IV. Render the text in English:

Практически любой компании требуются детальные и точные знания о своих потенциальных клиентах и характере их потребностей и запросов. Сбор, обработка и объяснение этой информации – изучение рынка – стало настоящей индустрией, где работает множество специализированных фирм, использующих новейшие научные методики и информационные технологии. Для мелких фирм такие агентства слишком дороги, и они проводят свое собственное изучение рынка (когда и где им это необходимо), посылая вопросники клиентам. Более крупные фирмы часто поручают провести изучение рынка специалистам. В этом случае применяются различные методы:

• кабинетное исследование, включающее использование внутренней и внешней информации;

• полевое (экспедиционное) исследование, включающее наблюдение, выборочное исследование, эксперимент, опрос (почтовый опрос, газетный опрос, телефонный опрос, личную беседу, работу групп, изучающих реакцию потребителей на новые изделия).

VI. Give a summary of the text. Marketing

The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.

or?

A business function (and a function of non-business enterprises) that often includes elements of sales, advertising, product development, research, pricing and other activities… i.e., organizational tasks.

or?

Any activity which supports the primary purpose of any organization – to gain and maintain a satisfactory customer base, or more broadly, to gain and maintain the support of important stakeholder groups.

or?

A force within the organization that encourages socially and ethically responsible behavior in the market place.

or?

A management orientation that suggests the objective of an enterprise is to identify and satisfy customer values better than competitors can or will do. This characterization of marketing implies that all organizations compete for markets (customers) and/or resources and that a major objective is to favorably differentiate your organization from that of your competitors.

There is little universal agreement on the best or right definition of marketing, although academics, particularly economists favor the first one, as a process. Concepts of management and organization evolve and change over time, and have more or less value depending upon a particular organizations circumstances. This is also true of marketing. From simple exchange processes that served the needs of ancient civilizations to the enormously complex processes of today, the foundation of exchange is creating or adding value for the buyer. And what is of value to a buyer is very often far from clear. There are a few rules which can help us identify marketing values, and to compete for customers more effectively.

Values are derived and influenced by what buyers think they know about the economy, technology, competitive offerings, and experience if any, with our firm as a supplier.

Buyers learn from experience and their values change. Think about your first home purchase, airline flight or automobile, and what was important to you then and what is important to you now as a buyer.

The process, functions, activities and forces of marketing provide a business with an enormous (and untapped) array of weapons, tools and techniques that are potential sources of competitor advantage.

In his book Marketing to Win (Harper&Row, 1999), Frank K. Sonnenherg, national director of marketing in Ernst&Young’s management-consulting group, writes about dramatic developments in the world marketplace that predicate deep changes in the way we manage and market our goods and services. “The bottom line”, he challenges, “is if you don’t change now, you may as well start filling your scrap-book with memories of today. It is unlikely you will have much to show for tomorrow”.

Two companies that excel in their marketing stances are Microsoft Corp. and Alcoa. Both of them recognized and mastered a leading-edge marketing mentality years ago, which propelled them into the world-class arena and to the top of their respective industries.

In a truly world-class organization, marketing is a conduit through which superior processes turn out innovative products to a worldwide audience. That channel operates in two directions. Initially, it transports valuable information about market needs and deficiencies into the company, where it is translated into superior products and service. These, in turn, are released into the marketplace.

The key to surviving the politically and geographically fluid markets of tomorrow is to understand that the only universal is change. Companies must be astute enough to realize that there is no one “right way”, and to be agile enough to respond responsibly and effectively to changing dynamics.

What links companies such as Microsoft and Alcoa, jettisoning them into the world-class elite, is their continuing tradition of exploring frontiers. Both are mavericks not content to sit complacently atop their respective kingdoms, but are driven, as overachievers, to push past the boundary of what we know, of what sells now, and of what is safe.

On the face of it, Microsoft and Alcoa appear to have little, if anything, in common. The former is an upstart pioneer and top performer in the young world of high tech. And the latter is as familiar as an old friend in a mature, heavy-manufacturing industry whose byproducts have been a part of American life for as long as most of us can remember.

Yet each is a dynamic industry leader and innovator, wholly responsible for nudging at the boundaries that define their businesses. It is this unique ability to “grow” the marketplace that makes these companies world-class marketing entities worthy of a closer look.

“To get results in the marketplace, your focus must be on positioning your firm and differentiating your services from the competition”.

TASKS