Analysis of Application of Marketing Principles in Apple and Dell - Essay Example

Analysis of application of marketing principles in two companies AFFILIATION: Introduction Every organisation exists in the market to meet the demands of its customers and it ensures that it offers a product or service range that is compatible with their requirements so that the brand occupies a distinctive position in the minds of the consumers (Turnois, 2004). In order to make sure that every company is able to sustain its position in the market, it will have to develop the marketing plan as either a product-oriented or market-oriented business entity. Although every organisation is targeting a particular market, it is also important for it to design its offerings in a way that will be appealing for the consumers (Narver & Slater, 1990). Out of all these marketing orientation and product orientation approach has gained significant importance and hence they are the most widely used strategies in majority of the organisations. This paper focuses on discussing the product oriented and market oriented approach and also discusses the organisations Apple and Dell regarding these approaches. Introduction to Product-oriented and Market-oriented companies Since the evolution of business marketing strategies have become critical for successful operations. Till the twentieth century most organisations were using product oriented strategies. But it has been observed that in the last few decades’ management of the organisation felt the need to create something extra for their customer. They also had to study the lifestyles and consumer behaviour patterns of the customers and then accordingly devise their approaches for the products and services being offered to the customers. Marketing Orientation Lukas (2008) defines the term market orientation as, “social and economic justification of an organization’s existence is the satisfaction of customer wants & needs while meeting organizational objectives.” So, the firms that are market oriented believes that it is the customers perceived value of the product or service that drives the sales of products and services of any particular organisation. The basic focus is on the customer needs & wants and integrating activities to satisfy these needs & wants hence creating value for the customer. There are certain advantages of being market oriented. The firms are much more aware of the customer needs & wants and hence able to produce products that are close to their expectations. This approach also allows organisations not to worry about whether product will be accepted in the market or not. The demands of consumers regarding researched products may not be a hassle in this approach as everything is being worked according to the requirements of the customer. This approach allows product teams to be streamlined and concentrate on all the products that are in demand and leave off the product streams for which there is no market existing. The importance of giving customers value has also increased immensely since a last decade or so and hence there have been changes observed in the business practices accordingly. This has led the strategies of the organisation to entirely focus upon the customer needs and demands. According to Zhou et al. (2008) strategies that most management of firms tends to employ includes: production orientation, product oriented, selling orientation, marketing orientation and social marketing orientation. Customers that become brand loyal for the organisation tend to have a major advantage from its competitors as it allows customer to be retained towards a particular brand rather than the chances of switching brands. Loyal customers may be willing to pay premium prices for their advanced products as well as they trust the quality of the brand. Product Oriented Homberg & Jensen (2007) defines the product oriented firms as, “a production unit which is organised and equipped in such a way that it can independently manufacture a certain finished product or product family.” The main aim of the product oriented firms is to achieve economies of scale by aligning processes that are specific. This strategy is more based upon the internal capabilities of the firm rather than the demands of the market. The advantages of product oriented approach are that it focuses mainly on the quality of the product. The design, features and quality of the product are the main elements of concentration of the product. Product oriented approach do not worry about the economy of any market and they also do not focus on the wants of the customer. They just focus on the product and the product caters towards a certain market segment according to its features. Product oriented approach uses advanced technology so that it produces products efficiently and in large quantities as well. Technology allows the organisation to produce mass number of products with a little manual effort. Different organisations in the same industry have employed different strategies. The strategies decided upon by the management are according to their perspective of looking at the business market. The strategy allocation is purely up to the management of the organisation rather than the industrial factors. The primary difference between the two types of businesses is the centre of focus in the business operations. In the market-oriented company, the major emphasis is on the fulfilment of customer’s demands and offering them products and services that will give them value for money. For such a company, the customer value is of immense importance and it tries to develop products and services in accordance to the specific requirements of the customers so that they are satisfied after using the company’s offerings (Kianto, Hurmelinna-Laukkanen & Ritala, 2010). Whereas, in a product-oriented company, a product is developed in a way that will be profitable for the business operations by achieving economies of scale and giving customers value for their purchasing decisions. Although the products are developed after analysing the needs of the customers but the main aim is to offer products in a bulk amount so that the customers are willing to purchase the items. The best examples of product-oriented companies are soap, shampoo, toothpaste and Fast Moving Consumer Good (FMCG) firms that are mainly sales-oriented (Homberg & Jensen, 2007). Example of Product-oriented Company There are many companies that are employing the product-oriented business approach to enhance their performance in the market. The leading companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Apple, Coca-Cola, Sony, Samsung, Levi’s and many more are utilising the product-oriented approach. It means that they make availability of the products after carefully surveying the demands of their target consumers