Reason-Oriented Marketing

Transcription

1 Martin Masuch Reason-Oriented Marketing A Generic Marketing Approach for reasonable Products and Services Diplomica Verlag

2 Martin Masuch Reason-Oriented Marketing: A Generic Marketing Approach for reasonable Products and Services ISBN: Herstellung: Diplomica Verlag GmbH, Hamburg, 2012 Dieses Werk ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Die dadurch begründeten Rechte, insbesondere die der Übersetzung, des Nachdrucks, des Vortrags, der Entnahme von Abbildungen und Tabellen, der Funksendung, der Mikroverfilmung oder der Vervielfältigung auf anderen Wegen und der Speicherung in Datenverarbeitungsanlagen, bleiben, auch bei nur auszugsweiser Verwertung, vorbehalten. Eine Vervielfältigung dieses Werkes oder von Teilen dieses Werkes ist auch im Einzelfall nur in den Grenzen der gesetzlichen Bestimmungen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in der jeweils geltenden Fassung zulässig. Sie ist grundsätzlich vergütungspflichtig. Zuwiderhandlungen unterliegen den Strafbestimmungen des Urheberrechtes. Die Wiedergabe von Gebrauchsnamen, Handelsnamen, Warenbezeichnungen usw. in diesem Werk berechtigt auch ohne besondere Kennzeichnung nicht zu der Annahme, dass solche Namen im Sinne der Warenzeichen- und Markenschutz-Gesetzgebung als frei zu betrachten wären und daher von jedermann benutzt werden dürften. Die Informationen in diesem Werk wurden mit Sorgfalt erarbeitet. Dennoch können Fehler nicht vollständig ausgeschlossen werden und der Verlag, die Autoren oder Übersetzer übernehmen keine juristische Verantwortung oder irgendeine Haftung für evtl. verbliebene fehlerhafte Angaben und deren Folgen. Diplomica Verlag GmbH Hamburg 2012

3 Content 1 Introduction Initial Situation and Problem Definition Objectives and Methodical Approach Structure of the Document Definition and Differentiation of Basic Terms and Concepts The Idea of Reason Reason and Rationality Reason in View of Critical Rationalism Reason in the Context of Economic Ethics The Concept of Transverse Reason Reason Considering Rational Relationships Reason in Terms of Rational Totality Reason and Rational Justice Reason as Enabler of Transitions Reason in Situational and Rational Context Reasonable Decisions The Concept of the Open Society Participation and Competition The Principles of Rationality and Situational Logic Responsibility of the Individual Conceptual Perspectives of Marketing Enterprise-Driven Marketing Orientation toward Markets I

4 2.4.3 Integrated and Holistic Marketing A Generic Concept of Reason-Oriented Marketing Prerequisites Conceptual Approach General Remarks Applicable Aspects of Transverse Reason Applicable Aspects of the Open Society The Holistic and Universal View of Reason-Oriented Marketing Design of Methodical Patterns General Remarks Perception and Recognition Association and Combination Foresight Criticism and Discourse Change Perspective Transition Justice Cooperation and Participation Summary and Critical Comments Bibliography II

5 1 Introduction 1.1 Initial Situation and Problem Definition The modern economic world is characterized by a variety of different problems and solution possibilities, including a vast number of different customer requirements, products and variations of products, as well as ideas, meanings, opinions, and arguments. Each product and service involves a multitude of different arguments for a solution, and respectively against it. According to the different arguments, the persons involved can be divided into proponents and opponents, subject to the prevailing attitudes, opinions and preferences of people. The initial situation for developing and launching new products in the producer s viewpoint and for making a choice in the consumer s viewpoint is extremely complex. The complexity exists due to the fact that the different arguments are often interrelated and interdependent to each other, resulting in a complex network of relationships and connections. All this leads to a difficult decision-making process particularly in terms of the economic environment and the marketing processes of enterprises. The classic marketing concepts are based on different views of the macro and micro environment of companies. These views include the requirements of internal and external stakeholders, represented in different forms of marketing, like relationship marketing and integrated marketing. But in most cases these concepts are focused on limited parts of the business environment: For example, the four Ps (product, price, promotion, and place) represent especially the view of the producer 1, whereas the SIVA concept (solution, information, value, access) covers in particular the customer point of view. 2 Even the more comprehensive concept of holistic marketing, that recognizes the interdependencies of marketing programs, methods and instruments, does not guarantee that reasonable products are automatically successful in the market. An example is the electric car, which is a highly reasonable product in terms of ecological aspects, but nevertheless until now has not yet gained the same signifi- 1 Cf. Cannon/Perreault/McCarthy (2008), p Cf. Kotler/Keller (2009), p

