. "Putting the planning cart before the strategy horse is a blunder that bedevils many an organisation in its attempt to hone strategic action," he said.

In a more applied manner, Prof. Liyanage has elaborated on how strategy execution took place in the battlefront. This article is based on the content analysis of two comprehensive post-war presentations by military experts.

The way he compares the adaptation of suitable military strategies to marketing is indeed insightful.

"Don't be an 'arm chair' leader but a 'behind the wheel' leader! When the leader has superior knowledge of a particular area of activity, not making full use of it in his direct engagement with operations, is a waste of a vital resource. The often-espoused leader-role hinders such a direct approach. (Liyanage, 2015)

Among the other interesting articles related to strategy, 'The Myth of Pay-for-Performance' and 'In Search of Resilience: From Pilot to Architect' also offer salient points to ponder.

The book, Consumer Strategy highlights his purpose as a thinker. His thoughts will spark our minds for a long time. We at PIM are indeed proud of our profound management legend, and would continue to preserve his intellectual capital for generations to come. I earnestly hope that Consumer Strategy will rave the readers in meaningfully showcasing the management sage of our age through his distinct deliberations.

The writer can be reached through [email protected]