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Marketing Management Unit 1
Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 1
Unit 1 Introduction to Marketing
Structure:
1.1 Introduction
Learning Objectives
1.2 Market and Marketing
1.3 The Exchange Process
1.4 Core Concepts of Marketing
1.5 Functions of Marketing
1.6 Importance of Marketing
1.7 Marketing Orientations
1.8 Summary
1.9 Terminal Questions
1.10 Answers
1.11 Mini-case
1.1 Introduction
Marketing is one activity which all of us seem to observe around us. Any
time you try to buy something, marketing has a role to play. It is often
viewed by many as being advertising or sales promotion or marketing
research. But it is a concept much larger than any of them or all of them
put together. Marketing consists of all those activities designed to create
exchanges which satisfy human or organizational needs or wants in a way
that brings profit for the firm. It performs the task of both identifying and
satisfying customer needs. This helps business enterprises in anticipating
customer demand and creating satisfied customers through conception,
production, promotion and physical distribution of goods and services. No
example can better illustrate this than the popular mobile phone. The need
to communicate from anywhere to anywhere gave way to a portable device
without the requirement of wires.
This unit deals with the meaning, importance and functions of marketing.
You will be able to read in some detail the earlier concepts of marketing
under which companies have been conducting marketing activities and the
modern concepts which are now being used are explained in detail.
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Learning Objectives
This introductory unit will help you get familiar with important concepts in
marketing. After reading this unit you should be able to
Define market and marketing.
Understand the concepts and functions of marketing.
Explain the importance of marketing.
Differentiate between types of marketing orientations.
Evaluate how marketing function has changed over a period of time.
1.2 Market and Marketing
What is Market?
Originally, a “Market” was a public place in a town or village, where
household provisions and other objects were available for sale. The
definition of market has expanded in this globalized world. The traders may
be spread across a whole town, or city or region or a country and yet form a
market. For example, stock market, Oil & Oilseeds market, Steel or Metals
market etc. where people across the countries can participate in the
business without being face to face.
The essential features of a market are (i) existence of a commodity / item
which is to be dealt with, (ii) the existence of buyers and sellers, (iii) a place;
be it a certain region, a country or the entire world and even a virtual place
like the internet and (iv) interactions between buyers and sellers to facilitate
transactions.
1. On the basis of Geographic Area
Local Market is the place where the purchase and sale of goods / services
involve buyers and sellers of a small local area. The example of local market
is a village or a town market. In this market, day to day requirements like
vegetables, fruits, meat and fish are sold.
National Market
When the trading involves both buyers and sellers of the entire nation then it
is called as a national market. The Cotton & Textiles Market located in
Mumbai, Tea and Jute Markets located in Kolkata are examples of this. .
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Global or World Market
Many manufactured products and specialized services are also sold across
the globe by many companies. Producers of Coca-cola and Sony brand sell
their products in the global market in almost all countries. Indian companies
like TCS, Infosys, and WIPRO sell and provide their IT enabled services to
many companies in different parts of the world. They operate in a Global
Market.
2. On the basis of Nature of Competition in the market
Perfect Market
It refers to a market or market situation where there is perfect competition.
Competition is said to be perfect when (a) the sellers & buyers of a
particular product are so many that none of them have to sell or buy at a
single uniform price. (b) Price is determined by the market forces of supply
& demand. This could be an ideal situation for all marketers. It may not
happen in its pure form. But we can see that there would a large number of
small traders and even manufactures in specific area dealing in similar
products and following more or less the characteristics mentioned above.
You may have seen traders of plastic products or warm clothes or hardware
in a specific local area.
Imperfect Market
In contrast to the perfect competition, the imperfect market will have
imbalance between number of buyers and sellers. This market is further
divided into three parts. They are Monopoly, Monopolistic and oligopoly. In
case of monopoly, single seller dominates the entire market where as in
oligopoly few sellers dominate the market. The details of these types of
markets will be discussed in the pricing unit.
3. On the basis of Nature of Goods Sold
Consumer Goods Market
Definition: A Consumer Goods Market is defined as a market where the
final output of the firm goes for the consumption by individuals or
institutions.
