In effect,marketing should begin and end with the consumer. In the USA,the General Electricity Company is usually as the firm to structure its operations systematically in accordance with the marketing concept.
Nobody can argue that consumer orientation is not a good guiding philosophy for marketer. Yet there are many instances when these philosophy may be ignored,or worse,violated with impunity. Consider these instances.
(1) An inventor may jump into producing and attempting to market his gadget under the assumption that every body must desire it because it is clear. Only when consumers cast negative votes in the market place does he realize his mistakes.
(2). When the market demand clearly exists,especially when there are shortages,producers may give little thought to pleasing the consumers,and will very likely to be preoccupied with problems related to increasing his production. One of the time when this condition obtains is during the early stage of industrialization and such is currently the case in Nigeria.
(3) When the market is a government monopoly or operates in a strong cartel,it is unlikely to be bothered with customers satisfaction. It's entrenched position would appear to make customers orientation unnecessary,because the customers are powerless to enforce change by turning to alternate sources. If the marketer is a government corporation competing with private operators,it may still feel no pressure to apply the marketing concept. Here the reasons are not the entrenched market position,but lack of accountability or immunity from the consequences of mismanagement. Government corporations serving customers have generally had a poor performance in Nigeria and other African countries. When they fail to achieve the objectives for which they are set up,they do not usually go out of business as a private firm would,but are reorganized and given another chance.
