Gurus On Marketing

and delivery of an order and to select, train, supervise, and motivate
their dealerships suggest that these too are integral parts of
the products people buy and are, therefore, ways by which products
may be differentiated.’ 22
He classifies a product into ‘The generic product’ the thing itself;
the expected product – things associated with the generic product
such as delivery, terms, support efforts; the augmented product
– attributes associated with the generic product beyond the
customer expectations; the potential product – all the things associated
with the product ‘to attract and hold customers’.
‘The way a company manages its marketing can be the most powerful
form of differentiation… Brand management and product
management are marketing tools that have demonstrable advantages
over catchall, functional modes of management.’
‘While differentiation is most readily apparent in branded, packaged
consumer goods,, in the design, operating character, or
composition of industrial goods, or in the features or ‘service’ intensity
of intangible products, differentiation consists as powerfully
in how one operates the business. In the way the marketing process
is managed may reside the opportunity for many companies, especially
those that offer generically undifferentiated products and
services to escape the commodity trap.’
The globalisation of markets
Levitt wrote another trail blazing article in 1983 on the subject of globalisation.
According to him there was a powerful force at play which
was bringing the world together. That force was technology.
Technology has facilitated common tastes and common demands, thus
‘homogenising markets everywhere’.
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GURUS ON MARKETING