Marketing Management Philosophies

Marketing Management Philosophies

a. There are five alternative concepts under which organizations conduct
their marketing activities: the production, product, selling, marketing, and
societal marketing concepts.

The Production Concept

b. The production concept holds that consumers will favor products that
are available and highly affordable and that management should,
therefore, focus on improving production and distribution efficiency. This is
one of the oldest philosophies that guides sellers.
c. The production concept is useful when:
o Demand for a product exceeds the supply.
o The product’s cost is too high and improved productivity is needed
to bring it down.
d. The risk with this concept is in focusing too narrowly on company
operations. Do not ignore the desires of the market.

The Product Concept

e. The product concept states that consumers will favor products that offer
the most quality, performance, and features, and that the organization
should, therefore, devote its energy to making continuous product
improvements.
o Some manufacturers mistakenly believe that if they “build a better
mousetrap,” consumers will beat a path to their door just for their
product.
o The product concept can also lead to “marketing myopia,” the
failure to see the challenges being presented by other products.

The Selling Concept

f. Many organizations follow the selling concept. The selling concept is the
idea that consumers will not buy enough of the organization’s products
unless the organization undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion
effort.

o This concept is typically practiced with unsought goods (those that
buyers do not normally think of buying).
o To be successful with this concept, the organization must be good
at tracking down the interested buyer and selling them on product
benefits.
o Industries that use this concept usually have overcapacity. Their
aim is to sell what they make rather than make what will sell in the
market.
o There are not only high risks with this approach, but low satisfaction
by customers.

The Marketing Concept

g. The marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals
depends on determining the needs and wants of target markets and
delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than
competitors do.
h. The marketing and selling concepts are often confused. The primary
differences are:
o The selling concept takes an “inside-out” perspective (focuses on
existing products and uses heavy promotion and selling efforts).
o The marketing concept takes an “outside-in” perspective (focuses
on customer needs, values, and satisfactions).
i. Many companies claim to adopt the marketing concept but really do not
unless they commit to market-focused and customer-driven philosophies.


The Societal Marketing Concept
j. The societal marketing concept holds that the organization should
determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets. It should then
deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than
competitors in a way that maintains or improves the consumer’s and the
society’s well-being.
o The societal marketing concept is the newest of the marketing
philosophies.
o It questions whether the pure marketing concept is adequate given
the wide variety of societal problems and ills.
o According to the societal marketing concept, the pure marketing
concept overlooks possible conflicts between short-run consumer
wants and long-run consumer welfare.

o The societal concept calls upon marketers to balance three
considerations in setting their marketing policies:
􀂃 Company profits.
􀂃 Customer wants.
􀂃 Society’s interests.
o It has become good business to consider and think of society’s
interests when the organization makes marketing decisions.