Marketing Assignment 1 Topic 2

ASSIGNMENT 1 - TOPIC 2

Marketing orientation is defined as the implementation or completion of a marketing concept that essentially caters to the customers. The term is otherwise known as marketing concept or consumer focus. It is an organizational philosophy dedicated to understanding and fulfilling consumer needs through the creation of value. (Michael, 2012)

Marketing has changed over the centuries, decades and years. From the production centered system to the relationship era of today, the overall evolution of marketing has given rise to the concept of business development. How the marketing orientation has been undergoing various shifts will be clear by knowing about the various marketing orientations that existed and are still emerging.

Production orientation is the oldest type. This period exist roughly from mid-1800s until 1920s. It is so named because the main focus was on production and manufacturing at the lowest price possible by mass production instead of the market or the customer. The rule was "availability and affordability is what a customer wants". There were few competitors and customers had limited info. One of the companies who practice this orientation is Henry ford's T model. The unprecedentedly cheap Model T Ford had great demand and producers could sell all they could produce. Henry Ford was aware that mass production resulted in steeply declining unit costs of production. In turn, the declining unit costs of production made profit possibilities look fabulous. (Marketing Orientation, 2009)

However, according to Michael Porter (1980), low production costs can lead to low selling prices that appeal to the largest segment of customers. Unfortunately, turbulent economic conditions associated with the advent of the Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s caused many companies to fail even though they had adopted the production-oriented philosophy. As a result, companies look for other ways to facilitate the exchange process and this is where sales orientation started. (eNotes, 2012)

In sales orientation, the main priority was to create demand and move product inventory by using variety of selling techniques and relying on aggressive promotion and advertising. Companies took the position that whatever they produced would find a way to sell. This period lasted from 1930s into the 1950s and the mantra for marketers was "Creative advertising and selling will overcome consumers' resistance and convince them to buy". A traditionally sales oriented-business model is the door-to-door sales method that some companies rely upon to sell their products. These companies will create a supposedly superior product that can be demonstrated in the home and try to show the potential consumer how it will benefit them in the long run. For example, a salesman selling the "world's greatest vacuum cleaner" may attempted to sell the product to the housewife who has a toddler crawling around