The Marketing Book 5th Edition

102 The Marketing Book

Table 5.3 Change and the challenge to marketing

Nature of change Marketing challenges

Pace of change

 Compressed time horizons

 Shorter product life cycles

 Transient customer preferences

 Ability to exploit markets more rapidly

 More effective new product development

 Flexibility in approach to markets

 Accuracy in demand forecasting

 Ability to optimize price-setting

Process thinking

 Move to flexible manufacturing and control

systems

 Materials substitution

 Developments in microelectronics and

robotization

 Quality focus

 Dealing with micro-segmentation

 Finding ways to shift from single transaction

focus to the forging of long-term

relationships

 Creating greater customer commitment

Market maturity

 Over-capacity

 Low margins

 Lack of growth

 Stronger competition

 Trading down

 Cost-cutting

 Adding value leading to differentiation

 New market creation and stimulation

Customer’s expertise and power

 More demanding

 Higher expectations

 More knowledgeable

 Concentration of buying power

 More sophisticated buyer behaviour

 Finding ways of getting closer to the

customer

 Managing the complexities of multiple market

channels

Internationalization of business

 More competitors

 Stronger competition

 Lower margins

 More customer choice

 Larger markets

 More disparate customer needs

 Restructuring of domestic operations to

compete internationally

 Becoming customer-focused in larger and

more disparate markets