Introduction
Marketing needs deliberate organization of an organization’s most delicate stage of all operation processes in an organization. Several research studies have been embarked on in the recent times in an attempt to discover the best approach likely to handle marketing flawlessly. In the discourse below, the authors present well researched topics that the modern market faces and relevant examples are used to illustrate the topics. Bearden, Ingram and LaForge (2001) as well as Hartley (2001) have been selected for the discourse that in turn presents useful links that modern comprehensive marketing exercise needs to touch on. In 2001, Bearden, Ingram and LaForge, the publication under the title Marketing: Principles and Perspectives was produced in one of such platforms of relaying such marketing information. In the same year, Harley published the book by the title Marketing Mistakes and Successes, detailing several cases where classical marketing tips were flawed or followed and the results obtained. Lessons learnt from the text contained in these books have been highlighted in the following book review, with regard to marketing principles.
Management issues surrounding decisions taken regarding marketing in the current market practices that are flanked by information appear to be an increasingly tricky business for managers. Mistakes are likely to be scrutinized using all resources available from the information that is now within the reach by the management. Mistakes of omission and commission can now be handled with clearer research approach than it used to happen before (Hartley, 2). Current management is buoyed by the fact that rare analytical resources are possible to be accessed to enable; early detection of problems, clear determination of the problems origin, creativity for alternative reactions to problems, fast reaction before havoc is caused and interpretation that mistakes can be used to learn useful operational practices in future and across organizations.
Bearden, W. O., Ingram, T, N. & LaForge, R. W. Marketing, principles and perspectives, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2001. Print
Market orientation
In Bearden, Ingram and LaForge (2001, 4), winning organizational practice regarding presence in the market is defined by how well the management assists the organization to create a market orientation. The authors predict that in order to understand the marketing experience that can favor the organization in a competitive manner, a foundation must be created in the initial orientation. To facilitate a winning advantage over the competitors, market study must be performed with respect to two important aspects. One of these aspects is the consumer factor while the other involves understanding competition awareness. Such a practice is a continuous practice that sustains and maintains the existence of the competitive edge that marketing ultimately aims to achieve.
Orientation for winning marketing practice entails collection of information of these two factors. Regarding the consumers, the organization needs to understand customers’ needs. After obtaining information on consumers’ needs, production and marketing considerably get shaped up as they must respond to the information obtained in such processes. The consumer is the driving factor for quality and quantity of the product that an organization presents to the market. Possessing market information, for instance regarding the various preferences held by customers should act as a pointer of how well prepared a company is to tap orientation strength for that particular market.
Besides customer awareness, collection of information regarding competitors’ capabilities in that particular market is essential in creation of a competitive advantage. It useful to learn how the competitors manage to survive in the market as a survival skill, but it would be important to have the same information to launch competitive warfare. Regarding the collection of such information, market research must be handled professionally to avoid unnecessary commotion between different organizations. A philosophy must be developed on how to maintain up to date information of the operation detail of the business rivals for strategic competitive advantage.
After obtaining the relevant information, the author recommends that the information is shared with the appropriate departments for action. Every role player in the company must be aware of the available information and the likely application that the organization ought to formulate. It would be useless for the relevant department to collect the needed information about customers and competitors. Every department touched by the information is required to translate the information thus obtained by applying the information to generate customer value. Sharing and conversion of the collected information into a useful tool needed for market orientation have proved to be very vital marketing foundations. Entrenching the practice into a routine by the organization creates yardstick by which performance can be hinged upon.
Strategic marketing
The author states that principles of marketing would be compromised within an organization if there is lack of strategy or clear action plans. Strategic planning for marketing in the organization must comprise of all relevant information about the organization decision that elastically translates into changes in performance. A marketing strategy considers the short term and long term objectives set prior to operation of the exercise. By the end of the exercise, the organization should position itself better than the rivals, having first tackled the customer issues involved. The author provides us with information regarding key decision to be made during the designing and launching of strategic operations in marketing (2001, 10). Decisions must be made to resolve vital areas of strategic marketing as highlighted below.
Firstly, decisions touching on product development must be coupled with brand development must be formulated as a matter of response to the market. Customers buy what they think would increase utility while satisfying their needs as well. Product quality and quantity of packaging must be done in a manner that clearly sets out the path that depicts customer demands. Secondly, pricing decision must be on an analysis that competitively positions the organization without any adverse effects to profitability. Competitive pricing responds to principles of fairness in setting of prices. Pieces should be allocated depending on the cost analysis. Profitability seems to be directly related to the pricing mechanism adopted. Thirdly, distribution of the commodities into the market to promptly meet the customer well being as remain attract to prospective. Fourthly, marketing communications are useful in determination of appropriate steps to take in a strategic marketing decision. Mix blending of the agreed product must then be adopted in response to the factors that the above decisions respond to. Mix blending adopted usually contains production of a combination of commodities driven by the issues highlighted for decision making.
Advertising and Promotion
Marketing communication that enables delivery of relevant brand results in the market is usually a strong tool used in the formulation of relevant advertising strategy as explained in Bearden, Ingram and LaForge (2001, 393). There are various ways of achieving a winning promotional advantage over the rivals in the market. For instance, personal selling (374) which entails the creation of marketing formulae that deals directly with the clientele for creation of brand loyalty should be assessed. The system should be completed by some strong integration of multiple means of marketing communication. During the relaying of the communication contained in the promotion, a comprehensively conclusive but consistent message should be disseminated.
The company must formulate specific and direct marketing objectives from the onset, in order to facilitate consistent results from the exercise. This is because brand name generation and a strong market existence are difficult ventures in the beginning (469). The most important positioning resource that the manager ought to exploit for the company is by establishing relationships with the market in such a way that immediate reaction and feedback can be achieved. Alternatively, the author reports that it is important to maintain and continually uphold the created relationships at the market level. Various sales promotion techniques should be explored but the author warns that over-reliance on sales promotion for market sustainability would certainly be devastating (435). It is indicated that the danger is mainly posed by the apparent consumer notion that initially emphasize on other aspects other than the real commodity benefits.
Hartley, R. Marketing mistakes and successes, Hoboken, NJ; John Wiley and Sons, 2001. Print
Entrepreneurial Adventures
The author dedicates a whole chapter to entrepreneurial adventures where new operation practices are explored from across the industries (Hartley, 9). Marketing at leading global corporations that can best fit in the description of a successful adventure are articulated in the entrepreneurial adventure section. The author attributes success of these corporations to some of the best marketing practices adopted at the various levels of operation that these model cases. Google on one end represents a modern innovation solutions corporation in the example, illustrating internet marketing success that an organization can achieve in the current market flanked by access of relevant information. Starbucks growth as attributed to winning market authority has been visited by the author to drive the point further home. Similar lessons are made with regard to the past and recent performances posted by Boston Beer. Marketing can be singled out from the entrepreneurial track enjoyed by the organizations that the author uses in the discourse that locates principles of marketing.
Marketing Wars
It is perhaps timely and appropriate that the author decides to include marketing wars between two of the top global soft drink manufacturers (Hartley, 61). Pepsi and Coca Cola have had one of the most accurate descriptions of marketing wars that modern market has witnessed. These organization have established themselves in the market in an almost nearly a synonymous format. In a similar manner, the author uses HP and Dell to illustrate how marketing can determine the fortunes of the entire performance of the company. Pricing has been applied in the marketing wars, where Dell once used low pricing strategy to edge past other competitors including Hewlett Packard (HP). Change of guard at HP with an aim of resurfacing as an all inclusive market participant presented marketing trouble for Dell which had to act in reaction. Main areas of marketing include brand identity where personal computer market battles have particularly been witnessed. The author clarifies marketing wars with further illustration that presents the rivalry between Boeing and Airbus in commercial aircraft market. Airbus initial limited capacity was not a hindrance to rising to glory, especially after learning that marketing flaws at Boeing could be used advantageously.
Comebacks
It is not until the author dedicates a section of comebacks by corporations that marketing adventure and wars start to appear definitive of the remainder of the discourse. Competition can lead to adverse performance where companies bow out while others rise up. The most important is how those that falter come to rediscover their position and make interventions. Using classical case studies, the author illustrates the importance of strategic attempts to launch comebacks where faltering has been recorded (127). The author presents McDonald’s rebirth by explaining the importance of operation moderation (129). McDonald’s diversification formula appeared ineffective in the repositioning that the Company needed in the immediate reaction plan. Alternatively, the case of Harley-Davidson is outlined for explanation of how corporations can launch comebacks (147). Competition with rivals such as Honda appeared to pose a severe threat than the management expected reducing effective market share to less than five per cent, up from 70 per cent in only a few years. The expected comeback was hard to achieve within three decades, which proves the importance of maintaining a market niche that is sustainable. Performance at Continental Airlines faltered to such an extent that employee motivation was at a record low but rediscovering operations coupled to management of marketing facilitated a rapid turnaround of events (161). Appointment of a new CEO at Continental Airlines was part of the package that the company needed to instill order back at the company and position the Company to one of the best in the country.
