Page 17 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Marketing Management/Essentials of Marketing

Notes establishing a reliable information system to learn about real needs of customers and design the
right need satisfying solutions. Setting up an information system can usually be an expensive
proposition and requires committing money and time to its development and maintenance.
Company-wide coordination may require restructuring the internal operations and overall
objectives in case of one or more departments. Appreciating the critical role of marketing, the
head of marketing has to be part of the top management team. Acceptance and implementation
of marketing concept demands support of top management and other managers and staff. To
inculcate a customer-orientation culture, it is necessary that employees at all levels in the
organisation should understand the value of the customer and the importance of the customer
satisfaction. Obviously, the internal customers (company employees at all levels) themselves
should be satisfied and motivated to promote an organisation-wide culture that puts high value
on creating a satisfied customer. For this, the company has to ensure an appropriate work
environment and take care of their legitimate needs. Benson P. Shapiro is of the opinion that a
company is customer focused if the answers are "yes" to the four critical questions:
1. Are we easy for customers to do business with?

2. Do we keep our promises?
3. Do we meet the standards we set?
4. Are we responsive to customer needs?
The marketing concept emphasises three main principles:

Customer-oriented Planning and Implementations

It should be the sole aim of all employees, irrespective of their department or functional area, to
satisfy customers' needs. It would require carefully segmenting the market on the basis of the
right criteria, targeting suitable segment(s), learning about customer needs and wants, analysing
and spotting the right opportunities and matching them with the company's strengths.

Coordination of all Organisational Activities

Mainly product planning, pricing, distribution, and promotion should be combined in a sensible
and consistent manner, and the head of marketing should be a part of top-level management.

Coordinated Marketing is Critically Important to achieve Organisational Goals

The reward of doing the job well will bring in sales and profits because without profits, the firm
cannot survive, neither would it be in a position to improve its offers.

Example: Marketing concept is significantly different from production concept and
selling concept. Not long ago, Indian auto companies, Hindustan Motors, Premier Automobiles,
and Bajaj Auto hardly showed any consideration for customers, producing obsolete models in
large numbers (demand exceeded the supply). Though the prices kept on increasing, little was
done to improve the models. Bajaj was the only manufacturer of scooters preferred by customers
and to own one, customers had to deposit money in advance and wait for five to ten years before
they could become proud owners. It is only after the entry of Maruti cars, with Japanese
collaboration, that things started changing. Premier Auto, and Hindustan Motors experienced
major setbacks, sales declined and ultimately there were hardly any willing buyers. In the
beginning, Maruti found it difficult to meet the demand and buyers willingly booked the car
and waited for delivery. Bajaj Auto faced a similar situation as customers had many choices of
two-wheelers. The position now appears as if almost every auto manufacturer is desperately

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