Concept of Marketing Myopia with examples

1. Marketing Myopia

2. Marketing Myopia
oThe phrase was coined in 1960 by Theodore C. Levitt.
oIt’s a theory that states companies focus on their needs and short term growth
strategies.
oThey neglect the needs and wants of their customers and fail as a result.
oIn short, businesses are busy selling what they have instead of improving it based
on what their customers tell them.
oHuge as well as small businesses were doing well for a period but failed to adapt to
changing times and were left in the past. A few examples:
oNokia (Microsoft bailed them out)
oKodak

3. Causes of Marketing Myopia
oMarketing myopia strikes in when the short term marketing goals are given more
importance than the long term goals.
oMore focus on selling rather than building relationships with the customers
oPredicting growth without conducting proper research.
oMass production without knowing the demand.
oGiving importance to just one aspect of the marketing attributes without focusing on what
customer actually wants
oNot changing with the dynamic consumer environment
oBusiness, according to Levitt, is actually a customer satisfying institution and hence
should be based on customers’ needs and desires.

4. Causes of Marketing Myopia
oSelf-Deceiving Cycle:
oGrowth is never assured. Businesses that don’t asses their own capabilities, competitors,
customers’ needs, and changing trends, always tend to get trapped in a self-deceiving
cycle.
oConditions That Lead To The Self-Deceiving Cycle
o A belief that growth of the business is guaranteed by growth in population.
o The belief that there is no competitive substitute for the company’s product
o Supply creates its own demand, hence mass production.
o Overestimation of product’s qualities without conducting scientific research.
oLack of competition
o Innovation is expensive because you invest a lot of money for products and services that may not
catch on.
oShifting consumer trends
o They say the only constant in the world is change. People change. Things go in and out of style.
Technology improves.

5. How to rid from Marketing Myopia
oA belief that the growth of the business is guaranteed by creating products and
services on the basis of customer’s demands.
oMake sure you’re providing value to the importance of customer’s needs.
oBuild a better relationship with customers.
oMake any step after analyzing the market research.
oAnalyze competitors’ strategy.

6. Examples of Marketing Myopia:
oKodak only focuses on creating an old camera and camera rolls not to focus on
creating the digital camera.
oNokia falls the grade of their products compare to android and ios.
oYahoo ($100 billion dollars company in 2000), or Bing didn’t fulfill customer
satisfaction but the other hand Google builds better relations with its services.
For this reason, Yahoo or Bing audiences are shifted on Google.
oOil and Gas Companies have provided non- renewable energy in the early
days but after some years there are some alternative sources of energy like
solar energy, and nuclear energy, etc.