The battlefield for 1992: Product strength and geographic coverage

The Single European Market is presenting corporations with a much more competitive environment, mainly by lowering mobility barriers within Europe, It is critical that firms strengthen their pan-European marketing strategy to meet this challenge. Robert Gogel and Jean-Claude Larréché argue that there are two main axes for allocating corporations' strategic resources - product strength and geographic coverage. The fine balance between the two is the core of a 1992 marketing strategy, and the authors provide an analytical tool - the International Competitive Posture Matrix - with which to visualize it. The matrix is then applied to the European food manufacturing industry which is considered to be particularly affected by the Single European Market. The results are surprising.