Chapter1 

: Marketing
2. Marketing principles

A. Needs and wants

MBA teachers, professor Smith, is introducing the overview of a module he is about to deliver in the new
semester:
‘The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as: “ The process which identifies, anticipates and
satisfies customers’ requirements profitably”.
Marketing finds out what products or services customers want or need and provides them at a price which
leaves a profit for the business.
Modern marketing management is very customer focused; it asks what they really need and if the business is
meeting those needs. Such market-driven businesses will change the product of service to suit the customer.
Marketing begins with analysis of the social, technological, economic, environmental and political factors that
will have an impact on customer demand for what the organization offers in the marketplace.
We will be looking later at range of techniques of primary market research (original data and internal company
information) and secondary market research (published statistics) that can help managers to find out what
customers want or need and what they are prepared to pay for.

Then managers can make better-informed decisions about the marketing mix-the product, pricing, promotion
and place- which can all be summarized in the marketing plan for presentation internally and to various
stakeholders: investors, banks, and so on.’

B. Development of marketing techniques

Marketing was one of the big ideas of the twentieth century. Peter Drucker described it simply as ‘creating and
keeping customers’. Customer focus distinguishes successful organizations from their less successful
competitors.

Marketing as a formal management discipline first emerged in post-war America, when the supply of goods
began to grow more rapidly than customer demand for them. Manufacturers found that in the face of
increased competition they had to rethink their attitudes to business. The old ways of operating were no longer
working. These included ‘production-led’ approaches that assume that if a product is of sufficiently high
quality, people will buy it without any further sales effort and ‘sales-led’ approaches that put all their energy
into selling the goods to customers. Where the high-pressures sales approach fails is in establishing long-term
business relationships with customers which leads to true success.
In its early days, marketing was used to help sell tangible products such as cars, ‘white’ goods such as freezers
and washing machines for the home and FMCG (‘fast moving consumer goods’) such as groceries and detergent.
Later, the basic principles of marketing were adapted to provide a clear structure for making significant
management decisions in public sectors such as education and financial services. Even more recently, interesting
work is being done to apply marketing principles in charitable organizations and the arts.

More recently, companies have found significant benefit in drawing attention to the use of environmentally
friendly materials in the manufacturing processes used in their product portfolio. Organizations in every
sector are making use of high levels of customer service, Web 2.0 and social media to complement, or even
replace, traditional forms of promotional material and advertising.

Teachers of the module: B. BRAHMI, A.YABOUCHE, B. BOUKROUH and M. OUAMER

 Chapter1  : Marketing
Activities
1. Find six word combinations using customer. Use texts A and B to help you.
2. Complete the student’s notes about marketing terms

apply marketing principles high-pressure sales approach market- driven

production-led sales-led supply of goods

1. …...................... = amount of products produced

2. ....................... = market is dependent on the high standard of the goods

3. ....................... = market is dependent on the number of goods sold

4. ....................... = guided by the needs of the customer

5. ....................... = hard sell

6. ...................... = put theories put theories about marketing into practice

3. Look at the customer product overview for the Kindle and then answer the questions. Use texts A and
B to help you if necessary.

Amazon-now supplying technical goods on the book buying public

The Kindle-Customer Product Overview

1. Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like
real papers.
2. Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
3. Wireless connectivity enables you to shop at the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle, whether you’re
in the back whether of a taxi, at the airport or in bed.
4. Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
5. more than 500,000 books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs available.
6. Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback; weighs only 10.3 ounces.
7. Holds over 200 titles.
8. Long battery life, Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day. Turn wireless off and
read for a week or more before recharging. Fully recharges in two hours.
9. Unlike Wi-Fi, you never have to locate a hotspot.
10. No monthly wireless bills, service plans, or commitments - we take care of the wireless delivery so you
can simply click, buy and read.

1- To what extent is the Kindle environmentally friendly?

2- Would you describe the Kindle as a tangible product, a ‘white’ good or an FMCG?
3- Where would you expect to find promotional materials advertising the Kindle?
4- What other goods might form part of the same product portfolio as the Kindle?
5- According to the product overview, what kind of customer service does the manufacturer of the Kindle
provide in order to meet customer needs and wants?
6- Which of your own personal consumer demands does this product respond to?
Over to you:

Think of a product or service your organization provides or a consumer

product you use. How would you answer the questions in 3 to create a
consumer product overview?

References: Professional English in Use Management.

Teachers of the module: B. BRAHMI, A.YABOUCHE, B. BOUKROUH and M. OUAMER