Chapter 1: The role of marketing in organisations and society
Essential reading
Kotler, P. and G. Armstrong Principles of Marketing. (Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice Hall, 2004) tenth edition [ISBN 0131018612] Chapters 1 and 20.
Keywords: activity; function; philosophy; needs and wants; orientation; transactions and relationship marketing; globalisation; environment; demographics. Introduction
Consider what the word ‘marketing’ means to you. You may imagine it to be the title of a department within an organisation or a particular activity that can be undertaken by people, government departments and organisations.
There are, in fact, three major ways in which marketing can be perceived, and we start this chapter by defining each of them. As an activity, marketing is possible only where there is a market and we will identify the conditions necessary for the existence of a market later in this chapter. Over the years there have been significant developments in the way marketing is used by firms. In this chapter, we will introduce the branches of marketing that have developed to address the needs of particular groups of marketers. We will also draw your attention to the ways in which marketing can help to develop a firm’s orientation towards the marketplace. Such an orientation can affect the very functioning of an organisation – from the way it develops its products to the way it sells them. We end the chapter by looking at the impact of ethics and social responsibility on marketers.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
• identify the major differences between the various types of orientation a firm may have
• explain the situations in which each may be most appropriate and effective • distinguish between needs and wants
• distinguish between social responsibility and ethics
• understand the implications of