Concept of Market and Marketing

 

The terms Market and Marketing may bring into mind different concept views or ideas on how it relates to people. Let us look at these two terms in the eyes of ordinary Papua New Guineans. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a country located just north of Australia. PNG as a country comprises 20 provinces with the large island divided into New Guinea to the north and Papua to the south. There are several main islands of New Britain, Bougainville, New Ireland and Manus. The capital city is Port Moresby and the country has a population of approximately 8.5 million and share land border with Indonesia and sea border with Australia.  The majority or eighty percent of the population lives in the rural areas. Papua New Guinean living in the 21^st Century has ventured into business operations such small trade stores or convenience stores in urban centers and small rural towns, Public Motor Vehicle (PNV) operations, taxi services, as well as many other business activities. There are success stories in PNG on how Papua New Guinean has become successful businessmen and business women. PNG also has a vibrant informal sector.

Market to an ordinary villager or subsistent farmer may be seen as a location where people come together to trade and exchange their wares and produce for cash. To a local villager, the market is a place where he or she may be able to earn cash from their ware and produces which in turn enable them to buy other products either at the same place or to use the cash earned at the local market to buy products from shops and from other business houses. Money earned from the sales of market produces also help families to be able to pay for other goods and services from larger shops, super markets and department shops that sells other non-durable and durable products. Kotler, Adam et.al (2007) Marketing 7^th Edition, explained Markets as a concept of exchange. It is a set of all actual and potential buyers of a product.” If an exchange is taking place then there are two or more people involved in the market activities. There is a potential buyer and there is a seller. The seller is selling something that the buyer may want or need and does the exchange to get it. In most cases the medium of exchange is cash. In most PNG communities, cash is not only the form of exchange that may be found in a market place. Exchange can be made with other things, such as the traditional form of payment in term of shells, or exchange with other goods.

Marketing according to Kotler, Adam et.al (2007) Marketing 7^th Edition is defined as; “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” The marketing definition has a few words that require further explanation to help students understand the role marketing plays in the success and failures of business activities. The term organizational function refers to core activities that business have within its operational activities. For example the Marketing department within an organization would have core activities that are carried out in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Marketing activities involves the maximum use of the 4Ps or the marketing mix. Activities such as communication, promotion, distribution and pricing mechanism are activities that the marketing department deals with in its daily operational activities.

Reference

Kotler, Adam et.al (2007) Marketing 7th Edition, PEARSON