It is important to note that outside-in and inside-out approaches can be used in mixed strategies by providing customer value within a company’s limitations.
One should be aware that outside-in and inside-out approaches are not direct opposites of each but rather address and orient their strategies on the basis of either external or internal factors. An organization can thrive under the inside-out measure if the goals are efficiency-based, whereas the alternative is best suited for retention and customer satisfaction (Rust, 2020).
For example, a case from Brazil shows that both methods can be useful for boosting the nation’s tourism by focusing on internal elements and adjusting the latter to tourists’’ needs (Mazaro, 2018). Therefore, there are no directly opposing or conflicting aspects of the strategies because each merely prioritizes one objective over another (Yrjola et al., 2018). For instance, in international marketing, both approaches can be utilized in a mixed format to improve performance on the global market (Asseraf & Shoham, 2019).
The use of a mixed approach ensures a more comprehensive strategic framework since a sole adherence to a single measure can make the strategy prone to barriers and hindrances related to customers and the economic environment (Liu et al., 2021). For example, organizations can fully integrate the dichotomous framework with a great deal of success, where each option reinforces the other (Wiegmans, Witte, and Roso, 2020).
Mixed strategies can enable a more focused approach toward customer value creation, where efficiency modifications are primarily directed to the consumers (Kyprianou, 2018). Evidence suggests that mixed measures can be the most effective if companies adopt an outside-in approach first, then complement the latter with inside-out methods (Adzic, 2020). In other words, companies should assess the current market situation by analyzing the customer specificities on the basis of which internal changes are incorporated.
Reference List
Adzic, S. (2020) ‘The compatibility of outside-in and inside-out strategic approaches’, Eurasian Business Perspectives, 14(2), pp. 189-199. Web.
Asseraf, Y., and Shoham, A. (2019) ‘Crafting strategy for international marketing: outside-in or inside-out?’, International Marketing Review, 36(6), 859-886. Web.
Kyprianou, C. (2018) ‘Creating value from the outside in or the inside out: how nascent intermediaries build peer-to-peer marketplaces’, Academy of Management Discoveries, 4(3), 1-62. Web.
Liu, J. et al. (2021) ‘R&D, networking expenses, and firm performance: An integration of the inside-out and outside-in perspectives’, Industrial Marketing Management, 92, pp. 111-121. Web.
Mazaro, R. (2018) ‘Outside in, inside out: tourism competitiveness and Brazilian strategy analysis’, Journal of Tourism Management Research, 5(1), pp. 68-80. Web.
Rust, R. T. (2020) ‘Outside-in marketing: why, when and how?’, Industrial Marketing Management, 89, pp. 102-104. Web.
Wiegmans, B., Witte, P., and Roso, V. (2020) ‘Directional inland port development: Powerful strategies for inland ports beyond the inside-out/outside-in dichotomy’, Research in Transportation Business & Management, 35, pp. 1-9. Web.
Yrjola, M. et al. (2018) ‘Inside-out and outside-in mental models: a top executive perspective’, European Business Review, 30(5), pp. 529-553. Web.