Relevance of Marketing Concept to Sony - Essay Example

Relevance of Marketing Concept to Sony Introduction Sony International Corporation is a Japanese multinational company with its headquarters in Tokyo Japan. Its founders were Akio Morita and his counterpart Masaru Ibuka. It is among the leading assemblers of electronic gadgets for both consumers and the professional markets. Sony is one of the leaders in the entertainment industry as it manufactures entertainment gadgets like video games, televisions, and many more. In 2012, Sony was number 87 in the list of Fortune Global 500 making the company to be one of the leading assemblers and sellers of electronic devices globally. It is also among the top a hundred effectively managed companies across the business world (Koontz & Weihrich 2006, p. 104). This was because of its renowned heritage of creativeness and innovativeness. On the other hand, marketing concept is a marketing philosophy in which a company’s goals revolve around the identification and achieving the needs and wants of the customers (Singh 2004, p. 11). Many company’s have adopted this concept over the recent years and Sony company is one of the firms that have made use of this philosophy in order to achieve its consumer oriented goals. With this, this essay will delve into the relevance of the marketing concept to Sony Corporation by expounding on the ways in which the company has applied it successfully to encompass its global operations. The history of marketing concept In prior years, companies used the sales concept and the production concept to foster their operations, but they proved ineffective in achieving the consumer satisfaction. In essence, the production concept was in existence in the 1920s and its rise attributed to the industrial revolution witnessed across the globe (Faarup 2010, p. 23). The concept was effective because most of the goods produced at this time met the basic needs hence creating a higher demand for the same. At this time, the sale of the manufactured products was easy as sales teams were able to execute sales transactions through a price that was subject to the cost of production. The sales concept followed the production concept in the 1930s because of increased competition that was able to meet the unfulfilled demands. The idea behind this concept was that companies had to influence consumers to buy their products through promotional strategies because of the competition experienced in the market. The sales concept failed because its focus was mainly on the sale of the products without factoring in whether the consumers actually needed the product that they were selling. The implication of this was that this did not attain customer satisfaction as marketing came after the development and production of the products for sale. However, many equate marketing to sales, but these two entities are quite different in terms of approach and influencing customer satisfaction. Marketing concept gained momentum after the Second World War because of the increased consumer spending because people could now afford to buy selected products (Faarup 2010, p. 24). With this, companies began to focus more on the needs of the consumers by developing products after ascertaining what the market wanted. The advantage that this presented was that companies could now achieve profits by satisfying the consumer needs for their overall benefit. In essence, marketing concept relies on research of the market to determine the market size, needs, and the segments that exist within the market. In order to satisfy the needs of the consumers, the marketing team decides on the ways of controlling the parameters of the marketing mix. Sony Corporation and the marketing mix Marketing mix is a business-marketing tool, which encompasses the four Ps in the influencing of consumers towards accessing a company’s products and services for the attainment of its goals and objectives (Lamb et al 2008, p. 148). The four P’s are price, place, promotion, and product that when mixed reflect the nature of different services within a market. Sequentially, Sony Company has managed to use this marketing tool in the diversification of its products and its price range to favor its consumer base. Additionally, Sony Corporation has capitalized on favorite places in which they distribute their products and have implemented various promotion strategies to increase awareness of its products to its target market. Product In essence, a product is anything presented in a market for the market to be aware of its existence, after which they will buy, and then use it to satisfy either a want or a need. A certain number of factors influence a product’s uptake within a market that may range from the brand name that a market associates its products to a number of others. In addition, the packing aspects of the products and the safety standards applied within the use of the product also influence the sale of products. For instance, the company manufactures television screens and projector, cameras, home theatre systems, computer hardware, handheld devices, and car entertainment devices (Shimasaki 2009, p. 96). Additionally, Sony Corporation is a manufacturer of home recording devices, storage media, and charging devices. Ideally, Sony Corporation has further divided some of its products into other sub categories especially for the television products. This has made the company able to service its market through the innovation of tailor made products that suit their various clients. Pricing Undoubtedly, the pricing decisions within any organization or through extensive consultation with the marketing department (Lamb et al 2012, p. 469). This is no different for the Sony Company as the marketing team is in charge of price allocations. Ideally, price is the only variable in a marketing mix that is changeable with relative ease. In addition, price is a key factor in the assessment of the value gained by consumers through the acquisition of a company’s products. Subsequently, consumers