1.1.1 Different uses of the term 'marketing'
There are four ways in which the term marketing may be used. Firstly it is used to mean the process which marketing managers use in their business activities. As well we shall see in 'A definition of marketing' section below, it is this process which is central to defining the concept.
Secondly, the term refers to the function of marketing, that is, the particular area of activity in an organisation often called a department, that focuses on the implementation of the marketing process. Thus the marketing function differs from the finance function, the operations function, the human resource management function, or other functional areas of an organisation such as research and development.
As a means to introduce a number of marketing concepts, the following reading discusses the case for and against marketing and argues why marketing is important for building a successful organisation.
Reading 1.1
Knight, T. and Doyle, P. n.d., 'The role of marketing: The future of marketing is on the line', Research Report , KPMG Management Consulting, London .
The term marketing can also mean a philosophy of business: that is, the manner of running a business that emphasises the importance of the customer and tries to identify and meet customer needs. This meaning is also referred to as having a marketing orientation .
The fourth way in which the term is used is to refer to the discipline of marketing, that is, the body of knowledge that addresses marketing issues. In this sense, marketing is distinct from accounting, organisational behaviour, economics, law, and other disciplines.
To summarise, marketing is a process, but the term is also used to refer to a functional area of business, a particular orientation of business, and a distinct area of knowledge. We shall use the term in all these ways during this Chapter, but our primary interest will be in what is involved in the process of marketing.