Market Forces Bearing on the Marketing Mix
1. Consumers’ Buying Behavior, as determined by their
a) Motivation in purchasing.
b) Buying habits.
c) Living habits.
d) Environment (present and future, as revealed by trends, for
environment influences
consumers’ attitudes toward products and their use of them).
e) Buying power.
f) Number (i.e., how many).
2. Trade’s Behavior—wholesalers’ and retailers’ behavior as influenced
by
a) Their motivations.
b) Their structure, practices, and attitudes.
c) Trends in structure and procedures that portend change.
3. Competitors’ Position and Behavior, as influenced by
a) Industry structure and the firm’s relation thereto.
1) Size and strength of competitors.
2) Number of competitors and degree of industry concentration.
3) Indirect competition—that is, from other products.
b) Relation of supply to demand—oversupply or undersupply.
c) Product choices offered consumers by the industry, that is, quality,
price, service.
d) Degree to which competitors compete on price vs. nonprice bases.
e) Competitors’ motivations and attitudes—their likely response to the
actions of
other firms.
f) Trends, technological and social, portending change in supply and
demand.
(continued)
4. Governmental Behavior—controls over marketing:
a) Regulations over products.
b) Regulations over pricing.
c) Regulations over competitive practices.
d) Regulations over advertising and promotion.
Source: Neil H. Borden,“The Concept of the Marketing Mix,” Journal of
Advertising Research, June 1964, p. 5.
tions of marketing. The downside of talking about marketing mix was
that
there were literally hundreds, maybe even thousands, of activities that
could be included in the mix. It was easy for students and company
executives to get so absorbed in the details that they missed the point of
the marketing gurus’ beautiful theory, as was often the case. What the
gurus needed
was a good old-fashioned classificatory schema—a way of boiling all the
details down into a simple little phrase, preferably one consisting of
words
all beginning with the same letter.
