THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
INPRACTICE
Marketingplaysa criticalroleinthe
successofbusinessorganizations:it
helpsthemcreatea competitive
advantage.Bycontinuouslycollect-
inginformation aboutcustomers'
needsandcompetitors'capabilities
andbysharingthisinformation
acrossdepartments,businessorgani-
zationscancreatea competitive
advantagebyincreasingvaluefor
customers.
Individualsworkinginmarket-
ingdepartmentsmustbeknowl-
edgeableaboutalltheelementsof
thebusinessthatimpactthesuccess
ofmarketingefforts.Marketing
objectivesaredirectedbyanorga-
nization'smissionstatement,and
marketersusea setofstrategiesto
achievetheseobjectives.
Implementationis criticaltoa
marketingplan'ssuccess;therefore,
themarketingbudgetallocates
expendituresforeachofthecompo-
nentsofthemarketingmix.Market-
ingsuccessdependsonseveral
factors,themostimportantofwhich
isestablishingcustomersatisfaction
asth e#1priority.
TAKEATOUR
TheFrontSectionoftheInteractive
Journal(wsj.com)issimilartothe
frontpageofthenewspaperversion
ofTheWallStreetJournal.Theleft
columndisplaysthemenuselection,
withthe fivemajorsectionslistedat
thetop. Thesefivesectionsare:
1.FrontSection
2.Marketplace
3.Money&Investing
4.TechCenter
S.PersonalJournal
Themenuremainsonth e pageas
you navigatethroughth e site,allow-
ingyoutoreturntotheFrontSec-
tionatanytime.
Articlesrela~edtomarketing
aretypicallyfoundintheMarket-
placesection.ClickonMarketplace
nowtoviewtoday'sarticles.Just
belowthemainmenuontheleft
side, a smallermenutitledInthis
Section...appears,listingmain
headertopicsinMarketplace.One
ofth e topicsisMarketinglMedia.
Visitthissectionnowtoread
today's articles.
ChapterI ,IntroducingMarket-
ing,providesandoverviewofthe
importanceandfunctionsofmar-
keting inbusinessorganizations.
Marketing takesmanyforms, and
evolveswithnewtechnologies.Mar-
ketingon theInternet, alsoknown
ase-commercemarketing, provides
challengesandopportunitiesfor
marketers.VisitVolkswagen'sweb-
site,WWW.vw.com.toseehowthe
companyhasextendeditsmarket-
ing effortsfromtelevisionandprint
toitswebsite.DELIVERABLE
SearchtheInteractiveJournalfor
articlesaboute-commerce market-
ing.UnderJournalAtlas,clickon
Searchtoconducta searchusing
keywordslike e-commerce, Inter-
net,andmarketing.Use theBusi-
nessIndexfeaturetosearchfor
articlesonspecificcompanies.
SearchtheBusinessIndexnowto
findarticlesonVolkswagen.DISCUSSIONQUESTIONS
1.Somemarketersbelievethe
Internetwillbecome themost
effectiveavenueformarketing
productstoconsumers.Doyou
agreeordisagree?2.Recently,theeffectivenessof
online marketingeffortshas
beenquestioned.Whatcanmar-
ketersdotomeasurethesuc-
cessofonlinemarketing?
3.Whatadvantagesdoesreceiving
theWallStreetJournalonline
provideforusers? Specifically,
marketers?