Consumer Goods Market
This is a market, where the buyers who are individuals and institutions
purchase a variety of products and services to satisfy their needs and
wants. For example, an individual buys a chocolate for his personal
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consumption whereas a family buys a refrigerator for household or family
consumption. Products sold in consumer goods market are classified as
non-durables, which are frequently purchased such as bathing soap,
detergent etc. and durables such as refrigerator, TV set, washing machine,
car, clothing etc. Non-durables are also known as FMCG – Fast Moving
Consumer Goods, e.g. soap, detergent etc.
Industrial Goods Market
Definition: A business market is defined as a market where output of one
firm goes either as raw material, goods in process or as consumables of
another industry.
This market is also known as organizational or B2B market. It is made up of
organizations including manufacturing units, service firms, government
departments and other business enterprise. The products which are sold in
the industrial goods market are typically, raw materials, machines, machine
tools, equipments, components and spares etc. Generally, the buyers of
industrial goods, purchase products and services either for producing other
products and services which can be sold in the consumer markets or for
using them to facilitate the operation of business enterprise. In many such
cases, the buyer is an organization whose consumption will depend on how
the end user‟s demand will change. Hence, in business markets, the
demand is a derived demand. Demand for steel will depend on the
consumption of steel equipments, rods and other accessories in the
construction and real estate sector.
Non-Profit and Government Markets
This market which consists of Non-Profit organizations such as social-
service agencies, educational organizations, charitable organizations and
Government Departments and agencies needs special skills to sell to them.
These buyers have limited purchasing power which is why pricing for this
market needs to be planned carefully. The Government, which is a large
buyer, makes purchases on the basis of tenders, bids and negotiation.
What is Marketing?
Simply seen marketing is a set of business activities that facilitate
movement of goods and services from producers to consumers. It is an
ongoing process of 1. Discovering and translating consumer needs into
products and services, 2. Creating demands for them, serving the customer
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and his demand through a marketing programme of promotion and
3. Distribution to fulfill the company‟s marketing goals in a competitive
environment.
It is evident that the customer, needs and wants are very important aspects
of marketing as of today. Customer focus is the very essence of marketing.
In this era of rapid changes, it is marketing which keeps the business in
close contact with its economic, political, social and technological
environment, as it informs the business of events and changes that take
place in the environment.
American Marketing Association (AMA) offers the following definition of
Marketing. (AMA 2004)
Definition: Marketing is an organization function and a set of processes for
creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for
managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and
its stake holders.
The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines Marketing as:
Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying,
anticipating and satisfying customer requirements, profitably.
Having understood what a Market is and what is Marketing, we will now look
at what is an exchange and also the exchange process.
1.3 The Exchange Process
Today‟s marketing system has evolved from the time of a simple barter of
goods through the stage of a money economy to today‟s complex
marketing. Throughout all these stages, exchanges have been taking place.
In small town and villages there were artisans such as carpenters, weavers,
potters blacksmiths, barbers and others such service providers who
produced goods and services not only for their own consumption but also for
exchanging with others what they could not produce but needed. This was
barter system of exchange. For a transaction to take place between two
parties, it was necessary that there be needs and wants on both sides. The
development of money came to act as a common medium, and the
exchange process became very easy and convenient. Fig.1.1. below shows
the exchange process under money economy in which products and
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services flow to the market from the producers and sellers and money, the
value of the products and services, flow from the buyers to the sellers.
Figure 1.1
Thus, exchange is an act of obtaining a desired product or service from
someone by offering something in return. This exchange process will
continue as long as human society exists because satisfying one‟s needs is
the basic instinct of human beings and no one can produce everything that
he /she needs. For an exchange process to take place, between two or
more parties, few conditions have to be met. They are:
1. Each party has something that could be of value to other party.
2. Each party has desire, willingness and ability to exchange.
3. Each party is capable of communicating and delivering.
4. Each party has the freedom to accept or reject the offer.
Activity 1:
Identify all the elements in the exchange process that were involved
when you visited a new restaurant to have your food. Compare the same
with any of the previous restaurants that you visited. Which factors did
you find unique or similar in the exchange process?
Self Assessment Questions
1. Marketing is often considered to be synonymous with _____________.
2. In perfect competition, price is determined by the market forces of
____________ and ______________.
3. In the case of ______________, a few sellers dominate the market.
4. The industrial goods market is also known as _____________market.
5. ______________________ is the very essence of marketing.
1.4 Core Concepts of Marketing
There are certain fundamental concepts and tasks which one needs to know
to fully understand the marketing function. These concepts provide
Market – Place of
exchange
Producers Sellers
Flow of Goods & Services
Flow of Money Buyers
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foundation for a marketing orientation and to manage the marketing
function.
