The Marketing Concept

The marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on
determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired
satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors do. Surprisingly,
this concept is a relatively recent business philosophy.
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 well-defined market, focuses on customer needs, co-ordinates all the
marketing activities affecting customers and makes profits by creating long-term
customer relationships based on customer value and satisfaction. Under die
marketing concept, companies produce what consumers want, thereby satisfying
consumers and making profits.
Many successful and well-known global companies have adopted the marketing
concept. IKEA. Marks & Spencer, Procter & Gamble, Marriott, Nordstrom and
McDonald's follow it faithfully (sec Marketing Highlight 1.2). Toyota, the highly
successful Japanese car manufacturer, is also a prime example of an organization
that takes a customer- and marketing-oriented view of its business.