Analysis for Marketing Decisions

PART 1: General Research

Maslow's Theory of Needs

Maslow (1943) presented his ideas in the form of a hierarchy, commonly known as Maslow's Theory of Needs. This theory helps in understanding the needs of human beings, and what factors motivate them towards achieving something.According to Hierarchy, five broader layers of needs of human beings were highlighted (Robert, Nicholasand Terry, 1984). The hierarchy can be viewed below in the figure,

Physiological Needs

The physiological needs include the basic needs of human being like food, clothes and shelter. These are the biological needs which needs to be satisfied before any other need in realized. When the physiological needs of a human being are satisfied, he can move up the hierarchy to satisfy his safety needs.

Safety Needs

This includes the needs for security, freedom, and protection in the world and society. When the physiological needs of human being are satisfied, he seeks to fulfill his safety needs. If this level of need is unsatisfied, the person feels deprived and unsafe in the society. The safety needs include personal, health as well as financial needs.

Social Needs

The social needs include the need for sense of belonging and love, which needs to be satisfied so that the person can move up to the next level of hierarchy. In this level, the person seeks for love and affection from the people around them. They need friends, family and a social circle where they can interact and socialize.

Esteem Needs

When the physiological, security and social needs of a person is satisfied, he moves up the hierarchy and their esteem needs are realized. In this level, the person seeks for strength, achievement, strength and capability. The esteem needs are generally classified in two levels, lower one and higher one.The lower needs include need for respect, fame, attention and recognition. While the higher esteem needs include self-respect, confidence, competence, freedom and independence. When the esteem needs of a person is satisfied, he moves to the next level of hierarchy which is self-actualization needs.

Self-Actualization Needs

This is the highest level in the hierarchy, and if all the other needs including physiological, safety, social and esteem are satisfied for a person, he seeks for self-actualization.It is general, the self-actualization needs of a person is never fully satisfied, while the rest can be satisfied fully. This includes the need for truth, wisdom, justice, perfection, beauty, uniqueness, aliveness, self-sufficiency, and meaningfullness.

Applications of Maslow's Theory in Marketing

In the perspective of marketing, Maslow's motivation theory is very useful as it helps in understanding the consumer behavior. Motivation is one of the driving forces, according to which they perform certain actions.This theory serves as a basis for understanding the behavior of consumers, and the actions of marketers are dependent on the consumer behavior.

The companies need to understand the theory well, to make sure they can regulate and control the consumer behavior along with understanding it. It is necessary, that while producing products the company seeks for the consumer behavior towards that product. If they do so, it will help in attracting ...