Marketing

In recent years marketing has become a driving force in most companies.

Marketing includes all the business activities connected with the movement of goods and services from producers to consumers. Sometimes it is called distribution. On the one hand, marketing is made up of such activities as transporting, storing and selling goods and, on the other hand, a series of decisions you make during the process of moving goods from producer to user. Marketing operations include product planning, buying, storage, pricing, promotion, selling, credit, traffic and marketing research.

Underlyng all marketing strategy is the marketing concept - «we must produce what people want, not what we want to produce». This means that we put the customer first. We organize the company so that this happens. We must find out what the customer wants. We carry out market research. We must supply exactly what the customer wants. We can do this by offering the right Marketing Mix: «The Four P's – the right Product at the right Price; available through the right channels of distribution, Place: presented in the right way, Promotion.»

Nowadays all divisions of a company are urged to think marketing. We must have a clear idea of: what the customers need, what the customers want, what causes them to buy. The ability to recognize early trends is very important. Producers must know why, where, for what purpose the customers buy. Market research helps the producer predict what people will want. And through advertising he attempts to influence the customer to buy.

Marketing operations are very expensive. They take more than half of the consumer's dollar. The trend in the USA has been to high mass consumption. The construction of goods shopping centres has made goods available to consumers. It has provided a wide range of merchandise and plenty of parking facilities.

Marketing in a foreign environment often means working around and within a set of constantly changing circumstances. The environment elements include a country’s economy, politics, regulations and social make up. Whether you are developing your company's first international marketing plan or revising existing strategies, understanding the foreign environment is crucial to international success.

A company that believes in marketing is forward thinking and doesn't rest on its best achievements: it must be aware of its strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats it faces.