Modern Marketing Strategies focuses on a strategic blend of the marketing mix, supply chain management, and business ethics to drive business success. Effective management ensures optimal product positioning, seamless distribution, and ethical business practices, fostering trust and long-term growth.
In this chapter, we will study the following topics:
- Modern concept of Marketing
- Marketing Mix – Product, Price, Place and Promotion
- Supply Chain Management, Logistics Mix; E-Commerce and E-Marketing
- Business and Corporate Ethics
Previous Year Questions
| Year | Question | Marks |
| 2023 | What do you mean by the ‘depth’ of the product portfolio ? | 2 M |
| 2021 | Define Supply Chain Management. | 2 M |
| 2021 | Explain Product Life Cycle (PLC) with characteristics of any two stages. | 5 M |
| 2018 | Explain sustainable marketing in brief. | 2 M |
| 2016 | Explain the relationship between price and value. | 2 M |
| 2016 | Define Product Width. | 2 M |
| 2016 | Briefly describe the major promotional mix tools. | 5 M |
| 2016 Special | What constitutes a ‘Marketing Mix’ for a service ? | 5 M |
| 2016 Special | Explain different stages of the product life cycle. | 5 M |
What is Management
Management is defined as the process of getting things done to achieve goals effectively and efficiently.
→ Definition – 3 Important Part: (a) Process, (b) Effectiveness, and (c) Efficiency.
- Process refers to the main functions of management: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.
- Effectiveness is about doing the right tasks, completing activities, and achieving goals. It focuses on the end result.
- Efficiency means completing tasks correctly and with minimum cost.
Effectiveness versus Efficiency
- Effectiveness and efficiency are both crucial, but they must be balanced.
- Management aims to achieve goals (effectiveness) with minimal resources (efficiency).
- High efficiency often leads to high effectiveness, but focusing too much on efficiency without effectiveness is not ideal.
Characteristics of Management
- Goal-oriented process: Management focuses on achieving the organization’s goals, which should be clear and simple.
- All-pervasive: Management activities apply to all types of organizations—economic, social, or political.
- Multidimensional:
- Work: Management sets goals and assigns resources to achieve them.
- People: It involves managing individuals and groups, making their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.
- Operations: It manages the production process, turning inputs into desired outputs.
- Continuous process: Management functions are ongoing and interconnected (planning, organizing, directing, staffing, controlling).
- Group activity: It requires teamwork and coordination to align individual efforts towards common goals.
- Dynamic function: Management must adapt to changing environments.
- Intangible force: While invisible, management’s impact is felt through the organization’s smooth functioning and employee satisfaction.
Objectives of Management:
Management has three main types of objectives:
- Organizational Objectives: Achieving economic goals like survival, profit, and growth, while considering stakeholders’ interests.
- Social Objectives: Contributing to society through eco-friendly production, job creation, and providing amenities like schools and crèches for employees.
- Personal Objectives: Aligning the diverse personal goals of employees with the organization’s objectives to maintain harmony.
Importance of Management
- Achieves group goals.
- Increases efficiency.
- Creates a dynamic organization.
- Helps achieve personal objectives.
- Contributes to societal development.
Functions of Management:
- Planning
- Involves setting goals in advance and creating strategies to achieve them efficiently and effectively.
- While planning can’t prevent problems, it can anticipate them and prepare contingency plans.
- Organizing
- Assigns duties, groups tasks, establishes authority, and allocates resources to execute a plan.
- Staffing
- Involves finding the right people for the right jobs.
- Also known as the human resource function,it includes recruitment, selection, placement, and training.
- Directing
- Involves leading, influencing, and motivating employees to perform their tasks.
- Key components include motivation and leadership. Motivation creates a productive environment, while leadership guides employees to achieve desired outcomes.
- A good manager uses praise and constructive criticism to bring out the best in employees.
- Controlling
- Involves monitoring performance to ensure organizational goals are met.
- It includes setting performance standards, measuring actual performance, comparing it with standards, and taking corrective actions if needed.
- Coordination: The Essence of Management
- Coordination is the process of synchronizing activities across different departments.
- It binds all other management functions together, ensuring a seamless workflow in areas like purchasing, production, sales, and finance.
- Coordination ensures that individual and group efforts are aligned towards common goals.
Modern Concept of Marketing
Traditional View of Marketing
- Traditionally, marketing has been viewed as the set of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers.
Modern Concept of Marketing
The modern concept of marketing goes beyond just selling products or services—it focuses on understanding customer needs, creating value, building relationships, and promoting social responsibility. It is customer-oriented, data-driven,and focused on long-term success.
| Basis | Traditional Concept of Marketing | Modern Concept of Marketing |
| Focus on | Product | Customers’ needs |
| Means | Selling efforts | Coordinated marketing |
| Ends | Profits through maximization of sales | Profits through customer satisfaction |
Important Features of Marketing:
Needs and Wants
- A marketer’s job is to identify the target customers’ needs and develop products or services that satisfy those needs.
- Needs: A state of deprivation, such as hunger, which drives people to seek satisfaction.
- Wants: Needs shaped by culture, personality, and preferences, such as the desire for specific foods.
Creating a Market Offering
- Marketers create a “market offering,” which is a complete offer for a product or service. This includes features like size, quality, taste, price, and availability at a specific location.
- A good market offering is developed after analyzing potential buyers’ needs and preferences.
