b) Marketing is pervasive in nature as it applies to all organisations.

It is applicable not
only to business organisations, but also to organisations such as educational, medical,
government, non-government, social, religious and cultural organisations. All
organisations market their products and services to accomplish their goals and ensure
their survival and growth. For instance, educational institutions are marketing
knowledge packed courses, character building and all-round development, hospitals
are selling total health care, family welfare, child welfare, etc. and social
organizations are selling their programs like child education, upliftment of rural
masses, spread of literacy, and health care of people living in slums and so on.

The scope of marketing is determined by the marketing offering of an organisation.

Market offering is a combination of goods, services, ideas, persons, places,
information, etc. offered to a market to satisfy specific needs and wants of people.
Market offerings are not limited to physical goods. They also include services like
banking, air travel, hotel stay, tourism, etc. which are not tangible in nature and can’t
be owned by the buyers.

i. Goods:
These are the primary things that are tangible in nature and meant for
marketing to the needy people. The goods may be consumer goods, industrial
goods or agricultural produce. These are to reach their users. In these three
types of goods, again consumer durables, convenience, luxury or essential
goods can be found. Every country produces the goods in which it has
economy i.e., endowed with natural wealth. Primary importance is given for
producing the necessaries of life of people.

ii. Services
Now, the services are marketable items. Products that have intangible
properties such as banking, consultancy, education, insurance, accounting,
expertise, medical treatment or transportation. The concept of services has
undergone radical changes. The services sector has become an important and
major contributor to GDP of every nation. The nations became advanced
with the maximum growth of services. These can be provided with goods and
also independently.
iii. Experience:
Marketers can create stage and market experiences to the customers. For
example, Water Park, and theme parks provide experience marketing.
Another different real-life experience is been enjoyed by customers at
modern retail outlets. Now retailing is not an activity involved in just selling
goods to the customers, it has now become an experience. Shopping in a mall
where the delightful experience comprises of not only shopping but also,
spending time with family and friends, eating out, watching movie and
enjoying the complete
day.
iv. Ideas:
New ideas can be marketed like hot cakes. Every product or services is an
indicator of a new idea. Because, every product or service will be different in
one or other way. A new idea is manifested either in the form of a new
product or services, through which attempts are made to capture the market.

v. Properties:
These are also marketable entities, which may be in tangible or intangible
forms. The real estate things are the examples of tangible properties and the
securities, stocks and bonds are considered as financial properties. Now a
day, these properties are in forefront of marketers, who are required to excel
in skills of marketing.

vi. Information:
The present world is moving fast with the fastest flow of information. Like
other commodities, information is produced and sold to the needy clients.
Publication, research organizations, Magazines, Periodicals, policies etc., are
the providers of rich information. They see that their information reaches the
users.

vii. Event:
Marketers are now engaged in rendering such services to make events
successful. They show their professionalism in organizing special events. For
instance, organizing the fashion shows, Artistic Performance, Company
 Training Programs, General Body Meetings, Trade Fairs, Sports events etc.
Such events can be successful only through proper planning and execution.
The marketers have to make people attend such events and the number
decides the success of events.
viii. Organizations:
In these days, the organizations are developed with good reputation and
image and sold off to others. Similarly, the products and services of reputed
organizations are marketed easily. These organizations may be business
organizations or educational or artistic units which are also making hard
efforts to market their services to get more students, more visitors etc.

ix. Persons:
The great personalities and celebrities also adopt marketing techniques.
Many writers hire press agency to get their works published and become a
great writer. Similarly, many professionals appoint personal assistants or
agents to reach the mass. They wish to build their own brand image among
the public. Now, the creativity and talent of such celebrities has become
marketable items.

x. Places:
Tourism is linked to the marketing of places. The places like attractive cities,
holy and pilgrimage centres, IT-BT city, palace city etc., are the items of
marketing. Every country has many such identified places which attract the
people of the other countries. The facilities and services available at such
places attract more and more visitors

c) In today’s business environment, marketplace is continuously changing. Hence, the

marketers should join and respond to several important developments, which are
occurring in the market The marketplace is dramatically different from even 10 years
ago, with new marketing behaviors, opportunities, and challenges emerging. Present
marketplace is in more constant situation of changes than in past decades. Businesses
are impacted by internal and external environment factors. These environmental
factors that the businesses have no control over are taken into consideration while
making marketing decisions. With this transformation, there will be some new
challenges, opportunities and development of new models and framework.

