Module 1 - Lecture 3

Marketing Management
Approaches to Marketing

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Marketing Approaches
• Product or Commodity Approach:
– the focus is placed on the product
– the study relates to the flow of a certain commodity
and its movement from the original producer right
up to the ultimate customer
– one must begin to study and analyses the problems
relating to a commodity
• Pros: simple, descriptive study is possible.
• Cons: time-consuming, repetitive process
IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Marketing Approaches
• Institutional Approach:
– the focus is on the study of institutions
– emphasis is given to understand and analyses the
functions of institutions, who are discharging their
marketing functions
• Pros: pays attention to the problems and
functions of marketing institutions
• Cons: does not give knowledge of the entire
marketing functions, or explain interrelations
between different institutions.
IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Marketing Approaches
• Functional Approach:
• gives importance on the various functions of
marketing.
• In this approach, marketing splits into many
functions-buying, selling, pricing,
standardization, storage, transportation,
advertising, packing etc. This may be studied
one after another.

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Marketing Approaches
• Management Approach:
– concentrates upon the activities or marketing
functions and focuses on the role of decision-making
at the level of firm
– mainly concerned with how managers handle
specific problems and situations
– Ignores theoretical, focuses on practical aspects of
marketing
• Controllable factors – price, advertising etc.
• Uncontrollable factors – economic, political etc.
IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Marketing Approaches
• Systems Approach:
– focus on interrelations and interconnections among
the functions of marketing
– examines marketing connections inside as well as
outside the firm
– aim is to secure profit through customer-satisfaction

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Marketing Approaches
• Societal Approach:
– marketing process is regarded as a means by which
society meets its own consumption needs
– attention is paid to ecological factors (sociological,
cultural, legal etc.) and marketing decisions and
their impact on the society’s well-being.

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Marketing Approaches
• Legal Approach:
– emphasizes only one aspect i.e., transfer of
ownership to buyer
– explains the regulatory aspect of marketing
– does not give a clear idea of marketing

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Marketing Approaches
• Economic Approach:
– deals with only the problems of supply, demand and
price
– These are important from the economic point of
view, but fail to give a clear idea of marketing

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
Concepts in Marketing
Production
Concept

Product Concept

Selling Concept

Marketing
Concept

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
The Production Concept
• Assumes that consumers are interested
primarily in product availability at low prices
• Marketing objectives:
– Cheap, efficient production
– Intensive distribution
– Market expansion

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
The Product Concept
• Assumes that consumers will buy the product
that offers them the highest quality, the best
performance, and the most features
• Marketing objectives:
– Quality improvement
– Addition of features
• Tendency toward Marketing Myopia

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
The Selling Concept
• Assumes that consumers are unlikely to buy a
product unless they are aggressively persuaded
to do so
• Marketing objectives:
– Sell, sell, sell
• Lack of concern for customer needs and
satisfaction

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net
The Marketing Concept
• Assumes that to be successful, a company must
determine the needs and wants of specific
target markets and deliver the desired
satisfactions better than the competition
• Marketing objectives:
– Profits through customer satisfaction

IMBA Semester VI –
Marketing Management Prof. Subhasish Mitra www.atmiya.net