12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCINGMARKETING
which~hemarketeroperates.ForEstherandJimWilliams,whooperateanA&Wdrive-in
inMattoon,Illinois,communityisquitesmall.ForVerizonCommunication,community
encompassespracticallytheentireworld,extendingeventoouterspace.
Regardlessofthescopeofthemarketer'scommunity,maintainingcontactwithitis
essential.Contactcouldmeanreadingthelocalnewspaperandlisteningtothelocal gossip.
Orit couldmeansubscribingtoinformationreleasesofseveralmarketingresearchfirms
thatmonitorworldevents 24 hoursa day. everydayEithermightdothejob, althoughthe
differencesinfinancialcostswouldbegreat.InChap~er3 wediscusssomeofthemore
importanttrends intheworldcommunity.Estherandjimwouldfindthisdiscussioninter-
esting,butnotveryuseful.
U:timately,tobeconsideredaresponsibleci~izenintheenvironmentsinwhichit oper-
ates,marketershavetheongoingtaskofengaginginonlypro-societalactivitiesandcon-
ductingbusiness inanethicalmanner. TherearemanymarKetingcompanies thatdonate
millionsofdollarsorlandtocommunities, cleanlakesandrivers,revampdeterioratingneigh-
borhoods,givefreeproducttotheneedy,managerecyclingactivities,andsoforth.There
isnodoubtthattheneedformarketingtocontinuesuchactivitieswillincrease.T he RoleofMarketingint he Firm:
A Basisf o rClassification
Marketingisanindividualizedanohighlycreativeprocess.Despitetheavailabilityofhigh-
poweredcompuLersandsophisticatedsoftwarecapableofanalyzingmassiveamountsof
data,marketingis~tillmoreofanartratherthana science.Eachbusinessmustcustomize
itsmarketingeffortsinresponsetoitsenvironmentandtheexchangeprocess. Consequently,
notwomarketingstrategiesareexactly thesame.
Thisrequirementofmarketingtoplayslightlydifferentroles,dependinguponsome
setofsituationalcriteria,hasintumprovideduswitha divisionofmarketingintoa num-
berofdifferentcategories. Thisisnottoimply,however,thattherearen'tgeneralmarket-
ingprinciplesthatworkinmostbusinesses-thereare.Thereis a rightandwrongwayto
designa package.Therearecertainadvertisingstrategiesthattendtoworkmoreoftenthan
others.Rather,wearesayingthatbecauseofcertainfactors,abusine~s'sapproachtoward
marketingandtheensuing~trategywillrequiresomemodificationfromthebasicplan.
Shownin Table1.1arcthemost commontypesofmarketingcategories.Sincethese
varioustypesofmarketingwillbediscussedthroughoutthistext,a briefintroductionis
providedatthispoint.Macromarketing VersusMicromarketing
Thedivisionofmarketingintomacromarketingandmicromarketingisa fairlyrecentone.
Initially,thedivisionwasa resultofthecontroversyconcerningtheresponsibilityofmar-
keting.Shouldmarketingbelimitedtothesuccessoftheindividualfirm, orshouldmar-
ketingconsidertheeconomicwelfareofa wholesociety? Acceptingthelater, or"macro,"
pointofviewdramaticallychangesth e waymarketingiscarriedout.Inthislight,every
marketingdecisionmustbeevaluatedwithregardtohowit mightpositivelyornegatively
affecteachpersonandinstitutionoperatinginthatsociety.In 1982 ,BuntandBurnettsur-
veyedtheacademiccommunityinordertodefinemorepreciselythedistinctionbetween
macro-andmircomarketing.^4 Theirfindingssuggestthattheseparationdependsupon"what
isbeingstudied,""whetheritisbeingviewedfromtheperspectiveofsocietyorthefirm,"
and"whoreceivestheconsequencesoftheactivity."Examplesofmacromarketingactivi-
tiesarestudyingthemarketingsystemsofdifferentnations,theconsequencesonsociety
ofcertainmarketingactions,andtheimpactofcertaintechnologiesonthemarketingtrans-