1. Needs and Wants
The marketer‟s task lies in satisfying human needs and wants through the
exchange process. It is alleged that “marketing creates needs” and makes
people buy things they do not actually need. In reality, marketing or
marketers do not create “needs”, but they create “wants”. Some needs are
the basic human requirements of food, clothing, shelter, water and air.
There are other needs such as social needs, esteem needs etc. When we
desire certain specific objects or items to fulfill these needs, they are called
wants. For example, when a person is hungry, he can satisfy his hunger by
taking a simple meal at home. Instead, if he wants to eat a Pizza or a
Hamburger or a 5-Star Hotel meal, it is not a „need‟ but a „want‟. This
difference between wants and needs is not the same as understood in the
subject matter of „economics‟. The marketer identifies the need which may
lie unexpressed by the customer.
The task of a marketer is to influence our wants rather than needs. He does
so along with other influential factors such as socio-cultural forces and
institutions such as family, religion, and different reference groups.
Marketers, suggest to consumers that a particular car would satisfy the
person‟s need for esteem. They do not create the need for esteem, but try to
point out how a particular product would satisfy that need.
2. Demand
Human wants are unlimited, but their resources are limited. When a want for
an object is backed or supported by buying ability, willingness to spend and
desire to acquire a product / service, it becomes a potential demand. The
task of assessing or estimating demand is very crucial for a marketer. He
should understand the relationship of the demand for his product with its
price. Demand forecasting is essential for allocation of resources in a
company. This is the reason why marketers segment consumers on the
basis of their earning capacity. The income of the consumer indicates the
potential to buy.
3. Product and Services
„Product is a generic term used to describe what is being offered by a seller
or marketer. It may be a good, a service or idea, which can be marketed by
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offering a set of benefits it offers to customers to satisfy their needs.
However, there is a distinction between products and services. When we
say „product‟, we mean a physical or a tangible product such as a tooth
paste, a refrigerator or a mobile phone, whereas „service‟ refers to an act,
performance, a benefit and indicates intangibility and absence of ownership
or possession. Services can include banking service, hospitality service,
airlines service, health service, entertainment service etc. Thus, a product
can be defined as anything that can be offered to market to satisfy a need or
want. Today, many types of entities such as goods, services, experiences,
events, persons, places and ideas are being marketed.
4. Target Market
Very few products can satisfy everyone in the market. Therefore, marketers
divide the market into distinct groups of buyers who have similar
preferences. These groups are called segments with their own specific
demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics. The marketer
decides as to which of these segment or segments offer highest opportunity
for his company. For each of these target markets, the firm develops a
product / service suited to their needs. TATA group has recently designed
an economy car called „NANO‟ which is priced around Rs. 1 Lakh. The
target market for this car is all aspirants who dream of owning a car but
cannot afford cars, which are currently available for minimum Rs. 2.5 Lakh.
A Target Market is the group of people at whom a marketer targets his
marketing efforts to sell his goods and services.
5. Marketing Management
Marketing Management which is also the title of this course refers to all the
activities which the marketing managers, executives and personnel have to
undertake to carry out the marketing function of the firm. It involves
(i) analyzing the market opportunities by undertaking consumer needs and
changes taking place in the marketing environment, (ii) planning the
marketing activities, and (iii) implementing marketing plans and settings
control mechanism to ensure smooth and successful accomplishment of the
organizations goals. Marketing Management is a critical function, especially
in highly competitive markets. It provides competitive edge to an
organization through strategic analysis and planning.
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6. Values and Satisfaction
In developed and developing economies, consumers have several products
or brands to choose to satisfy his/her need. Consumers‟ perceptions about
value which they can expect from different products or services depend
upon several factors. Sources that build the customer expectations include,
own experience with products, friends, family members, consumers‟ reports
and marketing communications. Customer value is the difference between
total benefits received and total costs incurred by him in acquiring the
product or services. The types of benefits could be product‟s functional
value, or its brand related image value and any accompanying service
value. The types of costs a customer can incur may be monetary cost and
energy cost.
Value is primarily a function of quality, service and cost. Value increases
with increase in quality and service and decreases with increase in cost.
Value is an important marketing concept and the task of marketing is to
identify, create, communicate, deliver and monitor customer value.
