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Saturday, 3 June 2017

MARKETING: EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMISM

WHAT IS MARKETING?
¡  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 (AMA)
¡  The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably (CIM)
¡  Marketing is the art and science of creating change (disequilibrium) in markets in such a way that the change benefits the firm (or an alliance of firms) and, consequently, comparatively "disadvantages" rivals. If a market is in equilibrium, marketers are not doing their job.(*)
¡  Marketing exists because people have needs and wants that they are willing to satisfy by giving up things of value (like money for goods and services).
¡  Things of value are to be understood  as goods or services that are ASSESSED POSITIVELY by THE CONSUMER - AS PERCEIVED BY THE CONSUMER.
¡  So value is ‘perceived value’

FIRM orientation
ORIENTATION refers to a philosophy of doing business, conditioning what businesses do and how.  That is, what does it entail, who is responsible for what, ...
Orientation implies a way of thinking about marketing. This way of thinking has changed over time
(NOTE: Change over time does not imply evolution in orientation. One firm may have more than one orientation (e.g. May depend on product and/or market).

Major eras in the evolution of marketing thought
  1. Production (management philosophy)
    • Emphasizes the most efficient ways to produce and distribute products. Marketing had little importance.
  2. Sales (management philosophy)
    • Aggressive selling to move goods to consumers.
    • Some people still think  marketing = advertising + sales.
  1. Relationship / Consumer orientation (management philosophy, focus on satisfying consumers’ needs & wants)
    • Quality management is important to retain customers long-term (e.g. TQM). Marketing means dialogue and collaboration with customers.
  1. Triple Bottom Line (management philosophy)
    • Seeks to maximize financial, social, and environmental bottom lines  (i.e.  make $$ and contribute to society).
    • Social marketing concept - marketers must satisfy customers’ needs in ways that benefits society, as well as delivering value to the company. 
¡  Sustainability - Creating products that meet present needs while ensuring that future generations can have their needs met
Greater focus on accountability - ROI (Return on Investment) is the direct financial impact of a company’s expenditure of resources (e.g. time or money

A DIFFERENT LOOK AT THE Development in marketing thought

MARKETING: A PROCESS TO DEAL WITH  MARKETS
‘Consumer markets’ involve the end users of products (goods and/or services)
‘Business markets’ involve firms who produce to serve other firm’s  products

MARKET ORIENTATION
Market orientation is generally understood as the implementation of the ‘marketing concept’ -  a philosophy of doing business, which puts the customer’s needs at the centre of the organisation, while accounting for the environment where a business operates (including all other market participants, such competitors and government).

main ideas underlying Value
  1. Value to the customer  
    • The most common meaning of value is the ratio of costs (price) to benefits. Costs may be more than price, (e.g convenience, quality, location); Benefits may be more than quality (e.g. brand name, features).
  2. Value Proposition (by a supplier)
    • Refers the whole bundle of benefits to the customer. 
    • Emphasis is on the question: “What makes this product different?”
    • Suppliers identify and communicate their value propositions. 
  1. Value is in the eye of the beholder
¡  Because it’s not just about price, and its not just about quality. Value is really a combination of factors, such as price, quality, convenience, delivery/credit, before and after the sale service, etc.
¡  Different buyers weight the importance of each element differently, so while some consumers find price more important the before or after the sale service for certain items, other consumers may feel just the opposite.
¡  Marketers need to understand which factors are important to the majority of their customers, so that they can present a strong value proposition.
¡  Relationship marketing regards customers as partners, i.e.,, the emphasis moves from a transaction to a connection that may involve co-production;
¡  Why? It is more expensive to attract new customers than to retain current ones
¡  Calculating customer lifetime value (CLV) allows a company to decide which customers are “worth keeping” versus those which should be “fired”.
¡  CLV is about value to the firm

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