Marketing Fundamentals
- Samenvatting -
Chapter 1: Introduction
1 What is marketing?
1.1 Evolution of the marketing definition
30’s: The performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from
producers to consumers.
80’s: The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of
goods, ideas, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals. à
Idea added: take individual goals of customers into account
Early 2000s: 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. à Added idea: keep customers engaged & good customer
relationships
Currently: The activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering
and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. à
Added idea: creating value ALL different stakeholders
1.2 The essence of marketing - value
Marketing is a process of co-creating value for customers and other stakeholders.
à Different views on what value entails
1.2.1 Trade-off view (Zeithaml)
Perceived value = evaluative judgment that results from trade-offs between
perceived benefits (quality) and costs (price) of a product or service.
4 categories of value:
• Value = a low price (extreme)
• Value = the quality I get for the price I pay
• Value = what I get for what I give (all types of effort, not only monetary)
• Value = whatever I want in a product (extreme)
1.2.2 Experiential view (Holbrook)
Value = the core element of the consumption experience, which varies along 3 dimensions.
à He thought the trade-off view was too simplistic
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,Marketing Fundamentals SV AJ 2025 – 2026 Norea Verhaeghe
1.2.3 Experiential Trade-off view (Leroi-Werelds)
Value = a trade-off between benefits (positive aspects) and costs (negative
aspects) perceived by the beneficiary (read: stakeholder). It is always
determined by the beneficiary.
à In this view, we recognize the trade-off view as well as the experiential
view.
2 reasons why value impacts organizational success:
• Customer compares different products based on expected value
and decides based on this (pre-purchase phase)
• It has an impact on the customer’s evaluative judgments such as
customer satisfaction and loyalty (post-purchase phase)
1.2.4 Evolution of the Value definition
Within 5 dimensions of “value thinking”, there have been changes over time
• WHO: Individualistic (value is subjective) à contextual (value is
situational)
o E.g. Many people used to be a Michael Jackson fan until he
was accused of misusing children. Then, many stopped
being a fan
• HOW: Perceived (cognitive evaluation) à experienced (cognitive + emotional) à co-
created (social)
o E.g. First we looked at the quality of the coat, is it good or bad. Then, we looked at
how we felt when wearing the coat, “do I like it”. Now, we also look at what others
think of the coat. You might like a coat at first, but if others say it is ugly, you will
now value it much less than before.
• WHAT: Unidimensional à multidimensional
o E.g. an Airbnb is not just good/bad (uni) but can be clean and accurate but a bad
location (multi)
• WHEN/WHERE: Individual (value emerged in people’s mind) à dyadic (value when
interacting) à systemic (ecosystem of interrelated actors)
o E.g. First, we thought that if you see a book you give it a value. Then, we
knew that it was you reading the book that made you give it a certain value.
Now, we know that it is everything that surrounds the book/situation that
gives it value.
So the current view on value is that it is systemic, multidimensional, co-created and contextual.
1.3 Shifts in marketing
• Traditional Marketing: role of marketing from tactics/strategy à process/culture
• Digital Marketing: focus on leveraging technology to (co-)create value
• Service Marketing: goods & services à unique customer experiences
• Transformative Marketing: market orientation à sustainable market orientation
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2 Why is marketing relevant?
1. To attract new customers à signaling the existence of products that align with customer
needs and wants
2. To retain existing customers à build long-lasting relationships
3. Primary source of revenue (no good marketing à no customers à no revenue)
3 The role of marketing in the organization
The role of marketing depends on the management orientation within the organization.
Product centricity Customer centricity
Internal focus External focus
Production orientation Marketing orientation
Focused on efficiency and productivity. Focus on understanding customers’ wants.
Marketing role: tool to bring products to market Marketing role: to create customer value
Product orientation Societal marketing orientation
Focused on innovation. Focus on understanding customers’ wants and
considers the well-being of society.
Marketing role: to create customer and
Marketing role: tool to bring products to market
transformative value
Sales orientation
Selling what the organization offers rather then
what the customer wants.
Marketing role: “Pushing” products to the
market with aggressive selling & promotion
Product centricity can lead to marketing myopia*, also referred to as “the mousetrap fallacy”.
Marketing myopia = a short-sighted and inward-looking approach to marketing which focuses on
fulfillment of immediate needs of the company rather than focusing on marketing from the point of
view of its beneficiaries. It is the opposite of value co-creation.
Transformative value = enhancing the lives of individuals, families, communities, and/or society at
large. E.g. Tony Chocolonely and Patagonia.
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4 Evolution of marketing
• Marketing 1.0 (1950-1990): product-centric
• Marketing 2.0 (1980-2010): customer-centric
• Marketing 3.0 (2000-2020): 2.0 + focus on society as a whole
• Marketing 4.0 (2010-2030): 3.0 + focus on embracing digital technologies
• Marketing 5.0 (2020-…): 4.0 + data-driven and agile marketing (using robots, AI, IoT, VR, …)
5 Marketing in various types of organizations
The rest of the book focusses on B2C, but most insights are applicable to all of them
• B2C marketing
• B2B marketing or industrial marketing
• B2G marketing (G = government)
• Non-profit marketing à to sell products to raise money or to attract volunteers, donations
or spread awareness
• Social marketing à to influence individuals’ behavior to improve individual and/or societal
well-being (e.g. governments that tries to stimulate wearing a belt)
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