Page 50 - Foundations of Marketing

Customer-Driven Strategic Marketing | Chapter 1 17

Nonprofit Organization
The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration creates
awareness of the risks associ-
ated with drinking and driving
during the holiday season.

AP Photo/PR NEWSWIRE

Marketing Is Important to Businesses

and the Economy

Businesses must engage in marketing to survive and grow, and marketing activities are needed
to reach customers and provide products. Financial resources generated from sales are neces-
sary for the operations of a firm and to provide financial returns to investors. Innovation in
operations and products drive business success and customer loyalty. Even nonprofit busi-
nesses need to understand and use marketing to serve their audience.
Marketing activities help to produce the profits that are essential to the survival of indi-
vidual businesses. Without profits, businesses would find it difficult, if not impossible, to buy
more raw materials, hire more employees, attract more capital, and create additional products
that, in turn, make more profits. Without profits, marketers cannot continue to provide jobs
and contribute to social causes. Therefore, marketing helps create a successful economy and
contributes to the well-being of society.

Marketing Fuels Our Global Economy
Marketing is necessary to advance a global economy. Advances in technology, along with
falling political and economic barriers and the universal desire for a higher standard of
living, have made marketing across national borders commonplace while stimulating
global economic growth. As a result of worldwide communications and increased inter-
national travel, many U.S. brands have achieved widespread acceptance around the world.
At the same time, customers in the United States have greater choices among the products
they buy because foreign brands such as Toyota (Japan), Bayer (Germany), and Nestlé
(Switzerland) sell alongside U.S. brands such as General Motors, Tylenol, and Chevron.
People around the world watch CNN and MTV on Samsung and Sony televisions they

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