Customers generally experience satisfaction when the performance level
meets minimum performance expectations of a product or service. When
the performance as perceived exceeds the expected performance level, the
customer will be not just satisfied, but delighted. Thus customer satisfaction
or delight with respect to a product or service encourages customers to
come back and repurchase the product or service in future. Satisfied
customers can be an asset to the marketing company over a period of time,
as they will spread favorable word-of-mouth information or opinions.
Self Assessment Questions
Are the following statements true or false?
6. The task of a marketer is to influence needs.
7. A want becomes a demand when it is backed by purchasing power.
8. A group of people to whom a marketer targets his marketing efforts is
known as a market segment.
9. The difference between total benefits received and the total costs
incurred by a customer is known as customer satisfaction.
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1.5 Functions of Marketing
The delivery of goods and services from producers to their ultimate
consumers or users includes many different activities. These different
activities are known as marketing functions. Different thinkers have
described these functions in different ways. Some of the most important
functions of marketing are briefly discussed below:-
1. Marketing Research and Information Management
Marketers need to take decisions scientifically. Marketing research
function is concerned with gathering, analyzing and interpreting data in a
systematic and scientific manner. The types of market information could
be analysis of market size and characteristics, consumer tastes and
preferences and changes in them from time to time, channels of
distribution and communication and their effectiveness, economic,
social, political and technological environment and changes therein. A
company can procure such information from specialized market
research agencies, government or can decide to collect themselves.
2. Advertising and Sales Promotion – Advertising is a mass media tool
used to inform, persuade or remind customers about products or
services. It is an impersonal form of communication targeted at a chosen
group through paid space or time.
Sales Promotion is a short-term incentive given to customers or
intermediaries to promote sales. It supplements advertising and
personal selling and can be used at the time of launching a new product
or even during its maturity period.
3. Product Planning and Management – A Marketer should identify the
needs and wants of consumers, develop suitable products / services
and make them available. Marketer is also required to maintain the
product and its variations in size, weight, package and price range
according to the changing needs and requirements of his customers.
Information available through Market Research helps product
management in taking appropriate decisions while planning the
marketing efforts.
4. Selling – This function of marketing is concerned with transferring of
products to the customer. An important part of this function is organizing
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sales force and managing their activities. Sales force management
includes recruitment, training, supervision, compensation and evaluation
of salesmen. They need to be assigned targets and territories where
they can operate. The salesmen interact with prospective purchasers
face-to-face in order to sell the goods. The purchaser may be end
customer or an intermediary, such as a retailer or a dealer.
5. Physical Distribution – Moving and handling of products from factory to
consumers come under this function. Order processing, inventory,
management, warehousing and transportation are the key activities in
the physical distribution system.
6. Pricing – This is perhaps the most important decision taken by
marketer, as it is the only revenue fetching function and success and
failure of the product may depend upon this decision. Therefore, the
decision regarding how much to charge should be taken such that the
price is acceptable to the prospective buyers and at the same time
fetches profits for the company. While deciding on the price, the factors
to be considered are competition, competitive prices, company‟s
marketing policy, government policy, and the buying capacity of target
market etc.
Activity 2:
Take a nearby departmental store and list out the various marketing
schemes (old and new) undertaken by the store to promote its products
and services. Did you find any drastic changes in the marketing efforts or
is the store continuously improving its marketing?
1.6 Importance of Marketing
Peter Drucker, the famous management thinker in one of his classic articles
has said “Marketing is everything”. All other activities in the organization are
support services to the marketing strategy that the company pursues.
Marketing is important not only to the company but to the consumers and
society and to the economy.
Consumer stands to benefit from marketing activities. He has more
alternatives to choose from, improved and better quality products are
available and he is able to buy goods at convenient locations. Thanks to
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much improved customer service, a consumer is able to complain and
expects his complaint to be attended in reasonable time. He can now buy
with credit or debit card or cash or on installments.
For the society as a whole, marketing is important because it acts as a
change agent making people use latest products and improves the standard
of living of the people. As we know, the main objective of marketing is to
produce products and services for the society as per their needs and tastes,
and while doing so it creates demand for these goods and services,
encourages using them, thus leading to higher demand and sales. This
higher demand allows the company to achieve economies of scale in both
production and distribution, resulting in decrease in production and
distribution costs which can be used to reduce prices to consumers.
