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The Relationship Between the marketing Concept and Marketing Myopia
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The Relationship Between the marketing Concept and Marketing Myopia
The success of a business depends highly on the organization’s capacity to effectively
recognize and serve the needs of its customers. According to Kamasastry (2020), essential
factors to the success of a business include management, marketing, and human resources,
among other factors. Although all these factors are essential, marketing is crucial as it influences
the firm’s competitive advantage. The use of marketing data to formulate strategies is engraved
in the marketing concept, while the shortsightedness focus on production capacities and internal
growth are centered on marketing myopia. This essay will analyze the marketing concept and
marketing myopia to highlight the relationship between the two concepts.
The Marketing Concept
The marketing concept is a business philosophy which holds that the key to achieving
organizational success lies in creating, delivering, and communicating customer value. This
concept prioritizes the needs of the buyer rather than the seller as it is preoccupied with the idea
of satisfying these needs (Tadajewski, 2018). This philosophy represents a major drift in today’s
company orientation that provides the foundation for firms to gain a competitive advantage. To
adopt the marketing concept, organizations have to take strategic steps to gain as much
information as possible regarding the consumer (Tadajewski, 2018). The organization should
then make marketing, product, and even strategy decisions based on the information gathered.
Therefore, organizations that adopt this concept begins with the customer needs and work their
way backward in order to create value instead of starting with some other factors such as
production. Apple and Chick-fil-A are major examples of organizations that employ the
marketing concept.
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Marketing Myopia
Contrary to the marketing concept, marketing myopia occurs when all principles of the
marketing concept are ignored, disregarded, or inadequately implemented. It arises when an
organization puts too much effort and concentration on the manufacture of the product rather
than focusing on what the client needs. The theory was formulated by Theodore Levitt, who
observed that companies tie business success to the capacity to produce their products and
services in large quantities (Gallo, 2016). Levitt observed that the concept is wrong and more
effective to adopt a customer-centric mindset. This means that organizations that ignore the
marketing concept risk facing the negative effects of marketing myopia and ultimately failing.
The relationship between these two concepts is simple since the failure of an organization
to follow the marketing concept results in marketing myopia. The marketing concept informs the
organizational and marketing strategies used by the firm to fulfill the needs and wants of the
intended market. It ensures that the company provides high-quality and practical goods and
services (Tadajewski, 2018). Contrary to this, marketing myopia refers to the narrow-minded
focus that blinds organizations to prioritize quantity over quality. This leads them to concentrate
more on the manufacture and marketing of goods and services that have little to no value for
their clients (Kamasastry, 2020). An example of marketing myopia is Kodak which lost a large
percentage of its shares to Sony cameras for failing to evolve and plan for the boom of digital
cameras. Such kinds of firms typically fail as they forget to recognize strong customer
relationships as the main driver of business success.
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References
Gallo, A. (2016, August 22). A refresher on marketing myopia. Harvard Business Review.
Retrieved February 5, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2016/08/a-refresher-on-marketingmyopia
Kamasastry, P. (2020). Marketing Myopia–A Literature Review Based Contemporary
Perspective. Journal of Marketing Vistas, 10(2), 44-59.
Tadajewski, M. (2018). Critical reflections on the marketing concept and consumer sovereignty.
Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315630526-12