The Marketing Concept as a Key Business Function

There are many philosophies occur regarding to the marketing concepts since centuries ago and nowadays, researchers emphasize that instead of a product-centred, "make-and-sell" philosophy, business shifted to a customer-centred, "sense-and-respond" philosophy. The marketing concept holds that the key to achieving organizational goals consists of the company being more effective than competitors in creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value to its chosen target market. The three major pillars that support the marketing concept are mainly focus on customer orientation, integrating marketing and customer satisfaction. This marketing concept had been widely used by many organizations, such as Ford, Sony Corporation, Nike, Johnson & Johnson and others.

Customer orientation, integrating marketingand customer satisfaction are really important in the marketing concept. Nowadays, Frederick E. Webster Jr (1994) also suggests customers demand more precise and more complete response to their needs and preferences. With domestic and foreign producers aggressively competing for their business, people can afford to be demanding and ask for a larger variety of products and even custom-tailored products. The world has moved from the age of mass production to an era of mass customization (Frederick E. Webster Jr, "Forget about being market-driven! The future belongs to companies that are customer value-driven", Marketing Management Journal, 1994, Vol. 2, Issue 4, p27).

By putting customer at the first place and provide product or services which matches a customers expectation, customers will be satisfied and delighted which will increased the customer satisfaction level and create great reputation for the organization. Satisfied customer will always come back and therefore create brand loyalty which will also increase the profit and sales. Besides, focusing on customer orientation and customer satisfaction only are not enough , organization must also have integrating marketing which mean integration of others business function in order to become more effective and efficient. Thus, the most effective philosophy to achieve customer orientation and customer satisfaction is marketing concept.

Marketing concept which focuses on customer orientation is the marketing philosophy that holds that achieving organizational goals depends on determining the needs and wants of target market and delivering the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors do. Under the marketing concept it is the customer who becomes the centre of business attention. Marketing concept had become a significant strategy for market creation to sustain the expectation and demands of the growing population.

Firms no longer see production or sales as the key to prosperity, growth and survival, but the identification and satisfaction of customer's needs and wants. Marketing concept recognizes the long-run nature of successful marketing, as well as creates customer value through satisfaction and loyalty. In a customer-driven organization such as Disney, Mark and Spencer, McDonald, Marriott and others, the whole organization appreciates the central importance of the customer and realises that without satisfied customer there will be no business.

The customer orientation philosophy that emphasizes customer satisfaction and value is essential nowadays since customers are intelligent enough to know what they need, and are able to recognize value for money when they see it, and will not buy again from the firm if they do not get value for money. If organizations are not customer-driven and focus on the needs and wants of the customer, they will face serious trouble and might loss their entire valuable customer and business since the world had shifted to the customer marketing era.