Core Concepts of Marketing

MARKETING:DEFINITIONANDJUSTIFICATION 19

Mission

Situation

analysis

Objectives

Strategy

Implementation

Budgeting

Evaluation

Mission

Objectives

Strategy

Human

resources

FIGURE1.1 Themarketingprocess

orimplicitmission.Thecorporatemissionmightcontainwordssuchas"quality,""global,"
"profitability," and"sacrifice." Themarketing-levelmissionshouldextendthecorporatemis-
sionbytranslatingthe latterintoa marketingcontext.Forexample,a corporatemission
thatfocusesontechnologymightbeaccompaniedbya production-orientedmarketingmis-
sion.A corporationthatstressesstockholders/dividendsmayresultina sales-orientationin
marketing.Acorporatemissionthatconcentratesonvalueorqualityreflectsa consumer-
orientedmarketing mission. Oncethemissionisestablished,thesituationanalysisfollows.
A marketingplan'ssituationanalysisidentifiesfactors,behaviors,andtrendsthathave
a direct bearingonthe marketingplan. Muchofthisinformatior.isusuallycollectedsimul-
taneouslywith thecorp orateinformation. However,collectinginformationaboutpotential
andactualcustomerstends tobe theconcernof marketers.Thisis anongoingactivityand
representsa greatdealofthemarketer'stime andmoney.(Chapter2 describestheprocess
of~narketingresearch.)
The situationanalysis helpsproducea relevantsetofmarketingobjectives.Atthe
corporatelevel, typical objectivesincludeprofitability,costsavings,growth,marketshare
improvement,risk containment, reputation, andsoon.Allthesecorporateobjectivescan
implyspecificmarketingobjectives. "Introducinga certainnumberofnewproductsusu-
ally"mayleadmarketersto profitability,increasedmarketshare,andmovementintonew
markets.Desire to increaseprofitmarginsmightdictatelevelofproductinnovation,qual-
ityofmaterials,andpricecharged.

TheMarketingMix
Oncetheobjectives areestablished, themarketer mustdecidehowtoachievetheseobjec-
tives.This producesa setofgeneralstrategiesthatmustberefinedintoactionableandachiev-
ableactivities.Themarketingmix-product,price,promotion,anddistribution-represents