Marketing myopia is a term used in marketing as well as the title of an important marketing paper written [1][2] by Theodore Levitt.

This paper was first published in 1960 in the Harvard Business Review, a journal of which he was an editor. Marketing Myopia refers to "focusing on products rather than customers." The Myopic culture, Levitt postulated, would pave the way for a business to fail, due to the short-sighted mindset and illusion that a firm is in a so-called 'growth industry'. This belief leads to complacency and a loss of sight of what customers want. Some commentators have suggested that its publication marked the beginning of the modern marketing movement. Its theme is that the vision of most organizations is too constricted by a narrow understanding of what business they are in. It exhorted CEOs to re-examine their corporate vision; and redefine their markets in terms of wider perspectives. It was successful in its impact because it was, as with all of Levitt's work, essentially practical and pragmatic. Organizations found that they had been missing opportunities which were plain to see once they adopted the wider view. The paper was influential. The oil companies (which represented one of his main examples in the paper) redefined their business as energy rather than just petroleum. By contrast, when the Royal Dutch Shell embarked upon an investment program in nuclear power, it failed to demonstrate a more circumspect regard for their industry. One reason that short sightedness is so common is that people feel that they cannot accurately predict the future. While this is a legitimate concern, it is also possible to use a whole range of business prediction techniques currently available to estimate future circumstances as best as possible. There is a greater scope of opportunities as the industry changes. It trains managers to look beyond their current business activities and think "outside the box". George Steiner (1979) is one of many in a long line of admirers who cite Levitt's famous example on transportation. If a buggy whip manufacturer in 1910 defined its business as the "transportation starter business," they might have been able to make the [3] creative leap necessary to move into the automobile business when technological change demanded it.

The marketing myopia theory was originally proposed by Theodore Levitt. The theory states that marketers should look towards the market and modify the company and products accordingly rather than looking towards your own company, its potential and then catering the market. The needs of the market should receive first priority. Theodore levitt asks a very interesting question as an example for marketing myopia. His question is, if Hollywood were into television rather than movies, wouldnt it have profited more? This is true because as we know the major crowd of hollywood is concentrating into making movies and actually money is more into television. Thus, if hollywood would have catered to the television market, they would have earned more. And Theodore levitts marketing myopia theory has turned right as hollywood has entered television with renowned movie maker twentieth century fox as well as sony televisions and other channels.

According to the marketing myopia theory, to cater a market a company not only needs to be technically sound and product oriented but it also needs to be customer oriented. It needs to know what are the needs of the customer and what further innovations can the company bring to maintain customer interest or how it can adapt to the changing business market. Implications of the Marketing Myopia theory - Marketing myopia can be used by marketers as well as advertisers to determine whether or not they are catering the right market. Should they adapt their products to cater a larger market. What kind of advertising strategies should they use. How can they bring about synchronization between the production capabilities of companies and the demand in the market. In Summary, Marketing myopia asks the companies to do the following

Be more customer focused Innovate Be in control Understand customer desires Conduct marketing research programs Marketing strategy should be developed keeping feedback of customers in mind.

A link for the complete marketing myopia article by Theodore Levitt