Major Societal Forces

 Network information technology. The digital revolution has created an
Information Age that promises to lead to more accurate levels of production,
more targeted communications, and more relevant pricing.
 Globalization. Technological advances in transportation, shipping, and
communication have made it easier for companies to market in, and
consumers to buy from, almost any country in the world. International travel
has continued to grow as more people work and play in other countries.
 Deregulation. Many countries have deregulated industries to create greater
competition and growth opportunities. In the United States, laws restricting
financial services, telecommunications, and electric utilities have all been
loosened in the spirit of greater competition.
 Privatization. Many countries have converted public companies to private
ownership and management to increase their efficiency, such as the massive
telecom company Telefónica CTC in Chile and the international airline British
Airways in the United Kingdom.
 Heightened competition. Intense competition among domestic and foreign
brands raises marketing costs and shrinks profit margins. Brand manufacturers
are further buffeted by powerful retailers that market their own store brands.
Many strong brands have become megabrands and extended into a wide
variety of related product categories, presenting a significant competitive
threat.
 Industry convergence. Industry boundaries are blurring as companies
recognize new opportunities at the intersection of two or more industries. The
computing and consumer electronics industries are converging, for example,
as Apple, Sony, and Samsung release a stream of entertainment devices from
MP3 players to plasma TVs and camcorders. Digital technology fuels this
massive convergence.
  Retail transformation. Store-based retailers face competition from catalogue
houses; direct mail firms; newspaper, magazine, and TV direct-to-customer
ads; home shopping TV and e-commerce.

New consumer capabilities

 Consumer buying power. In part, due to disintermediation via the Internet,
consumers have substantially increased their buying power. Buyers are only
click away from comparing from competitor’s prices and product attributes.
 Consumer information. Consumers can collect information in as much breadth
and depth as they want about practically anything.
 Consumer resistance. Many customers today feel there are fewer real product
differences, so they show less brand loyalty and become more price- and
quality-sensitive in their search for value, and less tolerant about undesired
marketing.

New Company Capabilities

 Marketers can use the Internet as a powerful information and sales channel.
 Marketers can collect fuller and richer information about markets, customers,
prospects, and competitors.
 Marketers can tap into social media to amplify their brand message.
 Marketers can facilitate and speed external communication among customers.

There are three forces, which are driving the new marketing realities. These forces
have created new marketing opportunities, behaviors and challenges for the market
and its people. Technology, Globalization and Social Responsibility are the three
forces of new marketing realities.
i. Technology
Technology is rapidly changing day by day. It is the major factor that assist
the organization and marketers in generating new company capabilities like:
they can utilize the internet as a most strong channel for information and
sales. They can gather the information about customers profile, customer
buying behaviour prospects, markets and competitors. For example: when
 customer search something about one product in some site then, information
about that product is shown in other site also.

ii. Globalization
Globalization is the primary process of integration and interaction among
companies, people and governments of different countries. The world has
become a smaller place. New transportation, shipping, and communication
technologies have made it easier for us to know the rest of the world, to
travel, to buy and sell anywhere. In today’s marketplace organizations are
making efforts to expand their business in international markets. Every
product can be found anywhere with the same quality. For example: we can
order product of Australia, from Nepal.

iii. Social Responsibility

Social responsibility is another force in today’s business that is driving new
marketing realities, because people are becoming very concerned about the
welfare of environment and themselves. So, the organization need to include
social responsibility in their practices. In marketing, it is very important as it
includes emphasizing on enticing the customers, who wish to make a positive
experience with their purchases. There are so many companies, which have
implemented social responsibility strategies in marketing process because it
assists the community and manufacture the products, which benefit the
targeted society. Engaging in corporate social responsibility also offers new
company capabilities, like; it will promote the brand image and reputation of
the company that can primarily affect profitability and productivity positively.

