marketing gurus offer new insights to profit and corporate
Mary E. Morrison
changes are afoot in the business world, and the companies
fittest for survival are those that are redefining marketing
as a driving force at the core of their organizations.
lays the foundation for the new marketing concept defined
by Philip Kotler, Dipak C. Jain and Suvit Maesincee in their
text Marketing Moves: A New Approach to Profits, Growth
and Renewal, published in March.
is an economy which is not marked by a shortage of goods,
but a surfeit of goods. Its marked by a shortage of
customers, explains Kotler, the S.C. Johnson & Son
Distinguished Professor of International Marketing. So
companies are intensely competing for the limited number of
customers, and that makes the marketing process much more
important in the hierarchy of company functions.
explains how technology, globalization, deregulation and privatization
have necessitated a shift in corporate strategy. It maintains
that the marketing paradigm has evolved through three stages:
from a selling concept that drives profits through sales volume,
to a marketing concept that drives profits through customer
satisfaction, to a holistic marketing concept that creates
profitable growth through capturing customer loyalty and lifetime
value. It is this idea of a holistic marketing concept that
creates the framework for Marketing Moves.
heart of the concept is the argument that to survive, companies
must focus on creating value for their customers, developing
their core competencies and establishing collaborative networks.
concept of holistic marketing says that other functions in
the company can become more efficient if you take the entire
perspective, as opposed to missing the forest for the trees,
says Kellogg School Dean Dipak Jain.
a competitive edge, the books authors argue, strategic
marketing must identify market opportunities, design market
offerings and create the business architecture to support
them not just oversee traditional marketing activities
such as advertising and direct mail.
really need to sit back and think about what the role of marketing
is, and how companies need to look at marketing not just as
a marketing function, but how it is important for the other
functions also, Jain explains.
is not revolutionary, but as many as 90 percent of todays
companies are not integrated at all, seeing marketing as an
after-thought rather than as a critical strategic initiative,
Kotler says. As examples throughout the book, the authors
cite companies that have begun to move toward a holistic marketing
concept. For instance, in a section about redefining a companys
business concept, the authors maintain that marketers must
present a big idea rather than a product category.
Disney is in the making people happy business;
IKEA isnt about furniture but creating a better
everyday life for the many; and what Sony really offers
consumers is miniature perfection.
is highly readable, presenting information in a clearly outlined
and compelling way, with numerous tables and sections of bullet
points. Yet the most valuable parts of the book may come at
the end of each section, where the authors pose questions
to ponder to help readers apply what theyve learned
in the previous chapter to their own business situations.
Some typical queries ask: Does your company have a satisfactory
system for estimating customer lifetime value? What are the
obstacles? With which distributors and suppliers should your
company build electronic information and transaction links?
says the action-oriented books best use might be in
after-hours meetings, when managers can take a chapter at
a time and try to answer these questions. Senior management
often focuses only on financial reports, which are inadequate
on their own, he explains. By considering the questions in
the text, these managers could create what Kotler calls a
is a step, Jain says. Its not telling you what
the answers are. It basically provides a framework, a structured
approach to think about these issues.