Marketing myopia a summary

A short-sighted and inward looking approach to marketing that focuses on the needs of the
company instead of defining the company and its products in terms of the customers' needs
and wants. It results in the failure to see and adjust to the rapid changes in their markets.
{ The concept of marketing myopia was discussed in an article (titled Marketing Myopia! in
"uly-August #$%& issue of the 'ar(ard )usiness *e(iew+ ,y 'ar(ard )usiness -chool
emeritus professor of marketing! Theodore .. /e(itt (#$01-0&&%+! who suggests that
companies get trapped in this situation ,ecause they omit to ask the (ital 2uestion! 3hat
,usiness are we in45
According to the marketing myopia theory! to cater a market 6 a company not only needs to
,e technically sound and product oriented ,ut it also needs to ,e customer oriented. It needs
to know what are the needs of the customer and what further inno(ations can the company
,ring to maintain customer interest or how it can adapt to the changing ,usiness market.
Implications of the Marketing Myopia theory - Marketing myopia can ,e used ,y marketers
as well as ad(ertisers to determine whether or not they are catering the right market. -hould
they adapt their products to cater a larger market. 3hat kind of ad(ertising strategies should
they use. 'ow can they ,ring a,out synchroni7ation ,etween the production capa,ilities of
companies and the demand in the market.
In -ummary! Marketing myopia asks the companies to do the following
)e more customer focused
Inno(ate
)e in control
8nderstand customer desires
.onduct marketing research programs
Marketing strategy should ,e de(eloped keeping feed,ack of customers in mind.
9(ery major industry was once a growth industry. )ut some that are now riding a wa(e of
growth enthusiasm are (ery much in the shadow of decline. :thers that are thought of as
seasoned growth industries ha(e actually stopped growing. In e(ery case! the reason growth
is threatened! slowed! or stopped is not ,ecause the market is saturated. It is ,ecause there
has ,een a failure of management.
;ateful <urposes
The failure is at the top. The e=ecuti(es responsi,le for it! in the last analysis! are those who
deal with ,road aims and policies. Thus>
The railroads did not stop growing ,ecause the need for passenger and freight
transportation declined. That grew. The railroads are in trou,le today not ,ecause that need
was filled ,y others (cars! trucks! airplanes! and e(en telephones+ ,ut ,ecause it was filled
,y the railroads themsel(es. They let others take customers away from them ,ecause they
assumed themsel(es to ,e in the railroad ,usiness rather than in the transportation
,usiness. The reason they defined their industry incorrectly was that they were railroad
oriented instead of transportation oriented? they were product oriented instead of customer
oriented.
'ollywood ,arely escaped ,eing totally ra(ished ,y tele(ision. Actually! all the esta,lished
film companies went through drastic reorgani7ations. -ome simply disappeared. All of them
got into trou,le not ,ecause of T@As inroads ,ut ,ecause of their own myopia. As with the
railroads! 'ollywood defined its ,usiness incorrectly. It thought it was in the mo(ie ,usiness
when it was actually in the entertainment ,usiness. BMo(iesC implied a specific! limited
product. This produced a fatuous contentment that from the ,eginning led producers to (iew
T@ as a threat. 'ollywood scorned and rejected T@ when it should ha(e welcomed it as an
opportunityDan opportunity to e=pand the entertainment ,usiness.
Today! T@ is a ,igger ,usiness than the old narrowly defined mo(ie ,usiness e(er was. 'ad
'ollywood ,een customer oriented (pro(iding entertainment+ rather than product oriented
(making mo(ies+! would it ha(e gone through the fiscal purgatory that it did4 I dou,t it. 3hat
ultimately sa(ed 'ollywood and accounted for its resurgence was the wa(e of new young
writers! producers! and directors whose pre(ious successes in tele(ision had decimated the
old mo(ie companies and toppled the ,ig mo(ie moguls.
There are other! less o,(ious e=amples of industries that ha(e ,een and are now
endangering their futures ,y improperly defining their purposes. I shall discuss some of them
in detail later and analy7e the kind of policies that lead to trou,le. *ight now! it may help to
show what a thoroughly customer-oriented management can do to keep a growth industry
growing! e(en after the o,(ious opportunities ha(e ,een e=hausted! and here there are two
e=amples that ha(e ,een around for a long time. They are nylon and glassDspecifically! 9.I.
du <ont de Eemours and .ompany and .orning Flass 3orks.
)oth companies ha(e great technical competence. Their product orientation is
un2uestioned. )ut this alone does not e=plain their success. After all! who was more
pridefully product oriented and product conscious than the erstwhile Eew 9ngland te=tile
companies that ha(e ,een so thoroughly massacred4 The Gu<onts and the .ornings ha(e
succeeded not primarily ,ecause of their product or research orientation ,ut ,ecause they
ha(e ,een thoroughly customer oriented also. It is constant watchfulness for opportunities to
apply their technical know-how to the creation of customer-satisfying uses that accounts for
their prodigious output of successful new products. 3ithout a (ery sophisticated eye on the
customer! most of their new products might ha(e ,een wrong! their sales methods useless.
Aluminum has also continued to ,e a growth industry! thanks to the efforts of two wartime-
created companies that deli,erately set a,out in(enting new customer-satisfying uses.
3ithout Haiser AluminumI .hemical .orporation and *eynolds Metals .ompany! the total
demand for aluminum today would ,e (astly less.
:ther 9J>
Marketing myopia is an ad(ertising strategy that does not focus on the needs and wants of
consumers! ,ut the desires of a company to sell specific goods or ser(ices in the economic
market. .lassic economic theory attempts to e=plain that consumers will tell companies the
type of goods and ser(ices desired through the economic ,eha(ior demonstrated ,y
indi(idual consumers. .ompanies can ,enefit from this ,eha(ior ,y acti(ely researching how
consumers are spending their money and what goods are ser(ices are currently popular in
the economic market. Marketing myopia can distort the companyAs (iew when managers
focus more on what the company can produce rather then what consumers are willing to
,uy.
A classic e=ample of marketing myopia is seen ,y ;ord Motor .ompanyAs de(elopment of
the 9dsel. The ;ord 9dsel was a late #$1&s model passenger car ,uilt under the marketing
strategy that it was going to re(olutioni7e the automoti(e industry. The car was designed
with the intent of ,eing a large! stylish (ehicle that would meet the dri(ing needs for
thousands of 8.-. consumers and families. Although the 9dsel was released with much
fanfare and pu,licity from marketing agencies and media outlets! it was an almost immediate
failure in the consumer market. 3hile re(iews at the time cited the (ehicleAs poor
workmanship and styling! ,usiness e=perts ha(e attri,uted the failure to marketing myopia
and a failure to understand consumer desires. The name 9dsel is now a ,usiness term
synonymous with ,usiness or marketing failure.
Marketing myopia may also occur when a ,usiness focuses on de(eloping ad(ertising
strategies for wrong target markets or demographic groups. Indi(iduals in the economic
market usually (iew ad(ertising strategies or techni2ues in different ways? their perceptions
are ,uilt upon culture! race! age or other personal opinions. .ompanies that fail to
understand the perceptions of consumers when ad(ertising goods or ser(ices usually wind
up with marketing myopia.
.ompanies in todayAs ,usiness en(ironment often spend copious amounts of money
conducting marketing research ,efore releasing new products or ser(ices. This research or
focus group acti(ity may ,e related to the utter failure of the ;ord 9dsel marketing campaign.
*ather than spending huge sums of money on national ad(ertising or marketing campaigns!
companies will use test markets to determine the strength of consumer demand for goods or
ser(ices prior to a national rollout of new products. These test markets may also help
companies ,uild specific marketing strategies ,ased on the feed,ack they recei(e from
indi(idual consumers. Any information gleaned can help companies a(oid the terri,le results
of marketing myopia.