so that the offered items are acceptable by the consumers (Zhou et al., 2008). Apple has been leading the smartphone industry for the last few years as it was the pioneer in introducing the concept of smartphone in the market. The primary aim of the company is to offer a spectacular range of technological gadgets to the customers so that each one of them can easily find a single compatible widget such as iPad, iPhone, PC, Tablet and etc. Majority of the products of Apple are technological savvy products. In case of iPhone, the company has implemented the product-oriented approach by offering the customers a wide range of options in the gadget so that they can easily select the one that has all the features required by the customer. The number of innovative products being offered by Apple takes place at a fast mode as it knows to maintain its market share; it needs to keep enhancing its product features for its valuable customers. Apple strives to introduce new and innovative products in the market with the purpose of exceeding the expectations of its customers and giving them the value for money. In order to ensure uniformity in the quality of its products, it has used same raw materials and procedures in manufacturing so that there is consistency in all of its latest offerings. Hence, Apple has outperformed in the smartphone market by implementing an appropriate concept for its business i.e. product-oriented approach. Example of Market-oriented Company In today’s tough and competitive environment, the only way of sustaining competitive edge in the market is to offer the products and services in ways that will best enhance the satisfaction level of the customers (Lukas, 2008). Some of the top-ranked companies that are making use of the market-oriented approach in their business operations are Dell, Amazon.com, Cisco Systems, IBM, SAP, Oracle, Starbucks and many more. Among all the examples, the best one is Dell that has ensured that it provides ultimate satisfaction to its customers by providing them the opportunity of getting their computes and laptops designed according to their own specifications (Kotler & Keller, 2009). Dell soon realised that it can eliminate the intermediary steps by targeting its customers directly. Catering customers in a direct mode is easier towards ensuring that the needs of the customers are addressed in the product. Dell has developed its own website and an efficient logistics system so that when an order is placed by a customer, it is immediately put in the order processing step and the order is completed and delivered on time. In this approach, the organisation has to be in a communicative mode as well, such as for Dell, it needs to respond to customers on an immediate mode so that customers can think of Dell as a reliable organisation. The customers just have to interact with the professionals of the company on its website and they need to provide their order details. It is ensured that the final order is 100% in accordance with the requirements of the customers so that they can use the computer or laptop with utmost ease and convenience. Convenience of using the product is another important element that needs to be focused by the organisation for becoming successful. This is another area where Dell concentrates at the optimum level so that there is no loop hole from the end of the organisation in fulfilling the requirements of the customer. Dell has focused on providing an excellent customer value so that it can sustain its competitive edge in the market. Difference between the two companies From the examples of Apple and Dell, it is evident that both companies primarily target towards satisfying the customer’s expectation level by offering them genuine and highly desired products and services. In case of Apple, the business success is measured in terms of value given to the customers by fulfilling the promise of providing them top quality products and services; its main area of focus is on sales. In addition, Dell is trying to provide extraordinary services to its customers by developing much closer relations with its customers by offering them the platform of availing customisation process opportunities. Another important area addressed by Dell is the approach followed by its competitors such as Intel, Microsoft, Apple and etc.; up till now, none of its competitors are offering such customised range of services to its customers (Inoguchi, 2011). Dell and Apple have been successful in their respective industries as they have ensured their strong long-term performance by keeping a close track of their markets and products’ performance so that the customers of Del remain loyal to the organisation for a long time. Conclusion The basic foundation of the two approaches is to provide exceptionally high quality services to the customers by going an extra mile. Both the companies have been successful in their approaches and it is evident from the fact that their performance is increasing at an accelerating rate. It is the way the management deals with the organisational goals and objectives in the organisation that allows firms to become successful or make them fail in achieving their goals and objectives. The profitability ratio of Dell and Apple has even doubled in the last five years as they have been effectively fulfilling the demands of their customers. This reflects and proves that both of the approaches can allow organisations to become successful. Hence, every organisation has to ensure that it follows either a product-oriented approach or a market-oriented approach by first analysing its target market so that it is able to survive for a long period in the market. Implementing strategies according to the approaches and according to the requirements of the product and market allows organisations to follow a smooth path in attaining success. References Homberg, C. and Jensen, O., 2007. The thought worlds of marketing and sales: Which differences make a difference? Journal of Marketing, 71(July), pp. 124-142. Inoguchi, J., 2011. Implementation of market orientation in small sized company: Case study on a Japanese apparel manufacturer. International Journal of Emerging Sciences, 1(3), pp. 200-210. Kianto, A., Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P. and Ritala, P., 2010. Intellectual capital in service- and product-oriented companies. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 11(3), pp. 305-325. Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L., 2009. Marketing Management. 13th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Lukas, B.A., 2008. When a firm is market-oriented: product and brand management implications. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 8 December 2012] Narver, J.C. and Slater, S.F., 1990. 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