B. Although the full effect of these changes will not be recognized for some time, circumstances have forced businesses to move ahead by adjusting their marketing activities at both the strategic and tactical levels.
III. Basic Marketing Concepts
A. Different Views of Marketing1. Many people, especially those not employed in marketing, see marketing as a function of business. Other individuals, particularly those working in marketing jobs, tend to see marketing as a process of managing the flow of products from the point of conception to the point of consumption.
2. In 2005, the American Marketing Association changed the definition of marketing to better reflect the realities of competing in today’s marketplace: “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of business processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”
a) This revised definition stresses two critical success factors in marketing today: value and customer relationships. The AMA changed the definition of marketing again in 2007. The definition now reads: "Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."
3. A final way to think about marketing relates to meeting human and social needs. This broad view links marketing with our standard of living, not only in terms of enhanced consumption and prosperity, but also in terms of society’s well being.
B. What Is a Market?
1. At its most basic level, a market is a collection of buyers and sellers. We tend to think of a market as a group of individuals or institutions that have similar needs that can be met by a particular product or product category.
2. This basic understanding of a market has not changed in a very long time. What has changed, however, is not so much the “what” but the “where” of a market; that is, the location of the buyers and sellers.
3. Technology mediates some of the fastest growing markets. The term marketspace has been coined to describe these electronic marketplaces unbound by time or space. The shift from marketplaces to marketspaces has significant ramifications for marketers.
4. Many consumers have been slow to embrace marketspaces because they lack the human element. In these cases, the design and implementation of the online experience is a serious challenge for marketspace operators.
5. Another shift is the advent of metamarkets (a cluster of closely related goods and services that center around a specific consumption activity) and metamediaries (a single access point where buyers can locate and contact many different sellers in the metamarket). [Exhibit 1.3]
a) Metamediaries such as Edmunds.com fulfill a vital need by offering quick access and one-stop shopping to a wide variety of information, goods, and services.
C. What Is Exchange?
1. Exchange is traditionally defined as the process of obtaining something of value from someone by offering something in return; this usually entails obtaining products for money. For exchange to occur, five conditions must
be met:
a) There must be at least two parties to the exchange.
b) Each party has something of value to the other party.
c) Each party must be capable of communication and delivery.
d) Each party must be free to accept or reject the exchange.
e) Each party believes that it is desirable to exchange with the other party.
2. In today’s economy, exchange has become all too easy. Opportunities for exchange bombard us virtually everywhere we go—even in our own homes.
3. The ease with which exchange can occur today presents a problem in that individuals who do not have the authority to exchange can still complete transactions.