6 cance and share in the markets and in the society as the conventional petrol-driven car. In fact, marketing concepts are generally driven by varied requirements of different stakeholders. The requirements involve naturally practical and emotional needs of customers, but also the economic requirements of the enterprise, its shareholders, and its suppliers. Besides the customer-oriented alignment of marketing processes and instruments, the determining factor of marketing measures is the sales revenue and profit of a company, or more general: the economic result. Of course, these are quite valid requirements in terms of the well-being of the economy or specific businesses. However, the well-being of other aspects must be considered similarly, for example the ecological environment, the societal aspects, and the ethical and moral constraints. It is therefore a feature of modern marketing concepts to involve different viewpoints and perspectives of the diverse stakeholders. Seller- and buyer-oriented marketing concepts are the classic examples of this strategy, whereas the more holistic approaches cover the relationships to the stakeholders and to the internal staff of a company, and the effects on environmental, social, and political circumstances. Yet, all of these integrated marketing types do not prevent companies from prioritizing sales profit compared to environmental, social, and ethical aspects. Even though the classic four P marketing concept is said to be customer-oriented, the customer satisfaction is in fact only an indirect outcome of the marketing process, for the main objective of business is to sell as much products or services as possible. Thus, the relative majority of satisfied customers determine the marketing policies for product, price, distribution, and even communication, whereas a not representative minority of the customer needs is not considered at all. The satisfied majority guarantees comparatively the greatest sales profit, hence the main objective of business is the economic success. As a consequence, the classic marketing concepts do not consider sufficiently the environment surrounding the marketing business, including the associated stakeholders and interest groups, and not to mention the ethical, societal, political, legal, and technological interests. At least, the interests and opinions of the concerned par- 2

7 ties are not considered systematically enough to ensure that all different aspects are integrated in the marketing strategies and the corresponding marketing instruments. Even the existing marketing strategies considering ethical or ecological constraints are not completely integrated into a holistic concept of marketing to combine the business oriented aspects of marketing with the human aspects of society. The above-mentioned issues underline the necessity to involve aspects of reason and rationality according to Wolfgang Welsch in the marketing process in order to consider future effects and consequences of products and services. The characteristics of the open society defined by Popper enable the integration of the reason-oriented marketing approach into the society. The reason-oriented marketing design includes a conceptual approach to extract applicable aspects of transverse reason and the open society, and methodical patterns representing generic sample solutions for marketing strategies and processes. 1.2 Objectives and Methodical Approach The overall objective of this document is to develop a generic reason-oriented marketing concept, which integrates and unifies the prevalent classic marketing concepts with the requirements and constraints of the stakeholders and interest groups of the macro environment. In general, marketing declares the market as origin of entrepreneurial activities. 3 In contrast, the concept of reason-oriented marketing considers rather reason as originator of entrepreneurial activities. Reason is therefore starting point and target of the marketing approach at the same time; it is the invariant constant within the marketing continuum. The basic concepts of the reason-oriented marketing approach are the transverse reason and the open society. In certain respects, the concepts of transverse reason and the open society complement each other, and partially they are referenced to each other. Both concepts are holistic and comprehensive in a way that they consider rather universality than individuality. It is hence a goal of the document at hand to dis- 3 Busch/Fuchs/Unger (2008), p

8 tinguish between these concepts and to expose their underlying characteristics with regard to the economic environment and the marketing business processes. The target of this document is to create a generic marketing concept which is basically oriented to reason and rationality, and which acts as blueprint for designing specific marketing strategies and concepts to develop reasonable products and services. Therefore, a conceptual approach extracts the applicable aspects of transverse reason and the open society to define a general structure of the marketing concept. According to the conceptual applicable aspects, the appropriate generic patterns are constructed representing methodical sample solutions for the marketing decisionmaking process. The methodical patterns are the central components of the generic approach concerning the concept of reasonable marketing, as they provide a flexible and dynamic way to integrate reasonable thinking into the marketing process. Since there are several dependencies between the methodical patterns, each pattern defines an interface for its application in the marketing practice, including the problem definition, the problem discussion, the detailed solution of the discussed marketing problem, the dependencies on other patterns, and the consequences of the pattern in terms of advantages and disadvantages. Altogether, the pattern approach enables a consistent integration of important requirements, constraints, needs, arguments, and opinions of the stakeholders and interest groups of the business macro environment. The modular definition of methodical solution patterns leads to a building set of components which can be combined dynamically in order to design strategic marketing processes and marketing concepts. 1.3 Structure of the Document Chapter 2 covers the definition of basic terms and concepts as well as the differentiation between the central concepts of transverse reason and the open society. In a first step, the different views on the term reason are worked out by comparing the reasonable approach with similar conceptions like rationality, rationalism, and ethics. The second step deals with the relational aspects of reason and shows the interdependencies between rationalities in terms of transverse interconnections. The third step of the definition section discusses the concept of the open society, pointing out the cha- 4