1 Chapter An Overview of Marketing
I.
What is Marketing?
A. Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for
customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
B. Exchange. People are willing to give up something to receive something
they would rather have. An exchange can take place only if the following
five conditions exist:
1. There must be at least two parties.
2. Each party has something that might be of value to the other party.
3. Each party is capable of communication and delivery.
4. Each party is free to accept or reject the exchange offer.
5. Each party believes it is appropriate or desirable to deal with the other
party.
II.
Marketing Management Philosophy
A. Production Orientation. A production orientation is a philosophy that
focuses on the internal capabilities of the firm rather than on the desires
and needs of the market.
1. What can we do best? What can our engineers design? What is easy
to produce, give our equipment?
2. What services are most convenient for the firm to offer? Where do our
talents lie? If we build it, they will come.
3. A production orientation falls short because it does not consider whether
the goods and services that the firm produces most efficiently also meet
the needs of the marketplace. The furniture industry is infamous for its
disregard of customers.
4. When competition is week or demand exceeds supply, a production-
oriented firm can survive and even prosper.
B. Sales Orientation. A sale orientation is based the on ideas that people
will buy more goods and services if aggressive sales techniques are used
and that high sale result in high profits.
1. The fundamental problem with a sales orientation, as with a production
orientation, is a lack of understanding of the needs and wants of the
marketplace.
C. Market Orientation. The marketing concept is a simple and intuitively
appealing philosophy that articulates a market orientation.
1. It states that the social and economic justification for an organizations
existence is the satisfaction of customer wants and needs while meeting
organizational objectives.
2. The marketing concept includes the following:
-
Focusing on customer wants and needs so that the organization can
distinguish its products from competitors offerings.
-
Integrating all the organizations activities, including production to satisfy
these wants.
-
Achieving long-term goals for the organization by satisfying customer
wants and needs legally and responsibly.
3. Achieving a market orientation involves obtaining information about
customers, competitors, and market; examining the information from a
total business perspective; determining how to deliver superior customer
value; and implementing actions to provide value to customers.
D. Societal Marketing Orientation states that an organization exists not
only to satisfy customer wants and needs and to meet organizational
objectives but also to preserve or enhance individuals and societys longterm best interest.
III.
Difference between Sales and Market Orientations
IV.
Why Study Marketing?