International Marketing: Adaptation vs. Standardisation - Essay Example

There is a difference in the way Douglas and Wind and Levitt perceive the marketing concept, which in turn determines its function. Douglas and Wind see the marketing concept the traditional way following the universally agreed definition that the purpose of marketing is "to serve the needs of customers". This concept is straightforward and sounds like common sense, which is probably why it is often misunderstood, forgotten, or overlooked. In fact, some "misunderstanding" lies in the centre of both sets of arguments.

Douglas and Wind remind us that the proper understanding of the marketing concept leads companies to focus their attention on serving broad classes of customer needs, rather than on finding ways to sell the firm's products (production orientation) or devising methods to attract customers to current products (selling orientation). Thus, using this traditional definition of the marketing concept, they argue that the function of marketing is to find out what customers need and want, and then work backwards to develop new or adapt existing products to satisfy those needs and wants.

In contrast, Levitt sees the marketing concept in a slightly different light, arguing that in the same way that the market does not even know what it wants or needs and could not tell business what to satisfy, customers are aspiring to enjoy the same things and are therefore becoming more similar. Whilst not denying slight differences in needs and wants according to cultural differences, he observes that customer needs are getting standardised everywhere in the world, so based on this concept, it is the task of the marketing function to educate the customer on the product or make him/her realise that what the company is selling is what the customer needs.

This point of Levitt is expounded in an earlier work, where he warns against a narrow understanding of the definitions of the marketing concept and function as a form of myopia, a lack of imagination (Levitt, 1960).Each one therefore sees two different trends characterising the change in the market. Douglas and Wind call it segmentation, and this is known currently by terms such as divergence, adaptation, market fragmentation, diversification, market of one, or mass customisation. They see each customer as unique and consisting of variety.

They see the market as dividing into splinter groups that share similar characteristics, some slightly the same and others slightly different, and that these markets have to be served through the marketing function. This viewpoint demands firms to adapt to different markets, study and learn each one carefully to determine both the common and the specific needs. This is the reason why they called globalisation a myth. Not only was it an attack on Levitt's work where "globalisation" implied uniformity and sameness, which is how Levitt saw markets evolving.

He saw the standardisation of markets and argued that world markets are behaving in similar ways, and therefore are developing the same sets of needs and wants. Levitt attributes to globalisation the growing integration of nations and their peoples, not only because of advances in transportation and communication, but also because they are getting integrated in what they want, need, and are willing to pay