MARKETING MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHIES

 Marketing management involves carrying out tasks to achieve
desired exchanges with the target market. The question then is, what philosophy do
we use to guide these marketing effects?. Again, what weight should we give to
the interests of the organisation, customers, and society in this process
of trying to achieve the desired exchanges with the market?. These interests
often clash on a number of occasions.

Generally,
there are five alternative concepts or philosophies under which organisations
can conduct their marketing activities. These are the production, product, selling, marketing, and
societal marketing concepts.

THE PRODUCTION CONCEPT

This is one of the oldest philosophies guiding marketers. It
is of the opinion that consumers will always favour those products that
are widely available and highly affordable. Thus, business organisations that reason along this line usually
concentrate their efforts on achieving high production efficiency and wide
distribution coverage.

It has been
observed that this concept is appropriate under two situations. The first is
where the demand for a product exceeds supply. This makes customers to be more
interested in considering the
core product rather than its five points. The major task confronting the firm
here is to look for ways of increasing production.

The second situation is where the
cost of production is high and has to be brought down through increased
productivity to expand the market.

Some companies have been
making use of this philosophy of increased production and lower costs in order to bring down
prices, so as to capture more shares of the market.

However, the adoptions of this
philosophy often lead to the risk of focusing too narrowly on their own operations. Hence, such
organisations are often accused of impersonality and consumer
insensitivity. For instance, the low-priced goods being produced may not be attractive enough to a large section
of the market.

THE
PRODUCT CONCEPT

The underlying philosophy here is
that consumers will favour those products that offer the best in terms of
quality, performance, and innovative features. Management in these product-oriented organisations usually focus
their energy on making good products and improving upon them over time. In this way, it
may be said that an undue concentration is placed on the product rather than the
needs of the consumer and his ability to make an effective demand for such high-quality products.

The selling concept

The selling concept holds that customers if left alone, will ordinarily not buy enough of the organisation’s products. The organisation must therefore undertake aggressive selling and promotion efforts. It is assumed that consumers typical y show buying resistance and have to be coaxed into buying more.

This concept is undertaken most aggressively with unsought goods. Most firms also practice the selling concept when they have over-capacity. Their aim is to sell what they make rather than make what the market wants. Hence, marketing based on hard-selling carries high risks. For instance, it focuses on creating sales transactions instead of building a long-term, profitable relationship with customers. Once customers are dissatisfied, they may not want to buy from such organisations again.

THE MARKETING CONCEPT

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The marketing concept holds that the
key to achieving organisational goals consists in determining the needs and
wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more
effectively and efficiently than competitors.

The concept starts with the company’s
target customers and their needs and wants The company then integrates and
coordinates all the activities that will affect customer satisfaction. The
achievement of the company’s profit goal is made through creating and
maintaining customer satisfaction.

The marketing concept expresses the
company’s commitment to consumer sovereignty, that is, the determination
of what is to be produced should not be in the hands of the companies or in the hands of government but
in the hands of consumers themselves.

THE SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT

Recent developments all over the
world, especially with respect to environmental degradation, resource
shortages, explosive population growth, worldwide inflation, and neglected social services have
questioned the aim or appropriateness of the organisational goals of the marketing
concept. The feeling of Underestimate the concept sidetracks the potential
conflicts between consumers’ interests, and in the  long-run societal welfare

Because of such matters, a cal has
been made for a new concept to revise or rep taco Inc marketing concept. This has led to the
emergence of the societal mastering concept.

The concept folds that the
organisation’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to
deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than
competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the customers and society s well-being. The
societal marketing concept cal s upon marketers to balance three considerations
in setting their marketing policies, viz company profit, consumer want-satisfaction,
and social interests.