Customer Value
- Marketing facilitates the exchange of products and services between buyers and sellers. Buyers make decisions based on their perception of the value of the product or service in satisfying their needs relative to its cost.
Exchange Mechanism
- Marketing operates through an exchange mechanism, where buyers and sellers exchange products and services for money or something valuable. Exchange is the essence of marketing and requires certain conditions:
- Two Parties Involved: The buyer and the seller.
- Value Offering: Each party offers something of value (e.g., the seller offers a product, the buyer offers money).
- Communication and Delivery: Both parties must be able to communicate and deliver what they offer.
- Freedom of Choice: Both parties must be free to accept or reject the offer.
- Willingness to Transact: The transaction is voluntary, not forced.
Marketing Beyond Business
- Marketing is not limited to business organizations. It is also relevant to non-profit organizations like hospitals, schools, sports clubs, and social or religious organizations.
Marketing Management
Philip Kotler’s Definition: Marketing management is “the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer values.”
Key Processes in Marketing Management
- Choosing a Target Market
- Getting, Keeping, and Growing Customers
- The focus is on creating demand for products, satisfying customers, and attracting more customers to ensure the firm’s growth.
- Creating, Developing, and Communicating Superior Values that attract customers.
Marketing Management Philosophies
Marketing management philosophies refer to the different approaches businesses take to achieve their marketing goals.
To achieve successful outcomes, an organization must choose a guiding philosophy for its marketing efforts. This philosophy influences whether the focus is on product features, selling techniques, customer needs, or social concerns.
Evolution of Modern Concepts of Marketing:
The Production Concept
- Historical Context: Emerged during the industrial revolution when demand exceeded supply.
- Key Idea: Focus on mass production to reduce costs, assuming consumers prefer widely available and affordable products.
- Focus: Efficiency in production and distribution.
The Product Concept
- Shift in Focus: As production capacity grew, quality became more important than mere availability.
- Key Idea: Prioritize continuous product improvement, believing superior quality would drive profits.
- Focus: Product innovation and enhancement.
The Selling Concept
- Increased Competition: As markets became saturated, firms needed aggressive selling techniques. Quality and availability alone were not enough to ensure sales.
- Key Idea: Need to engage in aggressive selling and promotional efforts.
- Focus: Emphasis on pushing sales through techniques like advertising, personal selling, and sales promotions. The concept focused more on selling products than on customer satisfaction.
The Marketing Concept
- Customer-Centric Approach: Long term success comes from meeting customer needs.
- Key Idea: Focus on satisfying target customer needs, leading to natural sales and profits.
- Focus: Customer satisfaction at the core of all decisions. The firm’s role is to “identify a need and fill it.”
- The marketing concept is based on the following pillars:
- Identifying the Target Market
- Understanding Customer Needs and Wants.
- Developing Suitable Products or Services.
- Satisfying Needs Better than Competitors.
- Doing all of this with profit
The Societal Marketing Concept
- Beyond Customer Satisfaction: Incorporates social welfare into marketing.
- Key Idea: Balance customer needs with social and environmental responsibilities like addressing environmental pollution.
- Focus: Customer satisfaction and long-term societal well-being; Balancing consumer needs with social and environmental responsibilities. Thus, the societal marketing concept is the extension of the marketing concept as supplemented by the concern for the long-term welfare of society. Apart from customer satisfaction, it pays attention to the social, ethical, and ecological aspects of marketing.
Functions of Marketing:
Gathering and Analyzing Market Information:
- Marketers collect and analyze data to understand customer needs, identify market opportunities, and assess the organization’s strengths and weaknesses.
Marketing Planning:
- This involves setting objectives, strategizing production, and promoting products.
Product Designing and Development:
- Designing and developing products to appeal to target customers.
Standardization and Grading:
- Standardization ensures that products meet specific quality standards, leading to uniformity and consistency.
- Grading involves classifying products based on quality or other characteristics, which is particularly important for products like agricultural goods.
Packaging and Labeling:
- Packaging protects products and serves as a promotional tool, influencing customer perception.
- Labeling provides important information about the product, from simple tags to complex graphics.
Branding:
- Deciding whether to sell products under a generic or brand name.
- Branding helps in differentiating products from competitors, building customer loyalty, and promoting sales.
Customer Support Services:
- Offering after-sales services, handling complaints, and providing technical support to maximize customer satisfaction and encourage repeat sales.
Pricing of Product:
- Setting product prices strategically to balance demand and profitability.
- Marketers consider various factors when determining pricing strategies and objectives.
Promotion:
- Informing and persuading customers about products through advertising, personal selling, publicity, and sales promotions.
- Decisions include setting promotion budgets and selecting the right promotional mix.
Physical Distribution:
- Managing the distribution channels and physical movement of products from production to consumption, including inventory management and transportation.
Transportation:
- Moving goods from production sites to various locations where they are consumed, considering factors like product nature, cost, and market location.
Storage or Warehousing:
- Storing products to ensure a steady supply in the market, especially for seasonal or irregularly demanded products.
- Proper storage helps protect against delivery delays and fluctuating demand.
Modern Marketing Strategies Mix Supply Chain & Ethics / Modern Marketing Strategies Mix Supply Chain & Ethics/ Modern Marketing Strategies Mix Supply Chain & Ethics/ Modern Marketing Strategies Mix Supply Chain & Ethics/ Modern Marketing Strategies Mix Supply Chain & Ethics/ Modern Marketing Strategies Mix Supply Chain & Ethics
