Marketing Myopia Article Critique - Essay Example

? Marketing Myopia (Article Critique) Marketing Myopia (Article Critique) “Marketing Myopia” was written by Theodore Levitt for the Harvard Business Review and published in 1960 by said journal. Since then, the article has generated much critical acclaim and has gained almost cult status in the field of marketing. Taken literally, the name means short-sightedness in marketing, due to which the audience is unable to see the objects in the distant (future) and hence fails to plan adequately for them in the present. This phenomenon results in the audience losing out on opportunity which it could’ve capitalized on if it could have had a more visionary approach. Levitt spoke of the ‘Error of Analysis’ whereby, the company defines its scope inaccurately and is unable to grow because it has restricted itself. Companies tend to stop growing, not because of fall in demand or increased competition, but because they were mismanaged and failed to realize their own potential and the opportunities that would have come with it had they managed themselves properly and expanded their horizons, instead of having a very myopic view about their business. He gives the example of the railway, which has steadily declined over the years as other vehicles become mainstream transport. This failure is not because the demand for rail travel declined, it is because they had a “product-oriented instead of customer-oriented” approach (Levitt, 1960). In the same vein, the TV business is bigger than the film business ever was, just because Hollywood restricted itself to movies by categorizing itself as being in the film business and not the entertainment business and massively restricting its horizons. To explain the reverse side of the argument, TV is a success story because it has not restricted itself to one category. It provides all kinds of entertainment on almost any topic we desire and more importantly, it is customer oriented because it provides entertainment and not product oriented like Hollywood because they just ‘made’ movies. Levitt throws light on a customer oriented strategy; this is a proactive strategy and it allows businesses to grow even in hard times by capitalizing on their most important resource-their customers, it helps them avoid curve balls thrown towards them by the external environment and succeed in the face of changes and uncertainty. Levitt talks of the ‘Shadow of Obsolescence’ whereby companies stop growing once their products lose the sparkle, this often happens when a specific feature of their product that was supposed to have been bringing in the demand, becomes outdated and easily substituted by competition with time. He gives the example of the dry cleaning industry. Once thriving because it provided an effective way to clean wool garments, the industry is now dwindling as synthetic fibers replace wool, ones which are easier to clean and the dry cleaning industry becomes obsolete due to innovative products such as automatic washing machines. Another mistake is the ‘Population Myth’ whereby companies assume that a growing population is synonymous with a growing market demand and the ‘Idea of Indispensability’ whereby companies think they are safe from competition because their product is irreplaceable. This lulls them into a false sense of security and they end up functioning under a complacent strategy. An example of this scenario is the petroleum industry; due to its elaborate success throughout its history the petroleum industry has become complacent in its strategy and assumes safely that as long as the world’s population keeps growing, its customer base will forever increase. Complacency however, makes the industry myopic to the fact that many people are now becoming environment conscious and are interested in adopting alternative forms of energy that do not pollute, unlike petroleum products. Another mistake is due to ‘Production Pressures’, since companies are so engrossed in meeting production quota deadlines they lose focus of their marketing strategy. Without appropriate marketing to the consumer, the product has a greater chance of not being properly communicated to its target audience and being a flop. Levitt gives the example of the automobile industry in Detroit where their marketing strategy lacks a customer oriented approach and thus fails to connect with and consequently deliver products to satisfy the needs of the consumer; sales have not been able to pick up even though the automobile sector is completely focused on high quality mass production and meeting production deadlines. Problems may also arise when companies give too much thought to the future and end up overlooking the present. Levitt illustrated the example of the electronics industry. Their efforts of expansion are lead strongly by R&D and with little effort from marketing strategies. The dilemma is that just because they come up with a top of the line, technologically advanced product, does not mean that the customers will automatically want to buy it. Appropriate marketing strategy is necessary if the company wants to enhance growth and sales. Conclusively, there are some strengths and weaknesses that can be drawn out from Levitt’s work. Strengths include its relevance and applicability to all business entities even in changing times. His theory is backed by practical examples which further boost validity of his argument. Moreover, his theory can be used as a predictor of how a business will continue to perform in the future. Weaknesses on the other hand would include the fact that Levitt is overly critical of other theories and overly stresses his own theory, so much so that sometimes followers experience ‘Marketing Mania’ which is when they obsess about customer response way more than is healthy. In sum, Levitt stresses that the global industry should be driven by a customer oriented approach and that the industry has to stop treating ‘marketing as a step-child’ (Levitt, 1960) and incorporate active marketing strategies into business plans so that it can achieve successful expansion and growth. Marketing is not an add-on; it is an integral business component. Top management must be concerned with making their companies more proactive so that they know their customers better and can keep on catering to their needs and continually evolving. This article is recommended for reading by entrepreneurs and top management executives because it touches on critical issues that these people often lose sight of and need to consider and implement in order to be successful. Levitt’s work serves as a reminder and guidance on helping them not make the mistakes that they were otherwise more likely to make under their ignorance. References: Levitt, T. (1960). Marketing Myopia. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 38. Retrieved from: http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/77740/MBA%20Marketing/Lists/Tasks/Attachments/1/Marketing%20Myopia.pdf Read More