Scribd
Upload
48 views2 pages

Marketing Myopia: Customer Focus Insights

The document discusses the concept of "marketing myopia" where companies focus too much on their products instead of their customers. It argues that industries decline when they stop being customer-oriented and instead prioritize things like mass production and cost reduction. The document provides examples of industries like railroads, Hollywood, and dry cleaners that failed to adapt to changes or new technologies because they were product-focused rather than meeting customer needs. It concludes that companies must view themselves as customer-satisfying industries first and goods-producing industries second in order to avoid stagnating due to "marketing myopia".

Uploaded by

Devika Tolia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
48 views2 pages

Marketing Myopia: Customer Focus Insights

The document discusses the concept of "marketing myopia" where companies focus too much on their products instead of their customers. It argues that industries decline when they stop being customer-oriented and instead prioritize things like mass production and cost reduction. The document provides examples of industries like railroads, Hollywood, and dry cleaners that failed to adapt to changes or new technologies because they were product-focused rather than meeting customer needs. It concludes that companies must view themselves as customer-satisfying industries first and goods-producing industries second in order to avoid stagnating due to "marketing myopia".

Uploaded by

Devika Tolia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

MARKETING MYOPIA SUMMARY

For some of the important industries today experiencing high growth, decline is on the cards. For
some, this has already happened, but the reasons for them remain the same- failure of
management.
Taking the example of railroads, their downfall is attributed to not just the rise in other means of
transport such as cars, airplanes or even telephones, but because of reasons attributable to
railroads itself. Being customer- oriented is more important than being product- oriented.
Similarly, Hollywood was on the verge of extinction because of the television, as it focused more
on being a ‘movie business’ and not an ‘entertainment business’. Hollywood should have
leveraged the reach of the television in order to expand the entertainment business.
A well thought- out customer- oriented management plays a vital role in keeping the business in
its high growth trajectory even if the possible opportunities have been exhausted. In the nylon
and glass industry, two companies E.I DuPont de Nemours & Company and Corning Glass
Works have focused immensely product research and orientation. However, they have also
utilized their technical know- how to create their products, focusing on customer satisfaction.
Therefore, managerial imaginativeness and audacity play an integral role.
Some of the “no- substitute” industries affected include the dry cleaning industry, which got
impacted by the usage of synthetic fibers and chemical additives as well as ultrasonic cleaning;
electric utilities that are always facing the threat from non- utility companies; grocery stores
running the risk of being replaced by supermarkets, despite their advantages. Therefore,
industries that have assumed that once they are on a high growth path, they will consistently find
presence there, has plummeted to stagnation. They enter a ‘self- deceiving cycle’ of
magnanimous expansion but unnoticed decline. Some of the factors aiding this include the
assumption that the population will be ever- expanding and affluent; the belief in the absence of
substitutes; increased focus on mass production and cost- reduction; over- emphasis on the
product that can be scientifically experimented upon and improved.
Importance needs to be laid upon creating value satisfying goods and services and the product
needs to be a consequence of the market effort and not vice versa. For example, Ford was known
more for devising mass production techniques but what many fail to understand that mass
production was the result and not the cause behind the low prices. Low unit production costs are
an enticing proposition but if it undermines the importance of marketing and the customer,
leading to product provincialism. Management needs to widen their horizons and think beyond
the conventional means. For example, excessive focus on R&D has its own caveats, and
marketing gets treated as a residual component. This is harmful as customers are extremely fickle
and short- sighted. The customer and market should not be treated like a ‘step- child’. Marketing
needs to become a functional area for every industry as they are customer- satisfying industries
first and goods- producing industries later. At the same time, creating a customer- satisfying
product or industry is also about the human organization and the leadership, and not simply
promotional activities, thus focusing more on ‘customer buying’ instead of producing goods. It is
the Chief Executive Officer’s responsibility to create such an environment, defining the
objectives and the direction very clearly.

You might also like