市场营销的含义

Norfolk: Fakenham Photosetting ltd Success in Commerce P15-21, 2005

Marketing Lobley Derek

Marketing Defined Marketing is a group of interrelated activities de-signed to identify consumer needs and to develop, distribute, promote, and price goods and services to satisfy these needs at a profit. Whether an organi-zation is large or small, whether it produces a product or provides a service, its long-range future is linked to successful marketing practices.

The old saying "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door" is not true. "They" must need the product, know about it, be able to get it when and where they want it, and be able to afford it. Marketing provides the means to make the organization successful in the long run.

The Marketing Concept Marketing was unheard of in the early 1900s. This period can best be described as I one where far more people needed consumer goods than companies were able to manufacture. This intense demand on manufacturing led to organizations dominated by production management. Companies had a production orientation: where the number one priority is to produce a good to keep up with demand.As manufacturers increased their production capabilities, the supply of goods available increased and inventories of goods developed. An emphasis on selling occurred. This need to sell led to a sales-dominated company — a sales orientation, whereby the energy of the company is focused on selling the products produced. The salesperson's job: (1) to make the desires of the consumers "fit" the products the company manufactures and (2) to convince the consumer to buy. The company's goal: to "Send the wagon out full and bring it back empty.” As more producers began competing for con-sumer dollars by making such high-demand prod-ucts as automobiles, vacuum cleaners, and refrig-erators, the supply of goods began to exceed the demand. Companies had to find a way to identify consumer demand. Organizations began to shift to a marketing orientation, which is an emphasis on identifying the needs and wants of specific con-sumer groups, then producing, promoting, pricing, and distributing products that satisfy these needs and earn the company profits. Companies that are marketing oriented have adopted a philosophy for the firm known as the marketing concept. The marketing concept is a be-lief that the company should adopt a companywide consumer orientation directed at long-range profit-ability. It includes the belief that all efforts of the or-ganization should be directed at identifying a All energies and talents were placed in the produc-tion function. Selling a good was incidental; deter-nd

mining consumer needs was unheard of. satisfying the needs of the consumer at a profit.

15 Success in Commerc A prime example of a person who did not initially adopt the marketing concept is provided by Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company. Through the early 1920s Ford Motor Company mass-produced more than one million Model T Fords off the as-sembly lines. When questioned about altering the style, color, or features of these cars, Ford's re-sponse was, "They can have any color they want as long as it's black.” A more appropriate answer to that was given by Alfred Sloan of General Motors (GM) who began redesigning the cars in GM's wide product lines each year to offer buyers styling, ac-cessories, and luxuries that Ford's rugged, reliable Model T lacked. A contemporary example of a company that got carried away with its own techno-logic capabilities and lost sight of consumer needs is Procter & Gamble with its Pringle's Potato Chips. Continuing to be the product no one really wants; Pringle's losses exceed $200 million. Marketing Functions At the beginning of the passage, we defined marketing as a group of interrelated activities de-signed to identify consumer needs and develop, distribute, promote, and price goods and services to satisfy these needs at a profit. What are these ac-tivities? Exchange Functions The exchange functions, buying and selling, are complementary activities that relay products to their intended users. Each consumer buys for his or her personal use, but other parties must perform buying functions that lead up to the final sale. Wholesalers, for example, are firms that distribute goods to other sellers. Retailers are businesses that sell to ultimate consumers. These retailers perform a buying func-tion when they obtain merchandise from manufac-turers or from wholesalers. Selling — the other exchange function — is the critical counterpart of buying. It includes not only face-to-face meetings between sales people and potential customers, but also such sales support activities as advertising, sales promotion, service, and product repair.