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Business Strategy

Marketing is the most significant strategy and tactic used in today’s business world. More than often, it is not the company with the best quality products or services that are most successful. The companies who know how to promote and market their products or services better than their competitors usually lead the antagonism. Nonetheless, there are often arguments debate marketing is a highly subjective artistic exercise opposed to marketing is generally a scientific exercise with well known guiding principles. Typical approaches demonstrate the ceremonial characterization of science and compares marketing methods against those scientific standards to validate the scientific status of marketing. With these intensive analyses, some believe that marketing is a science, while others still think that although scientific measurements were employed in marketing, in general, marketing is an art.

In this study, various types of marketing art and marketing science theories have been explored to argue whether marketing management a science or an art. By end of the study, it will however learn and conclude that marketing is scientifically proven with support by adequate evidences. Having the right marketing methods and relevant information along with the ability to perform it all, marketing would turn out to be really science.

Marketing refers to human activities bound for satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes (Kotler 1980). Exchange is a key unifying concept for marketing (Bagozzi 1975). Marketing is the way a business organization recognizes its customers, identifies and develops the products or services that its customers want, then sells and distributes those products or services to the customers. Marketing is fundamentally about marshalling the resources of businesses so that they can meet the changing needs of the customer on whom the businesses depend (Palmer).Marketing is a form of exchange relationship and process that gather information through market researches and subsequently executing the marketing plan to satisfy customers’ requirements competently and gainfully. The marketing concept established on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns of businesses investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers’ needs and wants (Barwell). While the important components of Marketing focus on satisfying customers’ needs, wants and requirements, the philosophy of marketing also emphasizes that customers’ future needs have to be well taken care of. There are of course focuses upon profitability for the business sectors. Recent definitions further recognize that marketing have its influences upon the public and society. In short, the 3 major focal points in marketing are customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and profit maximization.

Technically-oriented people believe that the key to marketing success is to learn the secret marketing formulas. They read all type of marketing books and study all kind of marketing courses yet it doesn't work. Methods and principles of skillful marketing strategy could not be learned by simply formulating a marketing formula. New commercialization often attempts to combine the "science" of formulating a winning product with the "art" of marketing strategy. This combination of marketing art and product science approach is not plausible cause methods and principles of skillful marketing strategy are not as merely as originating a marketing formula. Marketing art argues that it is simply a mistake to look for scientific formulas in the field of art. There isn’t any endearing marketing formula out there to excel but the artistic tactic of executing those marketing strategies captivates (John Agno 1995).

With all well-established marketing tactics available these days, when two companies conduct the same marketing promotion with the same method, they should get the same result. The fact is however, despite applying the same method, all marketing promotions have different effect and one could possibly expect better result than the others. There are somehow disputes that if marketing is science, there should not be any variable in terms of eventual outcomes. When one company, in looking at its marketing strategy, understands better than its competitors, that the company is better able to relate the needs of the market and is more creative than its competitors, where the company understands better what the customers want and able to supply that want, and understands better than others how to use business tools more effectively, that attest the art of marketing (Bruce W. Marcus).

PEST model is a command marketing tool specialized to focus on external environment and important factors that can influence present and future business.

PEST stands for:

Political-refers to current legislation home and future legislation. Also emphasize on the rules and regulations that protect the customers and organizations to conduct business in formal manner.
Economic- buying power and spending pattern of the society. Refer to market routes and distribution trends.
Social- a study done on human population characteristic like age, gender, race, income, occupation, education etc. Consumer attitudes, lifestyle trends and opinions count.
Technological- technology advancement, competing technology development and maturity of technology.

PEST model has influences for the way businesses set up and run. By implementing this model, business decision can be made after measuring the market for understanding of competitions, market growth or decline and business potential. This systematic method of measurement gives businesses clear judgment of market appearances and suggests appropriate time of entrance. Businesses hence minimize unforeseen risk and able to maximize potential future growth. This systematic and scientific method has technically proven that marketing a science.

