Definitions of marketing

Widely used definition of marketing is:

"Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others."

The mission of marketing is satisfying customer needs. That takes place in a social context. In developed societies marketing is needed in order to satisfy the needs of society's members. Industry is the tool of society to produce products for the satisfaction of needs.

There are broad and narrow definitions of marketing. Different types of approaches to marketing are needed when analyzing the possibilities to improve marketing.

Marketing has a connective function in society. It connects supply and demand or production and consumption. At micro-level, marketing builds and maintains the relationship between producer and consumer.

At business unit level, marketing can have an integrative function. It integrates all the functions and parts of a company to serve the markets.

The narrowest definition is to see marketing as a function of a business enterprise between production and markets taking care that products move smoothly from production to customers.

The societal function of marketing

In modern society production and consumption are apart from each other. Marketing connects them. From the societal point of view, marketing is a philosophy which shows how to create effective production systems and consequently prosperity.

Business is a subsystem of society, which has both a social and an economic role. Thus, a company must operate in a way that will make possible the production of benefits for society and, at the same time, produce profits for the company itself. The role of marketing in society means also responsibilities. In addition to economic and social responsibility, ecological responsibility is nowadays emphasized. According to some definitions, environmental responsibility is part of social responsibility. Improvement of marketing is related to the changing emphases of economic, social and environmental responsibility. Good paster and Matthews (1982) analyse three patterns of

thought which can be distinguished for a company's social responsibility: 1. The invisible hand; 2. The hand of government; and 3. The hand of management.

1.       The invisible hand view concludes that the only social responsibilities of business organizations are to make profits and to obey laws. Free and competitive market-place will ensure the moral behavior of companies. The common good is best served when individuals and organizations pursue competitive advantage.

2.       The hand of government view concludes that companies are to pursue rational and purely economic objectives. It is the regulatory hand of the law and political process which guides these objectives towards common good.

3.       The hand of management view would put the responsibility of a company's actions into the hands of the company itself. It is concluded that the moral responsibilities of an individual may be projected into an organization, and that the concepts of an individual's responsibility and a company's responsibility are largely parallel. Therefore, organizations should be no less or no more responsible than ordinary persons.

The development of marketing is clearly related to adopted values which may be seen in the patterns of thought mentioned above.

The traditional and integrating functions of marketing

Traditionally, marketing has been seen as a link between production and customer. The situation could be captured better by using the term selling. Selling is associated to the so- called "Production and Sales Eras of Marketing". Slogans: "Make what you can make" and "Get rid of what you have made" describe the traditional view of marketing/selling.

The following figure shows the role of traditionally oriented marketing in (traditionally oriented) management.

Marketing was born out of a need to take better into consideration the demand factors in production planning. The function of marketing is to channel information of consumer needs to the production and satisfaction of needs to consumers. The basic power of marketing is the aspiration to produce and sell only that kind of products which have demand. Marketing integrates the whole company to serve this demand. Marketing aims at effective production systems, where information is transmitted effectively between production and consumption.