Marketing_Management_14th_Edition-min

622 PART 8 CREATING SUCCESSFUL LONG-TERM GROWTH
TABLE 22.1
Important Shifts in Marketing and Business Practices
• Reengineering. Appointing teams to manage customer-value-building processes and break down walls between departments
• Outsourcing. Buying more goods and services from outside domestic or foreign vendors
• Benchmarking. Studying “best practice companies” to improve performance
• Supplier partnering. Partnering with fewer but better value-adding suppliers
• Customer partnering. Working more closely with customers to add value to their operations
• Merging. Acquiring or merging with firms in the same or complementary industries to gain economies of scale and scope
• Globalizing. Increasing efforts to “think global” and “act local”
• Flattening. Reducing the number of organizational levels to get closer to the customer
• Focusing. Determining the most profitable businesses and customers and focusing on them
• Justifying. Becoming more accountable by measuring, analyzing, and documenting the effects of marketing actions
• Accelerating. Designing the organization and setting up processes to respond more quickly to changes in the environment
• Empowering. Encouraging and empowering personnel to produce more ideas and take more initiative
• Broadening. Factoring the interests of customers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders into the activities of the enterprise
• Monitoring. Tracking what is said online and elsewhere and studying customers, competitors, and others to improve business practices
In today’s highly competitive,
ever-changing marketing environment,
firms such as Blockbuster
that do not adapt fast enough may
encounter financial setbacks or
even failure.
Recently, marketers have had to operate in a slow-growth economic environment characterized
by discriminating consumers, aggressive competition, and a turbulent marketplace. An era of conspicuous
consumption has come to an end as many consumers cope with reduced incomes and less
wealth. 4 A debt-laden consumer base penalizes companies still promoting a “buy now, pay later”
sales philosophy, and consumers and companies alike are increasingly considering the environmental
and social consequences of their actions.
As consumers become more disciplined in their spending and adopt a “less is more” attitude, it
is incumbent on marketers to create and communicate the true value of their products and services. 5
Marketing can and should play a key role in improving standards of living and quality of life, especially
in tough times. Marketers must continually seek to improve what they do. 6
Companies can’t win by standing still. Recent business problems
and failures by firms such as Blockbuster, Barnes & Noble, and Kodak
reflect an inability to adjust to a dramatically different marketing
environment. Firms must invest instead in improving their offerings
and finding big new ideas. Sometimes, like IBM, Microsoft, and Intel,
they may have to fundamentally change their business models. Marketers
must collaborate closely and early with product development
and R&D, and later with the sales force, to develop and sell products
and services that fully satisfy customer needs and wants. They must
also work with finance, manufacturing, and logistics to establish a
value-creation mind-set in the organization.
Emerging markets such as India and China offer enormous new
sources of demand—but often only for certain types of products and
at certain price points. Across all markets, marketing plans and programs
will grow more localized and culturally sensitive, while strong
brands that are well differentiated and continually improved will
remain fundamental to marketing success. Businesses will continue to
use social media more and traditional media less. The Web allows unprecedented
depth and breadth in communications and distribution,
and its transparency requires companies to be honest and authentic.