Marketing myopia is a term used in marketing as well as the title of an important marketing paper written by Theodore Levitt.

[1][2] This paper was first published in 1960 in the Harvard Business Review; a journal of which he was an editor. Simply Marketing myopia refers " focusing products rather than customer ". The Myopic culture, Levitt postulated, would pave the way for a business to fail, due to the short-sighted mindset and illusion that a firm is in a so-called 'growth industry'. This belief leads to complacency and a loss of sight of what your customers want. Some commentators have suggested that its publication marked the beginning of the modern marketing movement. Its theme is that the vision of most organizations is too constricted by a narrow understanding of what business they are in. It exhorted CEOs to re-examine their corporate vision; and redefine their markets in terms of wider perspectives. It was successful in its impact because it was, as with all of Levitt's work, essentially practical and pragmatic. Organizations found that they had been missing opportunities which were plain to see once they adopted the wider view. The paper was influential. The oil companies (which represented one of his main examples in the paper) redefined their business as energy rather than just petroleum; although Royal Dutch Shell, which embarked upon an investment program in nuclear power, subsequently regretted this course of action. One reason that short sightedness is so common is that people feel that they cannot accurately predict the future. While this is a legitimate concern, it is also possible to use a whole range of business prediction techniques currently available to estimate future circumstances as best as possible. There is a greater scope of opportunities as the industry changes. It trains managers to look beyond their current business activities and think "outside the box". George Steiner (1979) claims that if a buggy whip manufacturer in 1910 defined its business as the "transportation starter business", they might have been able to make the creative leap necessary to move into the automobile business when technological change demanded it.[3] People who focus on marketing strategy, various predictive techniques, and the customer's lifetime value can rise above myopia to a certain extent. This can entail the use of long-term profit objectives (sometimes at the risk of sacrificing short term objectives).

marketing concept and orientation

It is a fundamental idea of marketing that organisations survive and prosper through meeting the needs and wants of customers. This important perspective is commonly known as the marketing concept. The marketing concept is about matching a company's capabilities with customer wants. This matching process takes place in what is called the marketing environment.

Businesses do not undertake marketing activities alone. They face threats from competitors, and changes in the political, economic, social and technological environment. All these factors have to be taken into account as a business tries to match its capabilities with the needs and wants of its target customers. An organisation that adopts the marketing concept accepts the needs of potential customers as the basis for its operations. Success is dependent on satisfying customer needs. What are customer needs and wants? A need is a basic requirement that an individual wishes to satisfy. People have basic needs for food, shelter, affection, esteem and self-development. Many of these needs are created from human biology and the nature of social relationships. Customer needs are, therefore, very broad. Whilst customer needs are broad, customer wants are usually quite narrow. A want is a desire for a specific product or service to satisfy the underlying need. Consider this example: Consumers need to eat when they are hungry. What they want to eat and in what kind of environment will vary enormously. For some, eating at McDonalds satisfies the need to meet hunger. For others a microwaved ready-meal meets the need. Some consumers are never satisfied unless their food comes served with a bottle of fine Chardonnay. Consumer wants are shaped by social and cultural forces, the media and marketing activities of businesses. This leads onto another important concept - that of customer demand: Consumer demand is a want for a specific product supported by an ability and willingness to pay for it. For example, many consumers around the globe want a Mercedes. But relatively few are able and willing to buy one. Businesses therefore have not only to make products that consumers want, but they also have to make them affordable to a sufficient number to create profitable demand. Businesses do not create customer needs or the social status in which customer needs are influenced. It is not McDonalds that makes people hungry. However, businesses do try to influence demand by designing products and services that are

 Attractive Work well Are affordable Are available Businesses also try to communicate the relevant features of their products through advertising and other marketing promotion. Which leads us finally to an important summary point. A marketing orientated business is one that which has adopted the marketing concept

Better Products. Better Values. Better Living. Nirma believes in disciplined, serene and pleasant working environment. Such environment helps to inspire the internal customers to deliver their best with greater satisfaction. Empowerment, Equality, Security and Opportunity are the vital values which organisation infuses in its vast employee-base. The conventional wisdom at Nirma empowers every employee to have autonomy in the way he can plan, organize and carry out his work.
 

 

Delegation is not confined only to the higher levels and there is adequate decentralization to the departmental level in all types of decision-making. Equality, in our organization refers to integrity and honesty in all dealings between the staff and the organisation i.e., setting clear standards of performance; attitude and behaviour at work in rewarding performance. Equality of opportunities and access to promotion, training and development are absolute here. We tend to provide the highly rewarded value - security, both economic and emotional. This value helps to instil family-kind relations among employees. We also provide enough career advancement opportunities and thus they form another contemporary value. Career paths are clearly laid down for employees and they are helped to become aware of the career opportunities in the company. Managers share diversification / expansion plans to provide career related information.

Apart from these values, our management philosophy constitutes the management ethos of high order. People in our organization are more Action-goal oriented. They have a high sense of adequacy with clear goals about their future and are directed by these goals. Their proactive behaviour has led our company to a position of one of the top business houses of India. Developing human resources is a continuous process at Nirma involving overseas training programmes, on-the-job orientation for the trainees, in-house computer education and personality development sessions. The belief is that all this makes an individual a better person, which in turn leads to better productivity and a spirit of accountability and commitment in each member of the Nirma family.

Also, employees here receive adequate information relating to their tasks through circulars, notices and meetings to enable them to plan and perform their jobs well. Apart from this, our organization pays attention to improving the communication infrastructure through latest technologies available in this area. Nirma hires only the best people in their respective fields, people with a capacity to take on the challenge of realizing the Nirma's vision. Proactive, dynamic professionals with the expertise of executing mega projects would integrate Nirma into a conglomerate by providing the best in technological advancements, right from product development to inventing new categories. So, if you subscribe to this philosophy, we may have the right career opportunity for you. Nirma Limited markets its products through its fully owned subsidiary Nirma Consumer Care Limited (NCCL), which was incepted in 1985. NCCL in turn resells these products in the market under the umbrella brands NIRMA and NIMA along with extensions. The distribution strength of Nirma is based on mutually rewarding and satisfying relationship. Nirma pioneered the concept of flat distribution network. Nirma Consumer Care Limited operates with two parallel distribution networks. The NIRMA brand is marketed through the first network, which consists of about 450 exclusive distributors. It is one of the lowest cost FMCG distribution channels of the country. Principal Channel [Nirma Products]:
  

Lowest Cost system in India Speed in distribution Flexibility

The NIMA range of products is marketed through a parallel marketing network that comprises of more than 2000 distributors. Parallel Channel [Nima Products]:
   

Wider Reach Speedy Market Intelligence Competitive edge & Better focus Complementing Principal Channel

All NIRMA and NIMA range of products have a retail reach of over two million retail outlets and more than 40 million loyal consumers spread all over the country. The Company has been successful in establishing an extremely good urban as well as rural presence through the two distribution channels. The distribution channels have played a significant role in making Nirma a household name. The efficient network has made Nirma Washing Powder and Nirma Detergent Cake, the brands with highest penetration in the respective product categories in the market. The network is well equipped to meet the demands of the loyal consumers of the Company across the country.

The robust network ensures the availability of various products at different retail outlets across the nation. The Distribution channel is geared up to enhance trade relations, build up the retailer base by providing various benefits and incentives, organize and implement different activities to generate sales and manage numerous other programmes, schemes and activities concentrated towards business development.

What is the BCG matrix and how does the BCG model work?

Placing products in the BCG matrix results in 4 categories in a portfolio of a company: BCG STARS (high growth, high market share) - Stars are defined by having high market share in a growing market. - Stars are the leaders in the business but still need a lot of support for promotion a placement. - If market share is kept, Stars are likely to grow into cash cows. BCG QUESTION MARKS (high growth, low market share) - These products are in growing markets but have low market share. - Question marks are essentially new products where buyers have yet to discover them. - The marketing strategy is to get markets to adopt these products. - Question marks have high demands and low returns due to low market share. - These products need to increase their market share quickly or they become dogs. - The best way to handle Question marks is to either invest heavily in them to gain market share or to sell them. BCG CASH COWS (low growth, high market share) - Cash cows are in a position of high market share in a mature market. - If competitive advantage has been achieved, cash cows have high profit margins and generate a lot of cash flow. - Because of the low growth, promotion and placement investments are low. - Investments into supporting infrastructure can improve efficiency and increase cash flow more. - Cash cows are the products that businesses strive for. BCG DOGS (low growth, low market share) - Dogs are in low growth markets and have low market share. - Dogs should be avoided and minimized. - Expensive turn-around plans usually do not help. And now, let's put all this into a picture: