DEFINING MARKETING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
WHAT IS MARKETING?
Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest good definitions of marketing is “ meeting needs profitably.” 3 ALTERNATIVE PHILOSOPHIES THAT CAN GUIDE ORGANIZATIONS IN THEIR EFFORTS TO CARRY OUT THEIR MARKETING GOAL(S) THE PRODUCTION CONCEPT
The production concepts, one of the oldest concepts in business, holds that consumers prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive. Managers of production– oriented businesses concentrate on achieving high production efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution. This orientation makes sense in developing countries such as China, where the largest PC manufacturer, Lenovo, takes advantage of the country’s huge and inexpensive labor pool to dominate the market. Marketers also apply the production concept when they want to expand the market.
THE PRODUCT CONCEPT
The product concept proposes that consumers favor products offering the most quality, per-formance, or innovative features. However, managers are sometimes caught in a love affair with their products. They might commit the “ better mousetrap” fallacy, believing a better product will by itself lead people to beat a path to their door. A new or improved product will not necessarily be successful unless it’s priced, distributed, advertised, and sold properly.
THE SELLING CONCEPT
The selling concept holds that consumers and businesses, if left alone, won’t buy enough of the organization’s products, so the organization must undertake an aggressive selling effort. It is practiced most aggressively with unsought goods buyers don’t normally think of buying, such as insurance and cemetery plots and when firms with overcapacity aim to sell what they make, rather than make what the market wants. Marketing based on hard selling is risky. It assumes customers coaxed