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This master thesis focuses on analyzing the marketing management company Diplomat Dental Ltd. The aim of this work is to analyze the application of marketing management in the company and considering the facts suggest solutions that will lead to an increase in marketing activities and the total company running. The company is analysed from the internal and external aspect through marketing analyses as marketing mix, value chain analysis, SWOT analysis, SLEPT analysis and others.

The literature presents us with two distinct, and at times opposed, approaches to strategic management: the use of strategic choice and determinism. This research shows that these approaches can actually be considered as two distinct variables, which create a space or framework in which it is possible to identify, according to the available different amounts of strategic choice and determinism, the four different ontological perspectives of determinism, hard incompatibilism, libertarianism and compatibilism. According to the literature, within each ontological perspective of the strategic choice/determinism framework, companies use different levels of strategic choice and determinism to produce organizational outcomes. This research provides empirical evidence of the real life existence of these ontological perspectives, in which companies’ performance of revenues is driven by a different amount of strategic choice or determinism according to the perspectives in which companies operate. This research also shows that other important performance indicators, such as EBITDA, depend only on deterministic variables, while ROA depends neither on strategic choice nor on deterministic variables. These findings suggest that future research could increase our knowledge on the internal environment of companies, as it could do from the hard incompatibilist perspective, which was not possible to study thoroughly within this research. The research conclusions provide several contributions to both academic knowledge and practice.

The aim of this thesis is to prepare a strategic analysis of past and current development of Stakoplast Ltd. In the end give recommendations for future development strategy of this company.

<p>It is generally recognized that firms face both internal and external environmental forces. However, few studies have attempted to describe the importance of various strategic factors and the relation between them. This study has been conducted to identify the main strategic determinant in the software industry and the reason behind the existence of these determinants. The study is based on a qualitative study. The empirical data have been collected from interviews. However, the frame of reference is based on well- established theories within the field of business strategy. The research identified certain strategic determinants in software industry. These are Market/Customer, Technology, Economy, Rivalry, Core Competences, Core Products, Technical and Human Resources. These factors have an impact on researched firms separately and jointly as well. However, competitive advantage can be achieved by focusing on product innovation and development, relation building with customers, technology and human resource management, capabilities/competences building and alliances with other companies and industries.</p>

It is generally recognized that firms face both internal and external environmental forces. However, few studies have attempted to describe the importance of various strategic factors and the relation between them. This study has been conducted to identify the main strategic determinant in the software industry and the reason behind the existence of these determinants. The study is based on a qualitative study. The empirical data have been collected from interviews. However, the frame of reference is based on well- established theories within the field of business strategy. The research identified certain strategic determinants in software industry. These are Market/Customer, Technology, Economy, Rivalry, Core Competences, Core Products, Technical and Human Resources. These factors have an impact on researched firms separately and jointly as well. However, competitive advantage can be achieved by focusing on product innovation and development, relation building with customers, technology and human resource management, capabilities/competences building and alliances with other companies and industries.

The global semiconductor industry had gone through a consecutive years of prosperity in the 1990s due to the strong demand in personal computer as well as the enormous internet investiment. Even more, it gained an eruptive growth in years 1999 and 2000. The semiconductor fabrication companies¡¦ capital spending in new equipment segment grew year by year. The equipment suppliers¡¦ revenue and gross margin had then set record high. However, combined the internet bubbled in 2000 with the shortage of killer application, the chip makers¡¦ capital spending had thereafter dramatically slowdown for years and hence seriously impacted the equipment suppliers¡¦ financial performance. Ever after the great recession in year 2000, the equipment suppliers have been taking steps to alleviate the industry downturns¡¦ impact in their financial report. Meanwhile, the companies have also identified ways to further grow their business. Besides, the semiconductor industry has been introducing advanced nanomanufacturing technologies which demand huge resource commitment as well as capital investiment. The chip makers have therefore urged the equipment suppliers to assist them in area about cost reduction and productivity improvement. This study takes the world biggest semiconductor frabication equipment maker, Applied Materials, as an example, to investigate the company¡¦s strategically responsivenesses against the business cycles, the current industry environment and its desire in business growth. The conclusions are: 1)Applied Materials has been taking joint ventures, outsourcing and global development center establishments to reduce its operation cost. It had also entered the fab service market to create a new niche. 2)In response to the customers¡¦ demand in productivity improvement , Applied Materials has been activating differentiation strategies to develop high-productivity products. It has also been performing Continuous Improvement Plans (CIP) to further reduce its products¡¦ Cost Of Ownership (COO) to meet the customers¡¦ requirement in cost reduction. 3)The equipement suppliers have been conducting related constrained diversification strategies to extend their business scope. They mostly used the Mergers & Acquisitions to enter the new markets. 4)The strategy effectiveness (in view of the shareholders¡¦ return on investment), is positively related to its consistency with the company¡¦s core competencies. In other word, the higher the consistency is, the better the ROI will be. Keyword: Internal Environment Analysis, External Environment Analysis, Strategic Responsiveness, Diversification Strategy, Differentiation Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions