Marketing Myopia

I. Theodore Levitt

Image taken from:

https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/PublishingImages/stories/bulletin/2006/september/levitt.jpg

Harvard Business School (HBS) Professor Emeritus

Monumental and revolutionary figure in the field of marketing and former editor of
Harvard Business Review
Joined the Harvard Business School faculty in 1959 and quickly gained an international
reputation as a scholar, writer, and teacher
Known for his article, Marketing Myopia, which was first published in Harvard
Business Review (HBR) in 1960 and which argued that companies and entire industries
declined because management defined their businesses too narrowly, immediately
became a huge success
Popularized the word, globalization, with his 1983 HBR article The Globalization of
Markets
He wrote 25 articles for Harvard Business Review, four of which won McKinsey Awards

Reference: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2006/07/professor-theodore-levitt-
legendary-marketing-scholar-and-former-harvard-business-review-editor-dead-at-81/

II. Marketing Myopia

Video: https://hbr.org/video/3590615227001/the-explainer-marketing-myopia

Coined by the late Harvard Business School marketing professor, Theodore Levitt in
1960 (republished in 2004).
 Argues that companies are too focused on producing goods or services and dont
spend enough time understanding what customers want or need
o Lack of insight into what a business is doing for its customers
o Organizations invest so much time, energy, and money
o Thinking theyre in a growth industry
Encouraged executives to switch from a production orientation to a consumer
orientation
Levitt tells the leader of the organization: you are in business because you have a
customer. Therefore, you have to think about marketing

EXAMPLE: KODAKS Marketing Myopia

o Kodak did not fail because it missed the digital age. It invented the first digital
camera in 1975.
o However, instead of marketing the new technology, the company held back
for fear of hurting its lucrative film business, even after digital products were
reshaping the market.
o Unfortunately, the company had the nearsighted view that it was in the film
business instead of the story telling business, and it believed that it could
protect its massive share of market with its marketing.
o Kodak thought that its new digital technology would cannibalize its film
business. Sony and Canon saw an opening and charged ahead with their
digital cameras.
o When Kodak decided to get in the game it was too late. The company saw its
market share decline, as digital imaging became dominant.
o Kodak failed to adapt to a new marketplace and new consumer attitudes.

Reference: https://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2012/01/23/kodak-failed-by-asking-
the-wrong-marketing-question/#5d5de8d63d47

What Can You Learn from Kodaks Demise - Fortune

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BeKmJhQVWk

Or

Failure to See Unmet Needs (Kodak) | UC Berkeley Executive Education

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0Xod5pK3Uk

Cure for Marketing Myopia

 o Levitt suggests leaders ask themselves: What business are we really in?
o To answer that question is by asking themselves another: What are we really
doing for the customer?
o Successful companies focus on customer needs, not their own products and
services

Relevance of Marketing Myopia Today

o Very applicable today
o It provokes companies to answer this question: What are customers really
looking for?
o E.g. IBM Interactive Experience (https://www-935.ibm.com/services/ibmix/)
Were not in the business of information processing, were delivering
the communications that are valued by consumers.
Design Thinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXtN4y3O35M
o Levitt believed that executives couldnt predict the futureand shouldnt try.
Instead, by concentrating on meeting customer needs rather than on selling
productsby always keeping in mind the business that theyre really in
companies could be better prepared for whatever the future would bring.

Reference: https://hbr.org/2016/08/a-refresher-on-marketing-myopia

III. Evolution of Marketing Myopia

Image taken from: https://flora.insead.edu/fichiersti_wp/inseadwp2009/2009-08.pdf

The New Marketing Myopia

o N. Craig Smith, Minette E. Drumwright, and Mary C. Gentile (2009)
o Faculty & Research Working Paper
o Marketers have heeded Levitts advice to avoid marketing myopia by focusing
on customers and resulted today a new form of marketing myopia.
o This stems from the following phenomena:
Single-minded focus on customer to the exclusion of other
stakeholders
Overly narrow definition of the customer and his/her needs
Failure to recognize the changed societal context of business that
necessitates addressing multiple stakeholders
o This is one of the potential pitfalls of Levitts original idea: it puts great trust
in the consumer.
 o Levitt acknowledged how difficult it can be to listen to customers; he wrote:
Consumers are unpredictable, varied, fickle, stupid, shortsighted, stubborn,
and generally bothersome.
o But Smith, Drumwright, and Gentile go even further, arguing that its not just
about listening to consumers but about hearing all of the stakeholders who
contribute to your companys success, such as employees, suppliers,
shareholders, competitors, media, and community members.

References: https://flora.insead.edu/fichiersti_wp/inseadwp2009/2009-08.pdf
https://hbr.org/2016/08/a-refresher-on-marketing-myopia