Marketing Myopia
Article: Levitt, T. (1960) “Marketing Myopia”, Harvard
Business Review, July-August, 1960
Marketing myopia is a term coined by Theodore Levitt. The fundamental concept to take from
marketing myopia is that a business will survive and perform better if it focuses on satisfying customer needs rather than selling specific products. Rather than defining the company and its products to respond to the customers’ needs and wants, this is a short-sighted, inward, myopic marketing approach focusing on the company’s needs. The failure to see and adjust to the rapid market changes is typically the unfortunate results. The core principle of marketing such as marketing concept, marketing or customer orientation and satisfying customers ' needs and wants are key elements in developing and sustaining the businesses.
Levitt offers examples of companies that became obsolete because they misunderstood what business they were in and thus what their customers wants. He identifies the Five myths that put companies at risk, such as Fateful Purposes, Shadow of Obsolescence, Population Myth,
Production Pressures and Dangers of Research and Development (R & D). He also explains how business leaders can shift their attention to customers ' real needs.
An organization’s success always relies on business direction and policiesthat set by the top management, in another word it can lead to failure if the direction and policies set incorrectly.
Levitt calls this asFateful purposes. Rather than looking at the whole picture, they see only the edge of the iceberg of business they are in. Hollywood as the example, many film companies went through drastic reorganizations or even disappeared because the industry thought it was in the movie business in fact it is in the entertainment business. Top management conducted an error on analysis which lack of comprehensive imagination had jeopardized the company survival and consumer satisfaction in entertainment industry by
Business Review, July-August, 1960
Marketing myopia is a term coined by Theodore Levitt. The fundamental concept to take from
marketing myopia is that a business will survive and perform better if it focuses on satisfying customer needs rather than selling specific products. Rather than defining the company and its products to respond to the customers’ needs and wants, this is a short-sighted, inward, myopic marketing approach focusing on the company’s needs. The failure to see and adjust to the rapid market changes is typically the unfortunate results. The core principle of marketing such as marketing concept, marketing or customer orientation and satisfying customers ' needs and wants are key elements in developing and sustaining the businesses.
Levitt offers examples of companies that became obsolete because they misunderstood what business they were in and thus what their customers wants. He identifies the Five myths that put companies at risk, such as Fateful Purposes, Shadow of Obsolescence, Population Myth,
Production Pressures and Dangers of Research and Development (R & D). He also explains how business leaders can shift their attention to customers ' real needs.
An organization’s success always relies on business direction and policiesthat set by the top management, in another word it can lead to failure if the direction and policies set incorrectly.
Levitt calls this asFateful purposes. Rather than looking at the whole picture, they see only the edge of the iceberg of business they are in. Hollywood as the example, many film companies went through drastic reorganizations or even disappeared because the industry thought it was in the movie business in fact it is in the entertainment business. Top management conducted an error on analysis which lack of comprehensive imagination had jeopardized the company survival and consumer satisfaction in entertainment industry by