Fundamental Analysis
When most people think of marketing the first thing that probably pops into their mind is some advertisement on TV or a commercial they listened to on the radio. These days marketing is more than commercials on the television or billboards that dot the highways, they are more than advertisements in the paper or salesman attempting to sell you their products. Many believe that this is marketing but marketing is so much more complex than the advertising and the selling of goods and services. Marketing is the managerial process of identifying customer requirements and satisfying them by providing customers with appropriate products in order to achieve the organization's objectives. Marketing goes beyond merely selling what the firm produces, but starts by identifying underlying consumer needs through marketing research; generating products which satisfy these needs through new product development; promoting these products to consumers through various marketing mix policies (pricing, advertising, sales promotion etc.); and physically distributing products to customers through distribution channels ( Marketing, 2006).
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as; the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services, to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Important in this definition is that marketing involves a planning process that begins before the product or service is created. In addition to the development of an idea, product, or service, marketing includes the development of pricing, promotion, and distribution plans. Finally, it is important to note that the exchanges must be satisfactory to both the customer and the organization. Marketing activities are ongoing and include continuous research about customers, their preferences, and lifestyles. Marketing requites a long-term view of business whereby change is expected, accepted, and adapted...
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