The history of marketing Formation of marketing and its main stages

4. Marketing Orientation

In this method the companies are planning and decision making revolve around customer needs and wants. It is vital to satisfy customer needs through a coordinated set of activities including the actions and functions of all employees of the organization, irrespective of the area of the business in which they work. In other words, a marketing orientation requires everyone in an organization to become customer oriented and not just people who work in marketing.

Lancaster and Massingham identify the marketing-oriented firm as follows: ‘A marketing oriented firm produces goods and services that consumers want to buy rather than what the firm wants to make.’

People normally confuse and assume sales and marketing orientation to be same, however both are different. Selling focuses on needs of seller and marketing on needs of buyer.

Figure: Distinction between sales and marketing orientations.

So, the main marketing concepts that characterize the stages of its development, and their content can be presented in the table: