Marketing concerns of a developing economy

It is a pleasure to speak to you tonight on some 'Marketing Concerns of a Developing Economy'. Before beginning, I wish. to thank the Malta Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Society of Malta, and the Royal University of Malta for inviting me, and the United States Information Service for facilitating my visit. I accepted the invitation to speak on marketing and economic development with some hesitation, for I feared being cast an 'instant expert' with respect. to Maltese economic prospects and planning. Let me dispel any illusions that I stand before you prepared to indicate specifically the role of the various sectors of the economy or the precise manner in which marketing can best serve the interest of the total Maltese Society. The issues are far too complex and my contact with Malta far too limited to enable me to make any comments of a specific policy nature. Rather I intend my comments to provide a useful framework for considering economic development and the role of marketing - and thereby hopefully provide implications for Maltese economic planning. I invite your questions, for of necessity I am leaving much unsaid.peer-reviewe

Drucker\u27s Insights on Market Orientation and Innovation: Implications for Emerging Areas in High-Technology Marketing

In 1954, Drucker boldly declared that organizations have only two basic functions, marketing and innovation. While true for any organization, this insight is particularly pertinent for technology-based businesses. The complicated environment surrounding high-tech companies creates a great need for sophisticated marketing, yet these companies continue to have under-developed competencies in marketing and in understanding customer needs. In its first two sections, this essay explores Drucker’s insights with respect to two particularly salient issues for high-tech companies: developing and implementing a market orientation, and sustained break-through innovations. We review Drucker’s insights and synthesize them with the scholarly research on these issues. In the third section, we discuss three emerging areas in high-tech marketing where academics and managers could build on Drucker’s insight to guide future research and practice: market-driving, customer co-creation, and corporate social responsibility. The illustrative examples provided by these emerging areas highlight that even today, Drucker’s writings continue to offer remarkable guidance to scholars and managers who are willing to take the time to reflect, understand, and incorporate these insights in the unique context of high-tech industries

Creating a Market Orientation

A market orientation is a business culture in which all employees are committed to the continuous creation of superior value for customers. However, businesses report limited success in developing such a culture. One approach to create a market orientation, the approach taken by most businesses, is the “programmatic” approach, an a priori approach in which a business uses education programs and organizational changes to attempt to implant the desired norm of continuously creating superior value for customers. A second approach is the “market-back” approach, an experiential approach in which a business continuously learns from its day-to-day efforts to create and maintain superior value for customers and thereby continuously develops and adapts its customer-value skills, resources, and procedures. Theory suggests that both approaches contribute to increasing a market orientation. It also suggests that when the a priori education of the programmatic approach is sharply focused on providing a foundation for the experiential learning, the combined effect of the two learning strategies is the largest. The implication is that the two strategies must be tailored and managed as a coordinated joint strategy for creating a market orientation