3.Evolution of the Marketing Concept

Although many firms practice the marketing concept introduced in the 1950s, many others do not. You can probably name a few in each category. If an organization is not practicing the marketing concept, it probably has either a production or a sales orientation. In the history of U.S. commerce, these two orientations generally preceded the consumer orientation that is characteristic of marketing today.

Production Orientation. Before 1920s, most U.S. firms had a production orientation, that is, their primary concern was to produce as much as possible, with high efficiency. This orientation is not surprising, since there was a large unmet demand for the basic necessities of life. The name of the game was to produce necessities such as textiles to make clothing, transportation, food, and shelter, at the lowest possible cost. Firms that prospered during this period were those who made major advances in production technology and could lower production costs as a result. For example, the success of Ford Motor Company was largely due to its superior assembly techniques, which enabled the production of a low cost automobile.

Sales Orientation. By 1920, more than the consumer really wanted or needed was produced. Thus the major concern of most firms soon became selling, and they adopted a sales orientation. With a sales orientation, firms aggressively use promotional tools, such as advertising and salespeople, to convince the customer to purchase the firm's product(s), regardless of whether the customer wants or needs the product(s). During the 1920s, firms added significantly to marketing expenditures in the areas of personal selling and advertising.

Firms with a sales orientation, however, did not have a consumer orientation. They were concerned with the consumer, but only in terms of how to get them to buy what the firm produced. This is the major difference between the sales orientation and the consumer, or market orientation, which is part of the marketing concept. A sales oriented firm considers the consumer only after the product has been produced, while a consumer-oriented firm consults the consumer and studies the market before the product is produced.

4. Marketing Management and Strategic planning

Strategic marketing management is the analysis, strategy, implementation, and control of marketing activities to achieve the organization's objectives. The two main components of strategic marketing management process are planning and execution - key terms in our definition of marketing. Planning is deciding today what to do in the future and consists of analysis and strategy. Execution is essentially making things happen and consists of implementation and control.The first step in the strategic marketing management process is analysis. It consists of identifying the firms’ STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES as well as OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS. Note that the first letters in each of these words compose the acronym SWOT. A SWOT analysis consists of studying a firm's performance trends, resources, and capabilities to assess a firm's strengths and weaknesses, explicitly stating a firm's mission and objectives, and scanning the external environments to identify opportunities and threats facing the organization. A firm's strengths and weaknesses can be identified and analyzed by studying performance trends, resources, and capabilities. Past performance typically is measured in financial terms, such as sales and profits, profits act as prophets, in a sense. For example, yearly increases in profits are a sign of strength, while a steady decline in profits indicates that the firm has a problem. Current resources and capabilities also help to determine a firm's strengths and weaknesses. Resources and capabilities refer to various things: special talents (i.e., the company has one of the most creative advertising departments in the country), areas of expertise (i.e., the company is e beer producer and is the industry leader in developing new brewery technologies), unique assets (i.e. the company holds 12 patents on new products or has $ 50 million in available cash), or any other advantage that can be drawn on for support (i.e., a pharmaceutical company may have excellent working relationships-with retail druggists.)

Opportunities and threats can be identified by stating the organization's mission and objectives and engaging in the process of environmental scanning.

A mission is a firm's overall justification for existing. The marketer can more easily identify opportunities and threats when the firm's mission has been clearly stated, because the mission provides a lens through which the external environments can be viewed. Defining what constitutes a threat – and an opportunity – depends on the nature of the firm's mission.

More specific direction is obtained by the statement of a firm's objectives, since objectives are specific, quantifiable results that a firm wants to achieve in a given period. Most firms, even nonprofit enterprises, develop financial objectives, which are objectives stated in monetary or economic terms.

The marketer wants to identify market opportunities that exist because there is an unmet or unsatisfied need or want in the marketplace and for which the firm has an interest in and capability to satisfy. At the same time the marketer should try to convert threats into opportunities. For example, toy industry marketing managers should view the decline .in birth rates as an opportunity to broaden their market base to appeal to adults by developing more sophisticated toys and games.

Once the SWOT analysis has been completed, the marketer can develop a marketing strategy to pursue a market opportunity. The two primary elements of a marketing strategy are selection of a target market and development of a marketing mix to offer to the target market. A marketing mix consists of product, distribution, promotion, and price decisions.