7/21/2019 Marketing Myopia

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Marketing Myopia by Theodore Levitt, 1960 -Summary-

Posted by  pd7g10  on October 10th, 2010 

Main Idea:

1. An industry is a customer-satisfying process, not a goods-producing process. Businesses will do better in the end if they

concentrate on meeting customers’ needs rather than on selling

products.

2. Companies stop growing because of a failure in management, not

because the market is saturated but because of MY!"A.

Example 1: Railroads declined because they “were railroad oriented instead o 

transportation oriented! they were product oriented instead o customer oriented."

 #hey declined not because o cars$ truc%s$ airplanes$ and e&en telephones$ but

because o their own myopia.

It is the same %ind o example 2 with 'ollywood ( #). 'ollywood declined because

they thou*ht they were producin* +lms instead o entertainments.

 #here are no such bad ideas or a *rowin* industry that:

1. ,rowth is assured by an expandin* and more auent population!

2. #here is no competiti&e substitute or the industrys ma/or product!

0. #oo much aith in mass production and in the ad&anta*es o rapidly

declinin* unit costs as output rises!

. reoccupation with a product that lends itsel to careully controlled

scienti+c experimentation$ impro&ement$ and manuacturin* cost reduction.

1$2$0. 3oo%in* or mass production is sellin*$ not mar%etin*. “#he mar%etin* e4ort is

still &iewed as a necessary conse5uence o the product - not &ice &ersa$ as it should

be. #hat is the le*acy o mass production$ with its parochial &iew that pro+t resides

essentially in low-cost ull production"

 #he real le*acy o 'enry 6ord is that when he decided to reduce the price o his cars

to 7899 he made the best mar%etin* strate*y o his time. Mass production ob&iously

had a place in the plan but it ollowed a hard thin%in* about the customer. “ctually$

he in&ented the assembly line because he had concluded that at 7899 he could sell

millions o cars. Mass production was the result$ not the cause$ o his low prices.

#$elling focuses on the needs of the seller, marketing on the needs of the

buyer%

• Sellin* consists o tric%s and techni5ues ocusin* on the sellers need to

con&ert the product into cash.

• Mar%etin* is dedicated to the idea o satisyin* the needs o the customer

by means o the product and the whole cluster o thin*s associated with

creatin*$ deli&erin*$ and$ +nally$ consumin* it."

;uestion: In what extend an industry can chan*e is production model to another < In

other words$ can a petroleum company can become a solar or electric company <

7/21/2019 Marketing Myopia

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. In one hand$ while re*ardin* the petroleum industry throu*h the eyes o 

customers$ customers do not buy *asoline or its taste$ colour or smell at the *as

station$ they buy the ri*ht to dri&e their cars. So answerin* customers needs would

be *i&in* them the ri*ht to dri&e their cars de+niti&ely. So the uture o petroleum is

a uel that eliminates the need o re5uent reuellin*. #he uture o any product is not

a more technolo*ical one$ but a product that satis+es a powerul customer need.

Sometimes$ this process can carry out companies to destroy their more pro+table

assets to sur&i&e at lon* term. It is the necessary #creati&e destruction'

process due to the historical ate o any *rowth industry% #product

pro&incialism.'

=n the other hand$ payin* to much attention to research and de&elopment is the

dan*er o electronic companies. #hey are *rowin* with the illusion that a superior

product will sell itsel because they ha&e created a successul product. =ther

problems are:

1. #oo many en*ineers and scientists in the mana*ement board because o 

too complex and sophisticated products

2. s it is di>cult to *et controllable and concrete &ariables o customers

needs$ en*ineers and scientists tend to see customers as unpredictable$

&aried$ +c%le$ stupid$ shortsi*hted$ stubborn$ and bothersome people.

Example: “scientists who occupy the hi*h executi&e positions are totally unscienti+c

when it comes to de+nin* their companies o&erall needs and purposes" because

they only thin% about “laboratory and product experiments."

n industry is a customer-satisyin* process$ not a *oods-producin* process.

?ustomers do not care about how materials are created. #he mains unctions o an

industry should be:

1. Mar%etin*: Satisyin* customer needs

2. @eli&erin*

0. Sellin*

. roduction

8. Research and de&elopment

??3: ,eneral re5uirements to build a customer-oriented company:

1. #A &igorous leader who is dri&en onward by a pulsating will to

succeed'

2. #Management must think of itself not as producing products but

as pro&iding customer-creating &alue satisfactions', in other words%

#buying customer'

0. #(he chief e)ecuti&e must set the company’s style, its direction,

and its goals'

My opinion re*ardin* this article is that #.3E)I## is a &isionary because most o the

sub/ects he underlined in 1AB9 re*ardin* train$ 'ollywood and etroleum industry

turned out to be ri*ht many years ater. It was a really *ood start re*ardin*

Mar%etin* %nowled*es.