MKT 101

Principles of Marketing

Assignment 1- Essay

Submitted To:
Ashraf U Bhuiyan

Submitted By:
Afif Abdul Fattah
ID# 2009-3-10-069

In the modern world, marketers want to build a customer driven

marketing strategy for creating lasting customer relationships. To do this,
they can use one of the five marketing management philosophies-
production, product, selling, marketing and societal marketing concept.
The appropriateness of these philosophies depends on the nature of the
business and target market. Now we will discuss each of these
philosophies for a particular product and compare them. The product is
Prius, a hybrid car built by Toyota Motor Corporation.

Marketing management Philosophies:

 Production Concept: Companies following production concept

believes that it should produce goods efficiently and try to bring down
prices so that products become affordable. This concept is useful where
the demand is more than supply. Toyota can use production concept in
the marketing of Prius, if their target market belongs to any third world
country, where people are more interested in obtaining products than its
features.

 Product Concept: According to product concept, people like products

which are very good in terms of performance and quality. Toyota can
adopt product concept if their target customers are often judge products
before buying.

 Selling Concept: According to selling concept, company’s entire focus

is on selling and hence making a lot of sales. The selling effort is backed
by serious promotional activities and aggressive advertising. Toyota can
use selling concept in the marketing of Prius, if they have overcapacity.

 Marketing concept: The marketing concept is concerned with

identifying customer needs and delivering products that give greater
customer satisfaction than the competitors do. Marketing concept
believes in “gardening” instead of “hunting”. Marketing concept rests on
four pillars- target market, customer needs, integrated marketing and
profitability. If Prius’s target market belongs to any North American
country, Toyota should use marketing concept, because customers are
more conscious about buying products there.

 Societal Marketing Concept: Societal marketing concept holds that

organizations should not develop marketing strategy by only keeping
customer needs in mind but also consider the well-being and betterment
of society. Toyota can use societal marketing concept to reduce carbon
emission from the earth by Prius.
Contrast and Compare:

 Production Concept vs. Product Concept:

Production Concept is more appropriate when company makes products
for masses not for any specific or niche market. But Prius is not that kind
of product. A particular group of buyers may be attracted by Prius. Toyota
can attract them by improving different features of Prius rather than
produce them in a large quantity. From this perspective, product concept
seems better than production concept in the marketing of Prius.

 Production Concept vs. Selling Concept:

The problem about selling concept is that, company doesn’t bother about
the market demand; they just want to sell what they produce. If Toyota
use selling concept they can suffer in long run, because they are focusing
on sales transactions rather than building long term profitable customer
relationships. On the other hand production concept can meet some
demands of the customers like low price. Form this point of view,
production concept serves better than selling concept.

 Production Concept vs. Marketing Concept:

Marketing concept is more appropriate than the production concept in the
context of Prius. Because in the production concept, Toyota may not try to
satisfy all needs of the Prius’s customers. But in marketing concept,
Toyota’s primary concern should be to satisfy customer needs better than
the competitors. Production concept may not always helpful to build
profitable customer relationships but the marketing concept.

 Production Concept vs. Societal Marketing Concept:

Again, societal marketing concept serves better than the production
concept, because it not only focuses on meeting customer needs but also
focuses on society’s well-being. In the modern world one of the most
important problems is energy crisis. Prius is the most fuel efficient and low
emission motor vehicle according to United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).[1] So, Toyota is not only concerned about the
customer needs but also society’s well-being.

 Product Concept vs. Selling Concept:

In the selling concept, the aim often is to sell what the company makes
rather than making what market wants. But in product concept the
company at least makes improved version of products. For example,
Toyota has improved Prius several times to attract more customers in
American market.[2] Customers may not be pleased by watching
impressive TV commercials but having a better product. So, in contrast
with selling concept, product concept is more appropriate.

 Product Concept vs. Marketing Concept:

The problem about product concept is that, company often too narrowly
focuses on the company’s products rather than customer needs. But
marketing concept understands customer needs better. The job of
marketing concept is to create better solution of the customers’ problem
rather than making better version of company’s products. By doing this
marketing concept builds lasting profitable relationships with the
customers. So, we can conclude that marketing serves better than the
product concept.

 Product Concept vs. Societal Marketing Concept:

Product concept never concerns about society’s well-being but the
societal marketing concept. In product concept, company focuses on the
improvement of the products. But it never thinks that its products may be
harmful for the environment. But in societal marketing concept, company
considers social and environmental factors in producing its products. So,
marketing concept deserves better rewards from the customers than the
product concept.

 Selling Concept vs. Marketing Concept:

In capturing the American car market for Prius, where SUVs have
dominated the roads for more than two decades,[3] using selling concept is
futile. To capture American car market, packed with well-established
competitors, Toyota must follow the marketing concept rather than the
selling concept. Because marketing concept focuses on satisfying
customer needs better than the competitors.

 Selling Concept vs. Societal Marketing Concept:

In the selling concept, company is always busy with selling products; it
never get a moment to think for the social and environmental issues. But
Societal marketing concept considers them as major factors in making
business decisions. As the world is preparing for the “Go Green”
movement, Toyota should adopt societal marketing concept for Prius.
 Marketing Concept vs. Societal Marketing Concept:
After 1950s, marketing concept ruled the business world. But, in an age of
environment deterioration, recourses shortage, world hunger, poverty and
neglected social services, societal marketing concept is more appropriate
and it also enlarges the marketing concept.

Finally, after all these discussions, societal marketing concept is the best
marketing management philosophy to conquer the market for Pirus.

Bibliography:
 Kotler, P, Marketing Management, Pearson Education, Inc. 11th
edition,
2003, Page 17-27.
 Kotler, P & Armstrong, G, Principles of Marketing, Pearson
Education, Inc.
13th edition, 2010, Page 9-12.
 L. Bovee, C. & V. Thill, J. Marketing, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Page 13-17.

Notes:
∧
1. “2008 Most and Least Fuel Efficient Vehicles” by EPA and United
States Department
of Energy.
∧
2. Kotler, P & Armstrong, G, Principles of Marketing, Pearson
Education, Inc.
13th edition, 2010, Page 96.
∧
3. Kotler, P & Armstrong, G, Principles of Marketing, Pearson
Education, Inc.
13th edition, 2010, Page 96.