What is Marketing Myopia?
Ovin Amaratunga
Executive International Marketing | Brand Enthusiast | MBA (UK)| CIM (UK)| BSc Sp. AG Econ & Bus. Mgt. (UOP)| ACIM (UK)| AMSLIM (SL)
Simply, “Marketing myopia”, is a?short-sighted focus on selling goods and services, rather than seeing what consumers want. In other words marketing product as it is produced without having, “big picture” on the mind.
Organizations invest so many resources in what they currently produce, without having a vision of the future. They get lulled into thinking they are in a “growth industry,” which, doesn’t exist according to Levitt’s idea. According to Levitt what exists is companies continuously capitalizing on growth opportunities.
There are several examples to illustrate that your product is not your business. The most famous example is the railroad lines, which fell into steep decline because they failed to understand that they were in the Transportation business (a wide array of opportunities) rather than the Railroad business (single opportunity). The myopic vision of a particular industry lets others seize those opportunities and steal away their customers instead.
This concept was introduced by, Harvard Business School marketing professor Theodore Levitt, in 1960. According to Levitt, those companies spend too much concern on product or services development without understanding what customers expect. Therefore, he encouraged organizations to switch from a “production orientation" to a “consumer orientation”. Levitt used an ironic example, “People don’t want a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole” to explain his idea.
4 myths that lead to marketing myopia.
Myth 1: Population myth
Basic Idea: An ever-expanding and more affluent population will ensure our growth.
They assume that consumers are multiplying and also buying more of their product or service. They can face the future with considerably more comfortable with this idea. Therefore, organizations simply and more often assume that they don’t have to think imaginatively about their businesses, they can survive in the marketplace by approaching rising customers with the existing product. The management focuses on expanding its production rather than thinking about marketing. They seek to face the competition by improving the existing product (Product development) by improving product features, different quality versions, and additional models and sizes. (Product Concept). Their concerns become selling the needs of the seller instead of the needs of the consumer ultimately caught in Marketing myopia.?
Myth 2: No Competitive Substitution Myth
Basic Idea: There is no competitive substitute for our industry’s major product.
This idea could easily bring about the downfall of the organization. When the management tends to believe their offerings are indispensable, they stop thinking about the future. They focus on producing that ‘indispensable’ product and do not consider the changing environment and the threats of possible entrants or substitute products into the market. This belief takes the organization into stagnation ultimately caught in Marketing myopia with the arrival of novel competitors with superior customer offerings
Myth 3: Faith in Mass Production
Basic Idea: We can protect ourselves through mass production.
When production rises unit cost declining. It is a very attractive incentive for producers. They tend to focus on the production and costs rather than focusing on the marketing and consumer requirement and preferences.?
Once they have mass-produced their products, they are minded towards selling them instead of marketing them which becomes the reason for the ultimate downfall. Because Selling focuses, the needs of the seller and marketing focus on the needs of the buyer. Selling is intended to convert a product into cash and marketing with the idea of satisfying the needs of the customer using the product and all other things associated with creating, delivering, and, finally, consuming it. A truly marketing-minded firm tries to create value by satisfying goods and services that consumers will want to buy. Therefore, they are secured in the long run. They offer not only the blanket product or service but also how it is made available to the customer, in what form, when, under what conditions, and at what terms of trade.
Due to a competitive and uncertain environment, consumer preferences change rapidly. Therefore, the organizations need to pay attention to changing trends and consumer wants to avoid stagnation and caught Marketing myopia.?
Myth 4: Dangers of R&D
Basic idea: Technical research and development will ensure our growth
According to Levitt, most of the companies caught Marketing myopia due to organizing centering the technology rather than the consumer. Most companies in this field lose not because they do not pay enough attention to research and development, but that they pay too much attention to it. Most technological firms tend to focus their efforts towards scientific implementations and research and development which increase their cost of production and increases their chances of failure if the innovations are not responsive to consumers.
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Who got caught in marketing myopia?
How Nokia got caught Marketing Myopia
Nokia is one of the best examples to describe, “marketing myopia”. They put all their resources into thinking that they are in a growing industry and overlooked the future needs of customers. They thought the mobile phone is only for messages, calls, and some ordinary games, but at the same time, companies like Samsung, Apple came up with revolutionized technologies installing GPS, internet, media, and other applications into mobile phones changing the entirety of the mobile phones industry.
Nokia suffered from all types of marketing neglect and exemplifies the four Myths of Levitt’s self-deceiving cycle,
Myth 1: - Population myth
Nokia thought their future was assured by previous sales and growing mobile phone usage in more affluent emerging markets
Myth 2: - No Competitive Substitution Myth
In 2008 Nokia was able to sell 468 million units amidst a great economic recession and therefore, they thought they could not be touched. Nokia did not believe that they could be affected by the newer touch-screen technology used by Apple, Samsung, and other Android phones. Nokia failed to visualize the value of software over hardware, relying solely on their brand. Meanwhile, Apple, Samsung, and Android started changing the game and the field
Myth 3: - Faith in Mass Production
Nokia produced massive quantities of units/phones before and following the 2008 recession to achieve scale. They didn’t realize that their sales did not keep up with changing customer needs.
Myth 4: - Dangers of R&D
They became preoccupied with a Symbian app store to reduce the further decline of their sales without any experience in marketing it or even software platform experience, unlike Apple and Android.
However, firms like Apple, Samsung, and Google are not the reasons for Nokia’s downfall. Between 2001 and 2005, several decisions were made to reactivate Nokia’s earlier drive and energy but, far from reactivating Nokia, they set up the beginning of the decline. The reallocation of important leadership roles and the poorly implemented matrix structure and its cons further accelerate its downfall. This led to the departure of vital members of the executive team leading to the deterioration of strategic thinking. Organizations are doomed to fail without strategic, innovative, and visionary leaders. This was an organization destined to fail and a new entrant with better innovation was the nail in their coffin.?
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