The Ansoff Growth Matrix is another famous marketing tool that helps businesses making decision of their product and market growth strategy. It suggests that there are four possible product-market combinations offer ways to grow via existing products and new products, and in existing markets and new markets. The output from Ansoff Matrix is a series of effectual growth strategies that set the direction for businesses. Market penetration strategy focuses on selling existing products to existing customers aiming to increase market shares where the business knows well. Market development strategy seeks to sell existing products into new markets, the options include quest of additional geographical market segments like exporting product to a new country. Product development strategy aims to introduce new products to existing markets which requires the capacity of developing new products that can appeal to existing markets. Diversification strategy suggests promoting new products in new markets which are naturally more risky as the business moves into markets in which it has modest or no knowledge. Ansoff Matrix is a framework of identifying growth opportunities. It focuses on two aspects, namely markets and products. It provides a clear direction of how businesses expect to growth with specific market and products by giving the overview and proper assessment of potential risks. By employing Ansoff Matrix method, businesses able to make right decision to invest in the right market and construct the right products that most welcome by the market. This marketing method significantly proves its scientific status.

Porter's Five Forces Model provides a simple viewpoint for evaluating and analyzing the competitive strength of a business organization. In Porter’s Five Forces Model, market factors can be analyzed for making strategic assessment of the competitiveness of a business in a given market. The five forces that driven competition are:

1) Existing competitive rivalry between suppliers
2) Threat of new market entrants
3) Bargaining power of buyers
4) Power of suppliers
5) Threat of substitute products (including technology change)

Porter's Five Forces model suggested points that enable the development of an extensive and sophisticated analysis of competitive position. It can be used for strategy planning and decision making. Businesses may use Porter's Five Forces model as a tool for structural analysis to outline the competitive structure of the company. The objective of these strategic planning is to improve the competitiveness of a business to such that the company’s position is enhanced. Based on the information given by the Porter’s Five Forces model, businesses can decide how to build up their industry uniqueness. This will ultimately helps businesses making qualitative evaluation of their marketing strategy hence enabling them to serve customers better and making more rewarding returns. Again, this marketing method has been scientifically proven effectual.

The way marketing been study, marketing is an obvious science. There are many experiments in marketing, from gathering information to strategy drawing. Marketing required knowledge about psychology and statistics. Much like science, it begins with hypothesis, determine sample population, test with product and finally conclude with decision. Though there are viewpoints that marketing is art, there isn’t any scientific prove that those art theories work. Marketing art is merely an argument with no strapping substantiation. While there are simply too many terminologies like PEST Model, Ansoff Matrix, Porter’s Five Force, Unique Selling Proposition, Positioning, Niches, The 4Ps, The Marketing Mix, all those methodologies of marketing manifestly established that marketing is science. Successful scientific theories are those that been adopted widely, been treated seriously and been learned extensively. Various marketing theories have been employed as the framework for analyzing nowadays. By applying these marketing theories, one can predict expected outcomes with clear path for strategy planning. Marketing is systematic, well premeditated and well implemented in the business world. It has hence not once but countless corroboration to support that marketing is science.

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References

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John Agno (1995), ‘The Art of Marketing 1995 TEN article’, 734-426-2000, Signature Inc. viewed 13 August 2008, <http://www.tenonline.org/art/9502.html
Bruce W. Marcus, ‘The Marcus Letter’, viewed 13 August 2008, <http://www.marcusletter.com/science.htm
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Ansoff, I. (Sep-Oct 1957), Strategies for Diversification, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 35 Issue 5, pp.113-124
Porter, M.E. (1979) "How competitive forces shape strategy", Harvard Business Review, March/April 1979.
Richard P. Bagozzi, Oct 1975, ‘Marketing as Exchange’, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 32-39
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Philip Kotler (1980), ‘Principles of Marketing’, Prentice-Hall

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