Management Information Systems
The marketing concept holds that achieving organisational goals depends on determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors do.
The selling concept and the marketing concept are frequently confused. Figure 1.4 compares the two concepts. The selling concept takes an inside-out perspective. It starts with the factory, focuses on the company’s existing products and calls for heavy selling and promotion to obtain profitable sales. It focuses on customer conquest – getting short-term sales with little concern about who buys or why.
In contrast, the marketing concept takes an outside-in perspective. It starts with a welldefined market, focuses on customer needs, coordinates all the marketing activities affecting customers and makes profits by creating long-term customer relationships based on customer value and satisfaction. Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the paths to sales and profits.
Many successful and well-known global companies have adopted the marketing concept.
IKEA, Procter & Gamble, Marriott, Nordström and Wal-Mart follow it faithfully. Toyota, the highly successful Japanese car manufacturer, is also a prime example of an organisation that takes a customer- and marketing-oriented view of its business.
Toyota is intent on getting deep into the hearts and minds of its customers, to establish precisely what they want and subsequently find ways to fulfil their wishes. In Japan, Toyota’s
14-storey Amlux building, resembling a blue and black striped rocket, attracts millions of visitors. These could be potential customers or people with ideas on how the company should respond to consumers’ vehicle requirements. These visitors are allowed to spend as much time as they want designing their own vehicles on computer/TV screens in the vehicle-design studio. Visitors can obtain specific information about the company, its dealers or
The selling concept and the marketing concept are frequently confused. Figure 1.4 compares the two concepts. The selling concept takes an inside-out perspective. It starts with the factory, focuses on the company’s existing products and calls for heavy selling and promotion to obtain profitable sales. It focuses on customer conquest – getting short-term sales with little concern about who buys or why.
In contrast, the marketing concept takes an outside-in perspective. It starts with a welldefined market, focuses on customer needs, coordinates all the marketing activities affecting customers and makes profits by creating long-term customer relationships based on customer value and satisfaction. Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the paths to sales and profits.
Many successful and well-known global companies have adopted the marketing concept.
IKEA, Procter & Gamble, Marriott, Nordström and Wal-Mart follow it faithfully. Toyota, the highly successful Japanese car manufacturer, is also a prime example of an organisation that takes a customer- and marketing-oriented view of its business.
Toyota is intent on getting deep into the hearts and minds of its customers, to establish precisely what they want and subsequently find ways to fulfil their wishes. In Japan, Toyota’s
14-storey Amlux building, resembling a blue and black striped rocket, attracts millions of visitors. These could be potential customers or people with ideas on how the company should respond to consumers’ vehicle requirements. These visitors are allowed to spend as much time as they want designing their own vehicles on computer/TV screens in the vehicle-design studio. Visitors can obtain specific information about the company, its dealers or