Page 130 - MYM 2015

86% 81%
81%
34% 3% 2% 4%
Low Performer
75% 68% 60% 7% 60% 2%
82%
High Performer
Figure 5: Pro les of 2 Businesses: High Performer (left) and Low Performer (right)
those factors. Collaboration is above average at the 60th percentile, but very low scores on the other disciplines indicate a business that is predominantly internally focused. It would have many more customer detractors than advocates. It would have no competitive resilience and would experience declining profit margins and profitability if left unchanged.
It is at high risk of losing customers and not having the capability of acquiring new ones profitably. Its cultural capability is completely unaligned with its strategy and its likelihood of achieving its objectives is very low.
The high-performer business is a manufacturer of medical devices and is the undisputed leader in its market. Prior to benchmarking it reported higher than average performance than its competitors in terms of sales and profit growth, and profitability for the previous three years. In the Figure 5 image on the left it shows this firm is relatively strong on all elements of customer culture which links to a sustainable competitive advantage. This business is highly likely to outperform its competitors for the foreseeable future if it maintains or adds to
its customer culture strengths. Its one area of vulnerability may be customer insight that indicates a lesser emphasis on the needs and servicing of
its current customers. This may open the way for an existing or new competitor to chip away at its customer base.
We have presented the evidence supporting
the importance of customer culture to business performance and shown the links to business strategy. We understand how to measure it. We know what the seven disciplines are to strengthen it. Marketing’s destiny is to lead it.
Marketing is Destined to Lead a Better World
The central philosophy of marketing in today’s turbulent environment is embodied in organizations that act with a strong customer culture. Tomorrow’s world requires it for sustained organizational success. Customers and communities need it
now to fulfill their needs in a fast changing world. Imagine if all organizations – for profit and nonprofit – had strong customer cultures what we could all achieve for our customers, our communities, our stockholders and our world. Marketing is destined to lead it and contribute to a better world because, at its best, that is what it does.
The last word, as with the rst, is from Philip Kotler:
“We can create a better world through marketing in several ways. Commercially, we can improve our products and services and find ways to lower their prices and costs. Socially, we can work on specific social problems and reduce their severity through the application of social marketing. Societally, we can assist companies in defining the areas where they can make charitable contributions and work with others to improve the quality of life.“ 22
1 See http://www.slideshare.net/bright9977/66-quotes-on-marketing- from-philip-kotler
2 See https://www.ama.org/aboutama/pages/de nition-of- marketing.aspx
3 Narver, John C.; Slater, Stanley F. (1990), "The effect of a market orientation on business pro tability," Journal of Marketing; Vol. 54 Issue 4; 20-35. Narver, J. C., Slater, S. F., &Tietje, B. (1998), “Creating a market orientation”, Journal of Market-Focused Management, 2(1), 241−255.
4 Slater, Stanley F.; Narver, John C. (1994), "Does Competitive Environment Moderate the Market Orientation-Performance Relationship?" Journal of Marketing; Vol. 58 Issue 1; 46-55. Slater, S. F., &Narver, J. C. (1995), “Market orientation and the learning organization”, Journal of Marketing, 59(3), 63−74.
5 Appiah-Adu, Kwaku (1997), "Market Orientation and Performance: Do the Findings Established in Large Firms Hold in the Small Business Sector?" Journal of Euromarketing; Vol. 6 Issue 3; 1-26, Appiah-Adu, Kwaku (1998), "Market Orientation and Performance: Empirical Tests in a Transition Economy," Journal of Strategic Marketing; Vol. 6 Issue 1; 25-45.
6 Avlonitis, George J.; Gounaris, Spiros P. (1997), "Marketing orientation and company performance: Industrial vs. consumer goods companies," Industrial Marketing Management; Vol. 26, Issue 5; 385-402.
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