alternatives to a marketing orientation

Whilst marketing text books usually suggest that successful business will be "marketing orientated", it is the case in the real world not all businesses subscribe to the marketing concept.

The implications of believing in the marketing concept become clearer when the alternatives are examined:

There are three main alternatives to adopting a marketing orientation. These are:

(1) Sales orientation

(2) Production orientation, and

(3) Product orientation.

These are described briefly below.

Sales orientation

Some businesses see their main problem as selling more of the product or services which they already have available. They may therefore be expected to make full use of selling, pricing, promotion and distribution skills (just like a marketing-orientated business).

The difference is that a sale-orientated business pays little attention to customer needs and wants, and does not try particularly hard to create suitable products or services.

Production orientation

A production-orientated business is said to be mainly concerned with making as many units as possible. By concentrating on producing maximum volumes, such a business aims to maximise profitability by exploiting economies of scale.

In a production orientated business, the needs of customers are secondary compared with the need to increase output. Such an approach is probably most effective when a business operates in very high growth markets or where the potential for economies of scale is significant.

Product orientation

This is subtly different from a production orientation. Consider a business that is “obsessed” with its own products – perhaps even arrogant about how good they are. Their products may start out as fully up-to-date and technical leaders.

However, by failing to consider changing technological developments or subtle changes in consumer tastes, a product-orientated business may find that its products start to lose ground to competitors.