Marketing orientation concepts and management - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Marketing orientation concepts and management. Answer: Corporate objectives Corporate objectives of Apple constitute of various aspects, which provides holistic scenario for all the associate stakeholders. Corporate strategy for Apple includes offering innovative and up-to-date products to their customers. This is one of their key objectives due to the reason that, Apple is known for their innovative and advanced products compared to their competitors in the market. Innovative products of Apple are one of their key competitive advantages in the market (Heracleous, 2013). Another corporate strategy of them is the enhancement of the value for their stakeholders including both internal and external stakeholders. This enables them to look after the interest of their stakeholders. Moreover, this corporate objective of them is related to the basic business concept of maximizing sales and revenue. This is due to the reason that, maximization of the sales and revenue will automatically enhance the value for the internal customers. On the other hand, proving quality and innovative products will also enhance the value for the external stakeholders. In addition, Apple also concentrates on providing aesthetic value to their customers in order to enhance their value (Cecere, Corrocher Battaglia, 2015). Thus, they are having universal approach in initiating their corporate strategy covering all the related aspects. Market orientation Marketing orientation is having three concepts namely, marketing concept, selling concept and production concept. Marketing concept is the most popular concept being followed by the contemporary business organizations (Urde, Baumgarth Merrilees, 2013). It refers to the concept of determining the taste, preference and requirement of the customers as well as of the whole market and offering products accordingly. Selling orientation refers to the concept of promoting and marketing the products being manufactured. In this case, the key concentration is being given on the promotional and selling activities for the particular product. Production orientation was being used till the late fifties. This refers to the concept or thinking that, producing good quality or high quality product will automatically have market or they will create market. In this case, preferences of the customers are not being determined. Apple follows both the product and market orientation. This is due to the reason that, Apple relies more on their quality of products, which creates standard and market of their own. Every time, Apple introduces upgraded versions of iphones, a new standard in the market of mobile device is being created (Kam Sing Wong Tong, 2012). Moreover, iphones are not being able to meet all the requirements of the customers but still they are popular in the market. On the other hand, they also follow marketing strategy, which helps them to determine the market requirement prior to the release of the products. Core marketing strategy The core marketing strategy of Apple comprise of various approaches including pricing, product quality, branding. The key marketing objective of Apple is to cater to the niche customer segment by providing quality and aesthetic products to the customers. Accordingly, they initiate premium pricing in order to target the high end customers and to enhance the exclusivity of the products. In addition, branding is being done in such a way that it will create premium image in the market and will attract the customers from the top of the pyramid. However, there are various strengths and weaknesses being identified in this strategy of Apple. One of the key strengths is the positive branding of the products. With the help of premium pricing and marketing strategies, higher end customers are being effectively catered, which shows in their sales chart (Banerjee Soberman, 2013). One of the key weaknesses of this strategy is the non-coverage of the entire market. Though Apple is one of the renowned and sought after brand in the market, but they do not offer mass market and affordable products, which refrain them from generating more volume from the market. As discussed earlier, corporate objective of Apple is to provide quality products and maximizing revenue. Accordingly, the marketing strategies of them including initiation of premium pricing and innovation help them to generate more revenue and offering good quality products. Reference Banerjee, S., Soberman, D. A. (2013). Product development capability and marketing strategy for new durable products.International Journal of Research in Marketing,30(3), 276-291. Cecere, G., Corrocher, N., Battaglia, R. D. (2015). Innovation and competition in the smartphone industry: Is there a dominant design?.Telecommunications Policy,39(3), 162-175. Heracleous, L. (2013). Quantum strategy at Apple Inc.Organizational Dynamics,42(2), 92-99. Kam Sing Wong, S., Tong, C. (2012). The influence of market orientation on new product success.European Journal of Innovation Management,15(1), 99-121. Urde, M., Baumgarth, C., Merrilees, B. (2013). Brand orientation and market orientationFrom alternatives to synergy.Journal of Business Research,66(1), 13-20.