For a company in any business, marketing is considered to be the most
important activity. It helps an organization to keep abreast of changes taking
place in the market and consumer tastes and preferences through market
research. Based on this reliable data, it responds to these changes by
rectifying any drawbacks in its products or changing its competitive strategy.
Thus the company‟s decision- making and planning are not based on just
hunches but on sound market information. The firm that follows such
practices is sure to prosper under all conditions. Marketing provides an
effective channel of communication to the company with its consumers by
way of advertising and sales promotion. Marketing thus brings revenue and
earns goodwill for the company.
Successful operation of marketing activities creates, maintains and
increases the demand for goods and services in the economy. It results in
the increased level of production. This, in turn, increases the national
income, which is beneficial to the economy. Marketing operations require
the services of intermediaries such as wholesalers, retailers, transporters,
and service provides for storage, finance, insurance and advertising. These
services provide employment in large numbers.
1.7 Marketing Orientations
Companies adopt different philosophies to market their products and
services. An analysis of evolution of marketing thought over last several
decades and reliance of marketing managers on specific marketing
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orientations, leads us to classify marketing concepts into several categories.
These categories reflect the philosophies guiding the company‟s marketing
efforts. The philosophy adopted by a company should strike a balance
between the interests of the company, customers, society and public. There
are five competing concepts and an organization can choose any one of
them for conducting marketing activities.
1. The Production Concept – This is one of the oldest concepts of
marketing and assumes that consumers will prefer those products and
services that are easily available and affordable. Companies which
adopt this philosophy for their marketing should focus on improving
production and distribution efficiency.
Production concept is a useful philosophy under situations where
demand is more than supply and the companies are trying to increase
production and when production costs are high. Companies are trying to
achieve economies of scale. Under such conditions, it is likely that
quality of products is neglected and service to customers is very
impersonal.
2. The Product Concept – Assumes that consumers will prefer those
products that offer quality, performance or innovative features.
Managers in such companies focus on developing superior products and
improving the existing product lines by devoting time to innovations.
The problem with this orientation is that managers forget to read the
customer‟s mind and launch products based on their own technological
research and scientific innovations. Very often it is observed that
innovations enter the market before the market is ready for the product,
or is aware or clear about its benefits.
This product-oriented management with excessive attention to product
rather than customer leads to short-sightedness about business. This
was termed as “Marketing Myopia” by Prof. Theodore Levitt of Harvard
Business School. He recommended that companies should have a
clearer and broader vision of business they are in and should adapt to
the changes in the needs of the customers and in the environment. For
example, a company like KODAK should not think they are only in the
business of selling cameras and photographic films. They should believe
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that they are in the business of preserving memories for customers and
photography in general.
3. The Selling Concept – The Selling concept assumes that consumers
generally, will not buy a company‟s products unless aggressive selling
and promotion efforts are undertaken. It also holds that consumers
typically do not think of buying these products which are non-essential
goods without persuasion or aggressive selling action. Use of this
concept leads people to believe that marketing is all about selling. The
problem with this approach is the belief that the customer will certainly
buy the product after persuasion and will not complain even if
dissatisfied. In reality, this does not happen and companies pursuing
this concept fail in business. This approach is applicable in the cases of
unsought goods such as life insurance and vacuum cleaners, that
buyers normally do not think of buying.
4. The Marketing Concept – The Marketing Concept proposes that a
company‟s task is to create, communicate and deliver a better value
proposition through its marketing offer, in comparison to its competitors;
to its target segment and that this customer oriented approach only can
lead to success in the market place.
Today, marketing function is seen as one of the most important
functions in the organization. Many marketers put the customers at the
centre of the company and argue in favor of such a customer
orientation, where all functions work together to respond, serve and
satisfy the customer.
Many successful and well known multinational companies have adopted
marketing concept as their business and marketing philosophies. Many
Indian companies in the banking and other service sectors follow
customer orientation and service as their motto. According to this
concept, a company‟s marketing effort must start right from identifying,
through Market Research, exact needs and wants of the target market.
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Table 1.1: Differences between Selling and Marketing Concepts
Selling Concept Marketing Concept
1. Emphasis on Product Emphasis on Customer needs and wants
2. Goal is to sell what is produced
Goal is to produce what is needed by the customers
3. Aggressive Sales and Promotion used
All the departments of the company work together for serving the customers
4. Objective is profits through Sales volume
Objective is profit through customer Satisfaction
5. The Societal Marketing Concept – This marketing concept
emphasizes that the key task of the company is not only to determine
the needs and wants of the target markets and deliver the desired
satisfaction, but also to preserve and enhance the consumers‟ and
society‟s overall well being.
