A MARKET-ORIENTED STRATEGY FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SCALE ENTERPRISES

A MARKET-ORIENTED STRATEGY FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SCALE ENTERPRISES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

            Marketing has become the basic element of development in the Nigerian economy because it involves production and consumption of goods, services and ideas. Through the activities of production and consumption, individuals obtain what they need and want for satisfaction. The main objective of marketing is to produce goods and services efficiently to meet the needs and desires of customers, and to do so at a profit. The level of consumption of goods and services sometimes depends on how the goods and services are marketed.

             Marketing has been defined by American Marketing Association (1985) as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Marketing concept holds that the key to achieving organizational goal is being more effective than competitors in creating, delivering, and communicating. According to Obi (2002), marketing is the performance of business activities that direct products and services from producer to consumer or user to satisfy customers’ demand and accomplish the company’s objectives. Obi further explained that marketing consists of a large number of business activities which include gathering product information, designing and developing, packaging, transportation, advertising and selling. 

In the same vein, Kotler (2003), viewed marketing as getting the right goods and services to the right people, at the right place, at the right time, at the right price, with the right communication and promotion.   Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large (American Marketing Association, 2007). Kotler and Keller (2009) defined marketing as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customers relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. Marketing as defined by the authors aforementioned involves production and consumption of goods and services to satisfy wants and needs. Therefore the concept of marketing adopted for this study is as defined by Kotler (2003). Kotler defined marketing as getting the right goods and services to the right people at the right place at the right price with the right communication and promotion.   Marketing therefore, involves the activities that link the products or services of a business to its customers. These activities include production of quality goods/services, distribution of the goods/services to the expected customers, disseminating information about the goods/services through appropriate media and setting the goods at affordable prices to the target market (a target market is the customers a company wants to sell its products and services to).          Marketing is divided into four general set of activities, universally known as the four Ps, which are product, promotion, price, and place MaCarthy (1998). Apart from the desire to contribute materially to the development of the economy, owners of enterprises also desire to maximize profit and this cannot be done effectively without a good marketing mix. Marketing mix used by a particular firm will vary according to its resources, market conditions and changing needs of clients. According to Obi (2002), marketing mix is a design that enables the firm to determine how it will shape its total package of product, price, promotion, place and communication to the target market.  Obi further explained that the consumer is the focus of each of these elements (product, place, price, and promotion) in marketing.