AD212 American Business and Management

AD212

Fall 2002

Chapt. 13: Building Customer Relationships Through Effective Marketing

and

McKenna, "Marketing is Everything"

For one of the following three companies/products, carefully explore the forces that make up its external marketing environments as per the list of forces on pages 365-6. Also, consider how the forces in your organization's external marketing environment will affect its marketing strategy.

(Take the organization assigned to you below [by last name] and be prepared to contribute to class discussion about it--people will be called on from the alphabetized class list. You may need to do some research.)

Morning Class

A-He / Sugarloaf Mountian Ski Company

Hu-R / Colby College

S-Z / Sony's TV set business

Afternoon Class

A-K / Sugarloaf Mountian Ski Company

L-Re / Colby College

Ro-Z / Sony's TV set business

The text says that "marketing activities add value to products" (p.356). Doesn't a product have intrinsic value based on its design, the materials that are used, how well it works, etc? How can marketing add value? Another way of looking at this question is, from the perspective of marketing, what is a product? Why do consumers buy particular products (or services), and those from particular companies? Think both about your own experiences and some of the marketing issues raised in the text.

When Regis McKenna says, "Marketing today is not a function; it is a way of doing business," what does he mean? Do you think that his claim is overblown? How has marketing changed over the years?