Marketing is simple, yet complex.

We are all involved in marketing and: the

enigma of marketing is that it is one of mans
oldest activities and yet it is regarded as the
most recent of the business disciplines
(Baker, 1976).
Marketing came into existence with the first barter
exchange (e.g. the barter trade in ancient Egypt,
Songhai and Ghana empires in Africa etc.) when
someone realized that exchanges add value for both
parties.
This was the first real step forward in economic
development.
Marketing has evolved (like other practices such as
architecture, medicine, engineering) over the
centuries to where it is today (Michael Baker).
According to Peter Drucker, the first test of
any business is not the maximization of profit
but the achievement of sufficient profit to
cover the risks of economic activity and thus
avoid loss.
Customers are the foundation of a business
and their purpose of existence.
In other words, customers are the mainstay of
the business.
As Peter Drucker puts it: There is only one
valid definition of business purpose: to create
a customer.
It is the customer who determines what
business is
What the business thinks it produces is not of
first importance, especially not to the future of
the business and to its success in the market
place.
The customer determines what a business is,
what it produces and whether it will prosper
(Drucker).
It is the most interesting, dynamic, versatile
of all academic disciplines.
It is both theoretical and practical in nature.
It yields real results in the form of profits
and/or satisfaction of business
aims/objectives.
It is a multidisciplinary (economics, psychology,
sociology, history, statistics) management process
of identifying and satisfying consumer and
organizational needs profitably.
The aim of marketing is to make profit and/or satisfy
business objectives.
Thus, overall, it enhances human and national
economic development/progress.
Compare (a) Advanced countries and
underdeveloped countries? And (b) a profitable
business and a less profitable business?
Marketing is the process of planning and
executing the conception, pricing, promotion,
and distribution of ideas, goods, and services
to create exchanges that satisfy individual and
organizational goals.

Source: The American Marketing Association
(AMA) (see www.ama.org).
Marketing is the management process
responsible for identifying, anticipating, and
satisfying customer requirements profitably.

Source: The Chartered Institute of Marketing
(CIM) (UK) (see www.cim.co.uk)
Marketing is an organizational function and a
set of processes for creating, communicating,
and delivering value to customers and for
managing customer relationships in ways that
benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Source: American Marketing Association, 2004
Organizational Resources

Effective match Specification
of
Target Market
Customer Satisfaction

Organizational
Aims/objectives
The Marketing Concept states that if a
business or organization is to achieve
profitability, the entire organization must be
oriented towards satisfying consumer needs,
wants and aspirations.
In other words, The Marketing Concept holds
that the key to success is through determining
the needs/wants/aspirations of target markets
and delivering these more effectively and
efficiently than competitors.
Organizations must concentrate on the
customer and not the product or the company.
Organizations should revolve round the
customer and not the other way around.
The purpose of a business is to create and
keep a customer (Theodore Levitt).
Consumer/customer Orientation

Total Organization effort

Profitability/achievement of objectives.
Do customers really know their
needs/wants/aspirations?
The choice of either consumer or competitive
orientation.
Adapting to change (rigidity,inflexibility of
the concept).
Conflict with social responsibility.
Limits in the applicability of the concept (e.g.
the arts, ideology such as political parties,
environmentalists greenpeace, religions
churches/synagogues etc
Too many advertisements are annoying,
misleading, or both.
There are too many unnecessary products.
Middlemen raise prices but dont add value.
Marketing makes people materialistic.
Most of the criticisms result from misunderstandings
about marketing (Perreault & McCarthy, 1999).
What is the product or service being offered?
What are the market trends in the industry?
What is the market?
Who are your customers? And what are they looking
for?
Who are your competitors? And how do they
operate/react/behave?
Why do (should) your customers buy your
product/service rather than that of your competitors?
According to Kotler (2004), a market consist
of all the potential customers sharing a
particular need or want who might be willing
and able (i.e., propensity to) to engage in
exchange to satisfy that need or want.

Source: Kotler, P. (2004), Marketing Management,
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliff, NJ.
Consumer Markets.
Industrial/Business to Business Markets.
Reseller (Retailers, Distributors) Markets.
Publics (Government
agencies/departments/institutions).
International/global Markets.
The process of applying the marketing
concept in the market place.
Maintaining a customer orientation.
All departments work together guided by
customer needs/wants/aspirations.
Focus on profits/objectives.


Source: Kohli and Jaworski (1990); Narver and Slater (1990).
Production Orientation
--1850s -> 1930s
Sales Orientation
-- 1930s -> 1950s Time
Marketing Orientation
-- 1960s -> ??
Consumer Relationship Marketing (CRM)
-- 1990s -> ??



Focus on the means of
production, and assumes
customers will want the
product/service.
Focus on the technical
perfection of the
product/service seen through
the producers (firm) eyes.
Assumes customers will
perceive product/service in the
same way and thus buy.
Focus on persuading (usually
aggressive) customers to buy
products which do not usually
match their requirements. This
is unlikely to lead to repeat
buy/business.
Focus on discovering customer
needs (basic survey/question & answer
type) and satisfying them. This is
unlikely to make best uses of
production and other
organizational resources.
Focus on the identification of customers
needs, organizational resources and
objectives. Achieve effective match through
market segmentation, targeting, positioning
and resource development (see also Role of
Marketing).
Market orientation is the organization-wide
generation of market intelligence pertaining
to current and future customer needs,
dissemination of the intelligence across
departments, and organization-wide
responsiveness to it (Kohli and Jaworski,
1990).
According to Narver and Slater (1990), Market
orientation comprises three components:
Customer orientation
Competitor orientation and
Interfunctional co-ordination.
Top Management
Interdepartmental Dynamics
Organizational Systems
Market (customer) Orientation
Employees
Environment
Business Performance.

Source: Kohli and Jaworski (1990)
Customer Orientation
Customer commitment activities
Creation of customer value
Understanding customer needs
Measuring customer satisfaction
Offering after sales service
Competitor Orientation
Salespeople share competitor information
Responding rapidly to competitors actions
Top managers discuss competitors strategies
Targeting opportunities for competitive advantage
Interfunctional Coordination
Engaging in interfunctional customer calls
Sharing information among functions
Integrating all functions in strategy
Contribution of all functions to customer value
Sharing resources with other functions.
Source: Narver and Slater (1990)
Social responsibility concerns a firms
obligation to improve its positive effects on
society and reduce its negative effects.

Marketing ethics are the moral standards that
guide marketing decisions and actions.
An organizations success in a dynamic business
environment is more dependent on adaptation to
changing and evolving customer needs/wants.
Higher degree of market orientation emanates from a
changing and dynamic market environment.
Lower degree of market orientation can be evidenced
in a market with a fixed set of customers whose
preferences are stable. Here, few changes are
expected in the marketing mix deliberation.
Kohli and Jaworski (1990)