Lecture 1, Introduction
Basics of marketing:
Customer orientation – the primary focus of the organization is on the needs of the
customer.
Organizational integration – everyone in the organization accepts and implements a
customer orientation. It is not just the responsibility of the marketing department.
Mutually beneficial exchange – there has to be a balance between the needs of the
customer and the strengths of an organization so that it too can get its needs met.
Marketing is 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. Marketing is about creating value using the 4P’s: price, place, product,
promotion.
Marketing audit: obtaining and analysing information that is relevant to the marketing
strategy, tactics and implementation phase of your plan.
External analysis: (Macro) PREST, (Meso) Five Forces model of Porter (C/M).
Internal analysis: (Micro) your company, your product, your target group; use for instance
value chain of porter (O).
PRESTCOM: Political, regulatory, economic, social, technological, competition, organization,
market.
Lecture 2, Consumer behaviour
Schwartz circle of human values describes where values are on the axis of self-
transcendence and self-enhancement and the axis of openness to change and conservation.
The result self-enhancement means more inclined to self-interest instead of welfare of
others, seeking power over others. Resultant conservation means conforming to others,
valuing personal security and traditions, not prone to doing things independently or seeking
adventure.
Selective attention is caused by 3 things: motivation, opportunity, ability (MOA) to process
information.
Associate of network memory: asset of nodes and interconnecting links where nodes
represent stored information or concepts, and links represent the strength of association
between this information or concepts.
Availability of knowledge: recency and frequency.
Evaluative conditioning: changes in the liking of a stimulus that are due to the fact that the
stimulus has been paired with other, positive or negative, stimuli.
,Priming: exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another.
Social learning: observations of behaviour of others can also lead to learning.
Kahneman states that humans have a system 1 and system 2 for thinking. The system 1 has a
low level of elaboration, information processing is not careful. System 2 has a high level of
elaboration and uses careful information processing.
Maslow (1954) stated that people have physiological needs, safety needs, love and
belonging needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. These needs are consistent
across cultures. However, the needs may be satisfied in different ways.
The different stages of the purchasing decision:
1. Need or problem: How are needs recognized?
2. Info search: how much do we know? What leads to involvement? What individual
differences influence the need? How does uncertainty avoidance influence search?
3. Evaluation of alternatives: What criteria makes something acceptable? Preferred?
Relative influence of attributes, feelings?
4. Purchase decision: What situational variables are important? How does
advertising/word of mouth/family influence decisions?
5. Purchase.
6. Post-purchase evaluation: What leads to satisfaction? How much can our actions
change things?
The three underlying factors that affect buying decisions are involvement, cognition and
emotions.
Levels of buying behaviour: complex buying behaviour, dissonance reducing behaviour,
habitual buying and variety seeking behaviour.
Different risk categories: psychological/social, financial, performance, physical and time or
convenience.
Cultural differences in risk perceptions:
cushion theory: decreases perceived financial risk in more collectivistic societies.
Word-of-mouth: in any culture, people discuss and exchange information on their
consumption experiences. Important in all stages of decision making. In collectivist and
ingroup oriented societies stronger influence of WOM. Talking about the brand shows brand
engagement.
Lecture 3, Cultural differences
Culture can be seen as an iceberg. We notice explicit behaviour, but we do not notice
implicit behaviour. Culture consists of language, everyday behaviour, the know-hows,
institutions, social norms, values, mental states, and cognitive processes and myths, beliefs
and basic assumptions.
, Major sources of culture:
1. Language and communication.
Language is the primary mechanism to convey and share information. It includes
both explicit and implicit elements.
2. Institutions organize people
Based on: reproduction, territoriality, psychological, hierarchy, etc. People can be
part of multiple institutions at the same time.
3. Material productions
Transmit, reproduce, update and improve knowledge and skills. Primary material
productions include: artistic, intellectual, physical and services.
4. Symbolic and sacred productions
Symbolic meaning in many things, symbol conveys more than the material object,
quick understanding for the insider, religious/moral beliefs.
Cultural differences: communication styles, time,
Communication styles
High or low context cultures:
- Message is implicit versus message is explicit.
- Message can only be understood by insider versus message contains the info needed.
- Message is independent from the context versus dependent on the context.
- Message is communicating the relation.
Time
Time orientation:
- Future, present or past orientation.
- Linear or circular.
- Monochronic or polychronic.
- Cause and effect.
Nature
Relation of man with nature:
- Mastery over nature.
- Harmony with nature.
- Subjugation to nature.
3 most important functions of culture in a society, Schwartz and Bardi (2001):
1. Group survival by having good relationships within the group.
2. Motivation to do things, go to work and produce, generate ideas etc.
3. Self-oriented deeds to keep individuals happy within the group.
The benefit of culture: culture makes sense of the world. It provides a framework, a set of
beliefs and standards on what to do and how to do it correctly.
Pitfalls/bad things of culture:
- Ethnocentrism: belief of superiority of own culture.
- Racism: believe some humans are inferior.