Beef Exports to China Global Analysis

European Journal of Marketing 31,2 110
Received September 1993 Revised February 1994

Understanding the marketing concept as organizational culture
Gregory B. Turner
Livingston University, Livingston, Alabama, U S A, and

Barbara Spencer
Mississippi State University, Mississippi, U S A
The marketing concept is now firmly established among marketing scholars and practitioners as perhaps the optimum marketing management philosophy (Bennett and Cooper, 1979; Houston, 1986; Narver and Slater, 1990). Because it focuses on the customer’s point of view, this concept has stimulated a great deal of research on consumer needs and market characteristics. Certainly, an understanding of these issues is imperative for the formulation of effective competitive strategies. Just as critical, however, is the ability to translate these understandings into action. To date, there has been a neglect of research on issues concerning the successful implementation of the marketing concept. Practitioners are simply expected to accept the concept as the gospel of marketing, but few guidelines or techniques are offered to help facilitate implementation (Houston, 1986; Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Lusch and Laczniak, 1987). Recently, a new perspective for viewing the marketing concept has emerged within the marketing literature –- one which we believe may help to clarify the implementation issue. Some scholars are beginning to stress the relationship between organizational culture and the philosophy engendered by the marketing concept (see Deshpande and Parasuraman, 1986; Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Narver and Slater, 1990). Indeed, according to Deshpande and Webster (1989), the marketing concept defines a specific organizational culture, a shared set of beliefs and values centred around the importance of the customer in the organization’s strategy and operations. Consideration of the role of organizational culture with regard to the implementation of various policies and programmes has

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