Marketing Myopia

Serving the customer is the most important, by meeting their needs.

You need to continuously ask: What are the customer pain points? And find solutions.

Myth 1: Population growth will ensure growth in demand

Myth 2: Our products have no competition
Myth 3: Mass production with economies of scale can help: Ford motors contradictory
example
Myth 4: Technology will ensure growth: Superior product will sell itself ideology

Most important Q to ask: Is not the basic solution identical? Pg.5, para 2, last line

Planned obsolescence

No growth industry: It is companies who create and capitalise or growth opportunities

{Growth assurance is false – taken from 4 myths}

Oil industry technology focussed on exploration, production and refining: Not on product
innovation.

Why do you think oil industry is thriving even when Levitt predicted its troubles?
- Reasons can be political
- Innovations from outside oil industry helped its growth

Mass production emphasises on selling rather than marketing

Selling focusses on needs of seller

- Converting products to cash

Marketing focusses on needs of buyers

- Creation, delivery and consumption to satisfaction

Mass production was a result not the cause, of low prices. Usually industry does opposite as
pointed out by Levitt {Myth 3}

Myth 4 leads to: Continued growth is a matter of continued product innovation and
improvement

- Factors sustaining this:

 Technology heavy top management : Low importance to marketing
 Realities of market short changed for controllable variables in factory / lab
 Customer info is only to help companies in what they do, rather than helping
customers

Organisation should think of itself as “buying customers” : “do things so that people love to
do business with Co”
Leader: Unless a leader knows where he is going, any road will take him there.

Questions to be asked by the manager are?

- What business are we really in?
- What are we really doing for the customer?

Limitation of Levitt argument / practical implementation

- Too much focus on customer
- Argument is apart from customer one should hearing stakeholders who contribute to
organisation’s success

New marketing myopia propositions

- Map company’s stakeholders
- Determine stakeholder salience: Who counts?
- Research stakeholder issues and expectations and measure impact
- Engage with stakeholders
- Embed a stakeholder orientation