Towards a Contemporary Definition of Marketing - Assignment Example

? Towards a Contemporary Definition of Marketing of the of the Towards a Contemporary Definition of Marketing What is Marketing All About? Put very simply, marketing is all about finding a customer’s needs and wants and designing, producing and delivering a product or service that satisfies that need or want, at a price that the customer can afford. The marketing efforts should not only deal with satisfying the needs of the consumers, but involving the consumers in the process by taking and getting feedback and opinions about the product or service, with a view to providing a more desirable or better and improved product or service the next time around (Valentin, 1996). When customers are emotionally involved in the marketing process, and a firm genuinely uses the feedback to generate better and improved products and services, it will ultimately give the consumer a WOW experience. Modern and conscientious companies are today also considering the aspects of social responsibility, consumerism and environmentalism as they create products and services for a greener environment. Analysis of Definition Presented in the Textbook If one looks at the definition presented on Page 7 of the textbook, it states that ‘marketing is an activity involving a set of institutions and processes for communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, partners and society at large (Kotler, et al, 2009). Rather cryptic and difficult to understand for a layman, especially one that has not has any exposure to the field of marketing, selling or advertising. This definition is out of place in today’s world. The essence of a good definition is that it must be in simple language, and use terms that are easily understandable to one that has no particular knowledge of the subject (Jaworski and Kohli, 1993). But as one can see, the textbook has to gone on to explain each of the difficult terms like the marketing process, marketing mix, the concept of exchange and value, to name just a few. Hence it fails to give a clear picture to anyone who has no previous exposure to marketing or its activities. It also fails to consider environmentalism which is a key factor today. How Marketing Has Evolved: Five Different Perspectives It is very useful and enlightening to see how the concept of what constituted marketing has developed over the years. One sees from the textbook that there have been five different perspectives of the discipline of marketing that have developed from the latter half of the 20th century to the present day. These are (1) The Production concept (2) the Product concept (3) the Selling Concept (4) the Marketing concept and (5) the Societal Marketing concept. Each of these perspectives put a particular element at the center of the marketing effort, like a better production method, a better product, a better selling effort, distinction between selling and marketing etc. How a Company Has Changed Its Idea of Marketing: A Real Life Example For the purpose of this discussion we will take the case of Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and how its CEO Jan Carlzon revolutionized the organization’s way of thinking after he joined them in 1980. At that time, SAS was rapidly losing both revenues and market share, and its reputation was suffering as well. The company was incorrectly focusing on cutting costs and treated their customers as just one mass market with no market segmentation. Carlzon started changing the focus of the organization by asking three basic questions: Who are our customers? What are their needs? What must we do to gain their preference? Carlzon started with small steps, focusing on 1 percent improvement in a 100 different details, rather than expecting 100 percent improvement in any one. To increase customer focus and improve service attitudes, he sent frontline service employees and their managers at all levels to quality control and improvement courses. He taught that the purpose of frontline staff is to make the customer comfortable and the purpose of managers is to assist the frontline staff in this quest. The onus for change went back all the way to the CEO’s office. The amazing fact is that SAS was able to repair its reputation from being the least punctual to the most punctual and customer service oriented airline in an unbelievably short period of just four months. How the Current Definition Does Not Reflect the Changing Market Landscape While the societal marketing concept does take into account the various parties involved in the process of marketing, however it does not account for consumerism and environmentalism as being important to the marketing equation, while we know that green products are the rage now. Everyone wants to reduce their carbon footprint and reduce pollution and waste. One needs to leave a legacy of a better, safer, cleaner planet for one’s future generations. The Best Definition of Marketing and Why It is the Best The best definition of marketing in the current landscape is one taken from the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing which says that ‘Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.’ It is the best because it suggests that marketing is a process involving management and other stakeholders and its purpose is to identify, anticipate and satisfy customer needs which are changing from time to time. In other words, a business exists to satisfy the needs of its customers and other stakeholders. The changing landscape of marketing today involving consumerism and environmentalism could also be incorporated within the meaning of this definition. References Definition of Marketing from the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing. Online. . Accessed 09 Mar 2011. Kotler, P.; Adam, S.; Denize, S. and Armstrong, G.(2009). Principles of Marketing, 4th ed., Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest, NSW. Jaworski, B. and Kohli, A. (1993). Market orientation: antecedents and consequences. Journal of Marketing, July, pp 53–70. Valentin, E. (1996). The marketing concept and the conceptualization of marketing strategy. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Fall, pp 16–27. Read More