All entries for Saturday 09 February 2013

So, what is Marketing?

Day 1 of WBS Marketing, onsite in Rome.

Around 50 semester 1 and 2 MBA scholars were introduced to the concept of Marketing by Lloyd Harris of Warwick Business School. The definitions, challenges, myths and contexts were introduced, and discussed with much debate in smaller syndicate groups.

Hearing how a mining company in Africa considered marketing an immature function in their business, while facing challenges of avoiding business activities with sanctioned territories, provided a stark constrast to my background in the software industry.

Hearing about the desire of a non-profit medical practitioner council to obtain the human capital and funding to support some sort of marketing effort was then compared to the structure of a mobile telecommunications provider in the UK, with their thousands of marketeers supporting highly competitive campaigns.

A case study on Pegasus Airlines, the Turkish Superbrand, explored concepts of product, customer, value, sustainability and also introduced six marketing management concepts: the product-, selling-, marketing-, production-, societal marketing-, and sustainability marketing concept.

Looking at these in relation to the software industry it's easy to see how a mix of these concepts are at work tactically and strategically, and how they could not thrive without leaning on some of the others.

Takeaway of the day: no two Marketing organisations are the same. The understanding of what it does and means is likely to be completely different to that of your neighbour, even in the same industry.

: 09 Feb 2013 18:01 |  Tags: Face-To-Face Marketing |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem