"Developing Competitive AdvantageMarketing Within the Global EconomyIntroductionThis report will consider the competitive position of Sky, and define a 3 year marketingstrategy, in particular the report will consider this in terms of competitive advantage; thecurrent position, the future desired position, and what strengths or advantages Sky canexploit to achieve the desired position.Sky has histoncally dominated the UK pay TV market, owning largely to its exploitation ofexclusive sports and movie rights, this is still the case with the organisation holding 62% ofthe pay TV sector in 2014 (Wi P0, 2015). This report will consider the case of Sky throughthe specialist market segment of Sports Broadcasting, Jobber (2o12) cited in Gavris &McLeod (2014) tells us that segmentation is the identification of individuals or organisationswith similar characteristics that have significant implications for the determination ofmarketing strategy. Sky's branded product offering for this segment is Sky Sports (SkySports, 2015) strategy. Sky's branded product offering for this segment is Sky Sports (SkySports, 2015)The recent Economic and Fiscal Outlook Report published by the Office for BudgetResponsibility (OBR, 2015) paints a healthy picture for the UK economy, with GDP growthforecast in all years of the forthcoming parliament. Employment has grown strongly in 2015.There has also been a notable pick up in wage growth. Inflation is forecast for a controlledascent to the target level in 2019, interest rates are not expected to rise soon; any increase islikely to be slow. All of this coupled with a steady rise in household disposable incomeprovides a relatively rosy economic outlook and is good news for Sky as all things point to aconfident consumer group with funds to spend (Appendix I).Where are we now? This section shall address where Sky Sports are in terms of its competitive position withinthe marketing environment, Davidson (1987a, p. 153) cited by VFilson & Gilligan (2005)tells us that "Competitive advantage is achieved whenever you do something better thancompetitors. If that something is important to customers. or if a number of small advantagescan be combined, you have an exploitable competitive advantage, One or more competitiveadvantages are usually necessary in order to develop a winning strategy, and this in turnshould enable a company to achieve above average growth and profits' Davidson then goeson to list ten potential competitive advantages that he considers to be the most significant, weshall focus on the few we consider apply to Sky Sports and answer the question: What doSky Sports currently do better than the competition?:A perceived advantage or superiority Sky Sports is a strong brand in the pay TV market, Jobber (2010) cited by Gavris & McLeod(2014) define a brand as a distinctive product offering created by use of a name, a symbol,design, packaging or some combination of these intended to differentiate it from itscompetition. This distinctive product offering is derived through its powerful market position(Ofcom, 2015) and history (Marketing Magazine, 2015), Sky's further differentiates itselfthrough its high quality content and innovative services, this has delivered high levels ofcustomer loyalty (Marketing Week, 2012)Legal advantages: in the form of patents, distributorships, or a protected position. Sky Sportshas 75% of the key content important in consumer pay TV subscription decisions (AppendixII), this provides an advantage over BT Sport, who only have 25% of the key content(Appendix II) Scale advantagesSky have the largest market share with 68% versus BT's 6%. Sky have 12mcustomers versus B-F5 1 .2m customers this provides Sky with a competitive strengththrough incumbency advantages due to subscriber inertia and low switching rate (AppendixIII)If there is a single factor which underpins all potential sources of competitive advantage; it isthat of adding value to the ways in which Sky interacts with its customers, in the absence ofthis there is no real competitive advantage, as strengths and weaknesses are largely irrelevantunless they are recognised and valued by the customer (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005). This isreinforced with the customer-centric definition of marketing that we apply to this work -"marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfyingcustomers requirements profitably (C1M, 2037)Porter (1985) cited by Wilson & Gilligan (2005) informs that "value' is what the buyer(customer consumer) is willing to pay, and superior stems from offering customers benefitsthat more than offset a higher price, If the benefits that have been identified are essentiallythe same as those offered by a competitor then they are of little value to the customer(Wilson & Gilligan, 2005)So we ask ourselves:Mat is the potential competitive advantage?To what extent is the advantage meaningful to the customer? (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005)Grouped together the report finds the following as Sky's competitive advantage that shouldbe exploited (Davidson 1 987a, p, 153 cited by Wilson & Gilligan 2005): "