Company
Orientations to the Marketplace
What philosophy should guide a
company marketing and selling efforts?
What relative weights should be given to the interests of the
organization, the customers, and society?
These interest often clash, however, an organization’s marketing and
selling activities should be carried out under a well-thought-out philosophy of
efficiency, effectiveness, and socially responsibility.
Five orientations (philosophical
concepts to the marketplace have guided and continue to guide organizational
activities:
1. The
Production Concept
2. The Product
Concept
3. The Selling
Concept
4. The Marketing
Concept
5. The Societal
Marketing Concept
The
Five Concepts Described
The Production Concept.
This concept is the oldest of the concepts in business.
It holds that consumers will prefer products that are widely available
and inexpensive. Managers focusing
on this concept concentrate on achieving high production efficiency, low costs,
and mass distribution. They assume
that consumers are primarily interested in product availability and low prices. This orientation makes sense in developing
countries, where consumers are more interested in obtaining the product than
in its features.
Let’s face it, to the average business person, marketing equals promotion.
