Strategic Marketing Management: Status and Development of the Contemporary Bulgarian Companies

This research deals with the theoretical, methodological and practical-application explanation of the interactions between the targeted demand and the creation of a synergy by the company and its management regarding the exogenous and endogenous factors and the elaboration of a strategic market-oriented corporate policy. The paramount importance and the role of synergy are revealed as a major factor of competitiveness, under the present conditions of development of the Bulgarian economy. The necessity of using up-to-date methods of analysis and management of competitiveness is discussed, in order to design an efficient market strategy for the company. This research makes use of primary information, especially obtained for the purpose - Representative study of the companies in Bulgaria, under the method of semi-standard interview, consisting of 547 interviews with corporate owners and managers throughout the country, held between 23 November – 3 December 2010. The strategic management and the marketing approach are crucial in the current situation, when the market structures and the characteristics of the economic sectors undergo dynamic processes, especially under the global financial and economic crisis. The monitored changes due to the evolvement of the crisis, as well as the expected short-term and medium-term changes are a strong, significant and real stress factor for the Bulgarian enterprises and their competitiveness. The changes cover the market potentials, the intensity of the competition within an industry, the number and type of operating competitors, the proportions among the strategic groups, the entry and exit conditions of the specific industry (horizontal competition), the entry barriers, the nature of the potential competitors and the threat by new entrants, the price-quality ratio and the threat by substitute products (vertical competition) respectively. Under the crisis conditions the business environment becomes much more indefinite. One of the hardest factors, determining the growing intensity of the competition within the economic sector is the stagnating and even decreasing purchasing power and respectively the market potentials. The long-term keeping of such states intensifies the competition, affecting the technical & economic optimums and the technical & economic minimums and making the players leave the industry. The strong pressure on the companies magnifies the risk components and respectively the returns. The cost control becomes crucial. The structure of the industrial branch is disturbed in view of the available equilibriums among the main ratios of the motive competitive features, between price competitiveness and non-price competitiveness, in direct relation to the types of the obtained market advantages and respectively allocation of the market shares. The intensification of this process is evident in most of the economic sectors by means of the indicators.