which
marketer operates. For Esther and Jim Williams, who operate an A&W drive-in
in Mattoon, Illinois, community is quite small. For Verizon Communication, community
encompasses practically the entire world, extending even to outer space.
Regardless of the scope of the marketer's community, maintaining contact with it is
essential. Contact could mean reading the local newspaper and listening to the local gossip .
Or it could mean subscribing to information releases of several marketing research firms
that monitor world events 24 hours a day. every day Either might do the job, although the
differences in financial costs would be great. In
3 we discuss some of the more
important trends in the world community. Esther and jim would find this discussion inter-
esting, but not very useful.
U:timately, to be considered a responsible
in the environments in which it oper-
ates, marketers have the ongoing task of engaging in only pro-societal activities and con-
ducting business in an ethical manner. There are many marKeting companies that donate
millions of dollars or land to communities, clean lakes and rivers, revamp deteriorating neigh-
borhoods, give free product to the needy, manage recycling activities, and so forth. There
is no doubt that the need for marketing to continue such activities will increase.
T he Role of Marketing in t he Firm:
A Basis f or Classification
Marketing is an individualized ano highly creative process. Despite the availability of high-
powered compuLers and sophisticated software capable of analyzing massive amounts of
data, marketing is
more of an art rather than a science. Each business must customize
its marketing efforts in response to its environment and the exchange process. Consequently,
no two marketing strategies are exactly the same.
This requirement of marketing to play slightly different roles, depending upon some
set of situational criteria, has in tum provided us with a division of marketing into a num-
ber of different categories . This is not to imply, however, that there aren't general market-
ing principles that work in most businesses-there are. There is a right and wrong way to
design a package. There are certain advertising strategies that tend to work more often than
others. Rather, we are saying that because of certain factors, a
approach toward
marketing and the ensuing
will require some modification from the basic plan.
Shown in Table 1.1 arc the most common types of marketing categories. Since these
various types of marketing will be discussed throughout this text, a brief introduction is provided at this point.
Macromarketing Versus Micromarketing
The division of marketing into macromarketing and micromarketing is a fairly recent one.
Initially, the division was a result of the controversy concerning the responsibility of mar-
keting. Should marketing be limited to the success of the individual firm , or should mar-
keting consider the economic welfare of a whole society? Accepting the later, or "macro,"
point of view dramatically changes the way marketing is carried out. In this light, every
marketing decision must be evaluated with regard to how it might positively or negatively
affect each person and institution operating in that society. In 1982, Bunt and Burnett sur-
veyed the academic community in order to define more precisely the distinction between
macro- and mircomarketing.4 Their findings suggest that the separation depends upon "what
is being studied," "whether it is being viewed from the perspective of society or the firm,"
and "who receives the consequences of the activity." Examples of macromarketing activities are studying the marketing systems of different nations, the consequences on society
of certain marketing actions, and the impact of certain technologies on the marketing trans-
MARKETING: DEFINITION AND JUSTIFICATION
13
the f a c e of Charles D u b i n - c h o i r singer, moviegoer and
medicines have helped reduce the number of Jeaths by half.
TV director. Four y e a r s
Charles had " a funny
New medicines are also
to keep more pat ients out o f
in
chest." When Charles heard the
"heart
the hospital by controlling
lead to
from his
he feared losing his
heart
s u c h as high blood
and
cholesterol.
a n d his ability
life fully. But .
to effective
company researchers are
h a r d to
medicines. today he's enjoying
And,
discover
t h a t will help ma ke many illness
with his new healither lifestyle. Charles is also doing his part
and
of the past a n d
more
new
to keep h is heart in
Heart disease is the
hope for a better
p e o p l e
Charles
tl( death
Americans. But in the last .30 years, m o d e r n
can get on w i l h living a n d g o on wit h the
Amer I ca ' s
Companies
the w a y
in t h e s e a r c h (o r c u r e s
AD 1.2
The pharmaceutical ;ndustry tries to maintain contact with consumers.
action. The use of scanners in supermarkets and automatic teller machines in banking illus-
trates the last example. Micromarketing examples include determining how Nikon Steel
should segment its market, recommending how National Jewish Hospital should price their
products, and evaluating the success of the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign.
Service Marketing Versus Goods Marketing
The distinction between services and goods products is not always clear-cuL In general,
service products tend to be intangible, are often consumed as they are produced, are difficult
14