Concepts of Marketing that Business Units Hold

Business units even now hold one of the following concepts of marketing and manage their marketing activities accordingly.


The production concept

The production concept holds that consumers will favor those products that are widely available and low in cost. Managers of production-oriented organizations concentrate on achieving high production efficiency and wide distribution

The product concept

The product concept holds that consumers will favor those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features. Managers in product oriented organizations focus their energy on making superior products and improving them over time.

The selling/sales concept

The selling concept holds that consumers, if left alone, will ordinarily not buy enough of the organization’s products. The organization must therefore undertake an aggressive selling and promotion effort.

The marketing concept

The marketing concept holds that the key to achieving organizational goals consists of being more effective tha competitors in integrating marketing activities toward determining and satisfying the needs and wants of target markets.

The societal marketing concept

The societal marketing concept holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer’s and the society’s well-being.

Philip Kotler (Marketing Management, 9th Edition)