PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

Principles of Marketing



Principles of Marketing

Introduction

Almost every American has some conception of his country's technological prowess. It is easy to take for granted a continuing stream of inventions and innovations that enable our manufacturing, agricultural, and extractive industries to pour forth a constantly growing supply of products, increasingly varied in assortment and better adapted to the gratification of consumer and industrial-user wants (Abratt and Sacks, 1989). This paper discusses the principles of marketing in a concise and comprehensive way.

Principles of Marketing: A Discussion

Not so well understood is the significance of marketing which raises our living standards and provides us the means of meeting these standards. It is not surprising that the ordinary person has little appreciation of the role that marketing plays in our society, for it is only since about the 1920's that deserved attention has been given to marketing as a field of scientific study. It was not until the 1950's that widespread business awareness of the strategic significance of marketing was widely reflected in the prominence given to a marketing concept or a marketing orientation in the organization of even many of our most progressive companies (Abratt and Sacks, 1989).

As one moves through the pages of this book, one will have an opportunity to learn a great deal about marketing. At the outset, it is important to obtain a grasp of the nature and scope of the subject and to get an understanding of the way in which marketing conceptions have changed with the times.

Clearly, for purposes of objective study and clarity of understanding marketing as a significant social process, it is essential to take a viewpoint which is much broader than that of any participating party (Bartels, 1970).

Marketing is essentially a process like farming, manufacturing, mining, or construction. As such, it is basically functional in character and may, therefore, be defined as the performance of all activities necessary for ascertaining the needs and wants of markets, planning product availability, effecting transfers in ownership of products, providing for their physical distribution, and facilitating the entire marketing process. It thus embraces the entire group of functions performed and services rendered in the acquisition or distribution of products for further processing, for business or institutional use, or for ultimate consumption. The various methods by which these functions and services are performed, together with the institutions concerned and the policies adopted, are necessarily an integral part of the subject of marketing (Bartels, 1974). For various pertinent reasons, the scope of this book is limited to marketing activities as they apply to goods and services other than real estate and financial securities.

Intelligent marketing, as indicated above, begins with a consideration of the wants and needs of customers in the market. A market is a point, place, or sphere in which transfers in the ownership of goods are effected. Actual presence of goods is not essential since the principal characteristic is change of title. In fact, some markets are often devoted largely to the exchange of title to ...