relate price to the quality of the product on offer for retail particularly for those that have intensive technology application. For instance, the pricier products manufactured by Sony ranges from moderate to high prices because of the quality standards associated with its brand name. Therefore, certain attributes within Sony’s products like style, portability, purpose, user, and performance levels have different price levels attached to them. Place Place is the third variable in a marketing mix that denotes the decisive factor in which the distribution and the availability of the product to consumers are the key aspects (Gitman & McDaniel 2008, p. 295). Usually, the sale and distribution points are relatively in an area where customers can easily access them for the satisfaction of their needs. For instance, Sony Company practices ideal distribution of products from the mother company through Sony World because of its high handedness of durability and quality products. The company uses the three levels of the distributions that are zero level, one level, and two level channels. Essentially, the zero level of distribution involves the manufacturer directly interacting with the customer in the distribution of products without invoking the services of any intermediaries. Secondly, the one level channel of distribution involves the manufacturer having to use a retailer for services to get to the consumer (Dransfield 2004, p. 578). Lastly, the two level distribution channels are the longest form of product distribution where the products go through a wholesaler and a retailer before they get to the consumer. Remarkably, Sony attributes its increase in sales to the internet because it has narrowed down the distribution link to one that is of ease to the consumer. With the internet, a consumer only needs to order for their desired goods within Sony related sites where information on the location of the nearest retail shop is visible. The product information concerning the price of Sony’s products is accessible within the click of a mouse button in this way of online shopping. Subsequently, Sony has managed to make shopping and accessibility of their products easy to their consumers making it a worldwide brand of choice. Promotion Essentially, product promotion is a vital aspect within a marketing program that connects with effective communication to favor the needs the consumer and the marketer. The promotional aspect is the only convincing factor that a company may use to attract customers into continued uptake of the company’s products (Altstiel & Grow 2006, pp. 328). In essence, Sony has capitalized on communication for it to capture the Asian market and the larger market too. In addition, the components of production as a part of a marketing mix include product advertising, direct marketing of products, personal selling, and public awareness of the products. Moreover, Sony also uses sales promotion in which it incorporates incentives as a way of structural improvement in sales capacity. They include free samples, lotteries, early bird pricing, coupons, discounted offers, scratch card promotion, among many others. Ideally, Sony has managed to use its favorable public rapport to maintain significant relations with its employees, consumers and other relevant stakeholders. The use of its website as an interactive tool has necessitated the company to have lasting relations with those it connects with both on public or individual levels. In essence, the feedback from the client base and other stakeholders helps a company improve on the quality of service that it sells to its market. Sony, marketing concept adaptation across the international markets Subsequently, Sony has used the four in establishing a marketing concept, which worked out well as part of its marketing strategy. For instance, the company used advertising to publicize its products through different media tools. It has also made particular interest in advertising through topics of interest like sports to tap into a wider market. Additionally, the company has used print media to get the information to the consumers in a large number of nations. They have also allowed for direct response advertising within its operations in which a consumer gives the seller a direct response about the impact of the product in their life. Remarkably, the company has applied the use of advanced technologies to improve the quality of its products. This has made them the trendsetters in their respective market because their innovations have made others follow suit. Some of these advancements include three dimensional viewing, high definition cameras, and state of the art computer gadgets. In addition, Sony has also ventured into the portable devices world by manufacturing audio devices with features that younger generations have embraced as a part of their daily life. Further, the electronic manufacturing giant has also devised mobile phones that perfectly fit in the twenty-first century. This is through the incorporation of mobile phone applications within its communication gadgets that fit in the modern lifestyle. Therefore, Sony’s product value in the marketing concept has established an extremely worth rapport between the company and its customers hence Making it appear on the top a hundred global brands. Conclusion Sony Corporation is able to infuse the marketing concept strategies to continue to stabilize its market presence. In this regard, it is vital for Sony to adapt to the changes presented to it in order for it to maintain its title among the best global brands. For this reason, the company needs to continue exploring avenues that may make it better in order for them to make higher strides. This may be through regular conduction of SWOT analysis to ascertain the company’s status from time-to-time. Bibliography Altstiel, T., & Grow, J. 2006. Advertising strategy: creative tactics from the outside/in. Thousand Oaks, Calif, Sage Publications. 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