Marketing: Mistakes and Success
Up to that level, the author deals with issues that might not directly relate with marketing but clearly devotes the rest of the book to unravel pertinent issues related to marketing. Mistakes and success can be used to illustrate both weaknesses and strengths respectively in managerial practices. While mistakes ought to be avoided in all management roles, they certainly emerge and the lessons learnt can be used to inform management decisions. In the first section of this segment, the author presents marketing management mistakes, perhaps in a deliberate merit that creates a therapeutic impact on the reader who follows it up with the success section.
Under the topic Marketing Management Mistakes, the author presents the first deliberate attempt to directly deal with marketing (175). It is perhaps more important to disclose major marketing mistakes that managers make and dip their organization to trouble that would otherwise have been avoided. Aware of this fact, the author presents some classical mistakes made by model corporations that the modern manager should be aware of. The author equips the manager with marketing don’ts that managers should be on the lookout against, in an indirect manner that uses practical cases. Borden success in the dairy industry seemed to wane upon an acquisition that broadened its product range (177). Dissecting the possible cause of the problem, the author predicts that the brand strength could have been weakened by extended brand range without appropriate capacity extension. United Way of America suffered image destruction that tampered with public relations (190). According to the author, the publication of management flaws at the organization could have affected its market status. Contributions from well-wishers dropped drastically upon scandalous revelations that were made regarding the organization by the Washington Post. Mistakes of the management in the organization seemed to ignore the impact that such revelations would have on direct stakeholder equivalent to a consumer.
Assimilation and coordination issues affecting Daimler-Chrysler merger constitutes a major concern that modern management should beware of. Mistakes in creation of mergers for large corporations such as Daimler and Chrysler trickle far than operations, particularly dealing with repositioning at the hybrid market which needs special definition different from their discrete markets (203). Similar acquisition issues that the author uses to articulate the issues involved in such marketing decisions is demonstrated by use of Rubbermaid acquisition by Newell’s (220). Euro Disney wrongly relied on the records theme parks posted by establishments elsewhere outside Europe. Wrong market projections applied wrong success format to cause a serious flop in fortunes in France (233). Had Disney made the correct market positioning and orientation, the assumption held that the Paris market would be a replica of those in other places would not have occurred. Unique markets are only entered flanked by information on both all market factors. England’s outsourcing and sales promotion outfit, Mytag could not handle an overwhelmingly swelling demand following a mistake in an aggressive campaign (251). Using a merger example like those used before, the author closes the section with Kmart and Sears who failed to turn their low performances into success (267). The reason cited by the author to be the cause of the failure was mistakes of performance feasibility tests done by the management.
Deceptive sales practices have been visited by the author under ethical mistakes as some of the mistakes that management or staff make to destroy the opportunity of success for the company (351). Using the Ford and Firestone example of such deceptive and defective practices, the author explains how potent ethics is to business success (365). Upright business conduct enables business to thrive where all stakeholders feel protected and not taken for a ride.
According to the author, marketing success can be mentioned with reference to records posted by some corporations (281). Examples used to illustrate this point are Southwest airlines (283), Nike (302) and Vanguard (319). Using strategic marketing skills, some of the above highlighted mistakes have been resolved by the author.
Conclusion
Some of the basic lessons that the authors contribute to important principles of marketing include; mistakes and success that management in charge of marketing makes, comebacks that failed management decisions need to reposition organizations, marketing wars that companies enter into, advertising and sales promotion practices that rivalries enter into, strategic marketing in modern business, market orientation for competitive advantage among other themes brought out. Besides the main argument lines developed by the authors in these books, there are other themes that are brought out upon keen reading. Some of these splinter themes illustrate the impact of finding out that management needs to be alert for various roles including accountability.
Modern business practices will increasingly be altered by the influx of technology and innovations that define present operation and technology levels. It is therefore imperative that the management remains vigilant and alert to be able to react to changes in a sober and informed manner. Research from the market for instance cannot be replaced by any other operation since orientation is the best tool for market positioning. Using case studies in different perspectives, the management is able to learn useful tips of handling issues in future cases.
Works Cited
Bearden, W. O., Ingram, T, N. & LaForge, R. W. Marketing, principles and perspectives, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2001. Print
Hartley, R. Marketing mistakes and successes, Hoboken, NJ; John Wiley and Sons, 2001. Print