Question: 2

Organizational buying process us the process through which organizations or

industrial buyers make a purchase decision. Individual consumers are not the
only buyers in a market. Companies and other organizations also need goods
and services to operate, run their businesses.
 Suppose I was working at manufacturing company and had to by materials for
our company then, first of all I would have identified the buying situation of
my company which can be the straight rebuy, the modified rebuy and the new
task.

i. Straight rebuy
A straight rebuy is the purchasing or reordering of supplies on a routine basis
from a supplier who is on an approved list. If my company have situation, of
straight rebuy then I would order the same products in the same quantity form
the same supplier.

ii. Modified rebuy

If my company have modified rebuy situation, then I would place a order buy
with a little modification. It might be in terms of product specification, price
or supplier itself.

iii. New task buying

If the situation is of new buy i.e., buying product for the first time then, I
would conduct research and analyse the offers from various suppliers to
choose the most suitable one.

After identifying buying situations, I would consult with the buying centre
who participate in the purchasing decision-making process. Then, we can
enter in buy phases which includes different stages of buying process.
In modified rebuy or straight rebuy situations, some stages are compressed or
bypassed while the new-task buying contains all of these steps. So, for
example our company wants to manufacture new product. For this following
buying process is required:

i. Problem Recognition
This is the first step. Here we would identify a need for a purchase. As our
company wants to manufacture new product, we would require new material
 for this. So here we will identify the materials we want to produce new
product.

ii. General Need Description

After recognizing need of the product, I will describe it thoroughly to make
sure that everyone understands both the need and the nature of solution the
organization should seek. I would decide the general characteristics, quantity
of the product needed, cost, etc. For this I will work with engineers, users,
purchasing agents.
iii. Product specification:
Next our organization will develop product specifications with the help of an
engineering team. Cost reduction is the important issue in this product
specification. That’s why we carefully redesigned, standardized or adopts less
costly methods and decides the best characteristics of the product.
iv. Supplier search
As we are buying new product, our company identify the most appropriate
supplier. We will conduct a standard search to identify which provider offer
what we need, and which ones have a reputation for good quality, good
partnership, and good value for the money.
v. Proposal Solicitation
During the next stage of the process, we will invite qualified suppliers to
submit proposals. Depending on the nature of the purchase, some suppliers
send only a catalogue or a sales representative. More complex purchases
typically require submission of a detailed proposal outlining what the
provider can offer to address the buyer’s needs, along with product
specifications, timing, and pricing.
vi. Supplier Selection
At this stage, we screen the proposals and makes a choice. A significant part
of this selection involves evaluating the vendors under consideration. The
selection process involves thorough review of the proposals submitted, as
well as consideration of vendor capabilities, reputation, customer references,
warranties, and so on. Then, will invite the short-listed vendors to meet with
the us virtually or in person to discuss the proposal and address any questions,
concerns, or gaps. At this stage, we will try to negotiate final, advantageous
 terms with each of the short-listed vendors. Negotiation points may cover
product quantity, specifications, pricing, timing, delivery, and other terms of
sale. Ultimately, we finalize the supplier and communicate it internally and to
the vendors who submitted proposals.
vii. Order-Routine Specification
Now, we write the final order with the chosen supplier, listing the technical
specifications, the quantity needed, the warranty, and so on. At this stage, the
supplier typically works closely with us to manage inventories and deliver on
agreement terms.
viii. Performance Review
In this final stage, we will review the supplier’s performance and provides
feedback. This may be a very simple or a very complex process, and it may be
initiated by either we, or both. The performance review may lead to changes
in how the organizations work together to improve efficiency, quality,
customer satisfaction, or other aspects of the relationship