This concept calls upon marketers to build social, ethical and environmental
considerations into their marketing practices. It seems to be an appropriate
philosophy for marketing at this time when there is environmental
degradation and social services have been neglected in India. In the recent
years, we have been witnessing a lot of complaints about products and
packaging that are harmful to health and ecology. Marketers must come
forward to protect the interest of both the customers and the environment
and this they can achieve by adopting or following the societal marketing
concept.
Activity 3:
Make a note on the selling strategies of a vegetable vendor near to your
locality and then compare his selling strategies with another vendor in the
same area.
Self Assessment Questions
Match the following sets –
Set A
10. Product concept
11. Production concept
12. Marketing concept
13. Societal Marketing concept
14. Selling concept
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Set B
a) Mass production and distribution
b) Marketing Myopia
c) Aggressive promotion
d) Customer satisfaction
e) Ethical marketing practices
1.8 Summary
Marketing is a dynamic and all pervasive area in business
The main functions of Marketing are Marketing Research and
Information Management, Product Planning, Advertising and Sales
Promotion, Selling, Physical Distribution and Pricing.
Marketing plays an important role in the economic development of a
country like India. It is also very important from the customer and
societal point of view as it helps improve the standard of living of people
through better product and service offers.
Marketing as a concept has evolved over a period of time and has
witnessed changes and modifications in its philosophy. There are five
concepts which describe this development and offer ways to companies
on how to conduct their business – Production Concept, Product
Concept, Selling Concept, Marketing Concept and Societal Marketing
Concept. However, the first three are of limited use today.
List of Key Terms
Market
Perfect market
Consumer Goods market
Satisfaction
Marketing concepts
Societal marketing concept
Marketing Management
1.9 Terminal Questions
1. What are the major differences between consumer and industrial
markets?
2. Explain the core concepts of marketing with suitable examples.
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3. List out the relative advantages and disadvantages of the different
marketing orientations.
4. Marketing is more than just selling. Explain.
1.10 Answers
Answers to Self Assessment Questions:
1. Selling/Advertising/Sales Promotion/Marketing Research
2. Supply and Demand
3. Oligopoly
4. Organizational/B2B
5. Customer focus
6. True
7. False
8. False
9. Marketing Research
10. 10b
11. 11a
12. 12d
13. 13e
14. 14c
Answers to Terminal Questions:
1. Refer to 1.2
2. Refer to 1.4
3. Refer to 1.7
4. Refer to 1.5
1.11 Mini-Case
How Euro Airlines became a Marketing Oriented Company?
When Tom Carlton became president of Euro Airlines, the company was
making losses. The earlier management had tried to counter this problem by
cutting costs. Carlton felt this was not the correct solution. According to him,
the company needed to find ways of increasing business and revenues. At
this point, the airline catered to all classes of travelers and did not offer any
special advantages to any one class. Therefore, the first task was to identify
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the target market. Carlton decided to focus on businessmen who fly
frequently. This was a segment which was being targeted by many other
airlines. They were offering various services like free drinks, wider seats and
so on. Market research was done to find out what the customers wanted.
The findings revealed that punctuality was the most important consideration
for business flyers. They also wanted to be able to check in quickly and
retrieve their luggage quickly on arrival at their destination.
Several groups were formed to come up with different ideas on how these
goals could be achieved. Hundreds of proposals were submitted, of which
150 were adopted. One of the most important was to make all employees
more customer-oriented. Carlton figured that the average passenger comes
into contact with 5 employees on an average flight. Each contact could
contribute to customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the airline. To
create the right attitude, the front line staff was sent to two day service
seminars. The managers were sent on three week courses. Carlton
regarded the front-line staff, who interacted with passengers daily as the
most important people in the company. The managers‟ job was to provide
support to the front line people, to help them do their job better. His job as
President was to help the managers in this task.
As a result of these measures, Euro Airlines became the most punctual
airline in Europe within six months. A special service was introduced where
travelers who were staying in Euro Airlines hotels could have their luggage
sent directly to the airport for check in. The speed with which luggage was
unloaded on landing was also improved. Thus the airline was able to
improve its reputation with the business flyers, which in turn resulted in a
significant increase in full fare travel with them.
From the above case, identify the different concepts in marketing.