Question

• How have organizational market orientations shaped and/or been influenced by consumer behaviours? • What role does relationship management play in the development of marketing practices today? What contributes to the strategic nature of those practices?

Answer 1

Market orientation is a strategic choice where a firm decides to cater to market needs and want in order to remain competitive in the industry. While it may seem like a no brainer today, once upon a time, organizations were focused on production oriented or product oriented approach. During that time, the companies used to shell out products as per their convenience and assumption of the market. That was the period of mass production and every household and businesses used to get mass produced products.

However, as competition increased, the approach to catering to market changed and companies began adapting a more market oriented approach. Organizations began studying markets in details, consumer behavior studies gained acceleration and eventually the result has been to create products that suits the needs of the customers. Another key factor was that information and options became widely available to the consumers and they began asking for specific customization in their product.

One of the key example can be seen in the mobile phone industry. If we notice, we will see that in the recent years every phone manufacturing companies have been focusing on the quality and features of their camera as a selling point. Contrary to the actual use, camera is a supplementary feature. However the reason for focus on camera has been the consumer behavior. The consumers of mobile products like to have good camera and that is what is being catered by the industry.

Relationship management has been a key component for marketing practices for quite some time. Several decades ago, the marketing approach was one way communication. That is when the organization advertised about their product, features and benefits through various mediums. However, nowadays the mere number of channels available for communication renders the old approach insufficient.

It is a given fact, that when consumers are happy with the product and service they receive, it helps the organization in terms of their numbers. It could be revenue, profit, or any other metric. Thus relationship with customers is key in being successful. Take into consideration the increasing competition in industry and relationship management has become a key factor in success. This is why companies have adopted new practices to their relationship management strategies.

One key example of this is through various channels that companies communicate with their customers. Contrary to earlier times when the mode of communication was purely based on phone, and email, new mediums are now available such as social media, text message, and mobile apps. Organizations use all of these platform to keep in touch with their consumers. Overall relationship management needs have given rise to new platforms and also these platforms have created further new ways to maintain relationship with customers.