THE HUB:
THE Private Sector as the Hub of social growth and economic progress is like a child that needs Internal Parental Attention and External Stakeholders Support. Marketing is one of the essential parental management tools used to move this sector forward.
Your knowledge of marketing and your ability to navigate this essential and intricate management tool as an aid in advancing your interest as critical members of the private sector, in your quest to satisfy consumer needs and wants and to realise competitive advantage, can’t
be over emphasised, as you will come to realise in this article.

However, before examining Marketing as an essential management tool, let me explain what I mean when I say that the private sector is like a child that needs “Internal Parental Attention & External Stakeholders Support.

INTERNAL PARENTAL ATTENTION
The private sector is run by many critical thinkers, visionary leaders and innovative corporate entrepreneurs which is necessary at the strategic level of any business operation.
These teams of leaders are normally supported by a team of tactical and operational players
within this sector that are expected to be adequately armed with the internal technical know-how to manage the strategic vision of the respective firm towards success.
This process necessitates that great minds at this level, the movers and shaker within this sector, must be utterly prepared to treat:
1) Marketing Management  2) Communication  3) Accounts  4) Project Management and  5) Human Resource Management
challenges, just to name a few, that may affect the growth of this
sector when faced with intense market competition at a multi-national
level. In the absence of these critical thinkers, visionary leaders
and innovative corporate entrepreneurs that understand the essential
internal structural element of the firm and the external forces that
may influence the life of operatives within this sector and are
prepared to give it parental attention in nurturing its healthy growth,
the sector will perish. These are common interests that should be
shared, particularly so, among micro and small businesses.  I will
develop on “Marketing Management” showing why it is an essential
management tool in preparing the sector to treat and overcome
international threat, after explaining the second part of this
subject.

External Stakeholders Support
It is not unusual that external stakeholders to business development
such as:  Government Agencies, Chambers of Commerce, Trade
Associations, The Banking Sector, The Media and Universities, step up
to the huge challenge of moving the business sector forward. None the
less, these critical external players have emerged as champions to the
call of the private sector in many of these collaborative efforts.  A
statement of truth: all of these external stakeholders depend on the
fruitful growth of the business sector for them to flourish in as much
as the private sector depends on them. This statement of truth does
not appear to be apparent to some of the above operatives. It should
be noted that the comprehensive growth of the business sector requires
more than just the security of financial capital and the strategic
development of its human resources; what is also of vital importance
to this sector is the creation of strategic networking alliances. I
will explain in a future column.

We can now return to focusing on marketing as an essential management
tool. One of the ways I used to help an audience understand the
intricate nature of “Marketing” is to first get them to see it as a
“Mango Tree”: a tree that has several branches and hundreds of leaves.
The branches representing the multiple chapters in the text and the
leaves representing the numerous intricate subject matters you will
encounter as you navigate this essential management tool.

In recognition of the facts mentioned above on this subject, I find
it fitting to examine one of the leaves of this intricate subject of
marketing. The area I will examine in this article is entitled
“Marketing Concept”.  It will show its relevance, vital importance to
the start-up of new businesses, new product development, and as an
essential management tool.

Marketing Concept
The analysis and understanding of marketing concept is an essential
tool to the life of businesses. And as such it focuses the attention
of key operatives and representatives within this department to
address the eight components / sub-headings as follows.

1)      Identify Market Opportunity & Needs
2)      Relevant Technological Development
3)      Managing Products, Services & Brands
4)      Choosing & Motivating The Channel of Distribution
5)      Advertising & Promoting Products & Services
6)      Obtaining Sales of Products & Services
7)      Setting The Price & Terms of Supply &
8)      Planning The Marketing Activity.

Each of the above sub-headings is essential to the sustainable
development of businesses that are serious about attaining and
maintaining their competitive advantage, regardless of the sector they
find themselves in. These are also questions that proactive managers
and inspired entrepreneurs who are market oriented rather than
product oriented ask,  and invest huge sums of financial and human
capital into the collection of these types of market intelligences
data even before investing further in the start-up of their businesses.

Let us examine the first sub-heading that reads: Identify Market
Opportunity & Needs.  This is considered one of the first phases in the
start-up of the life of any business or the development of a new
product or service, before it is launched onto the market. This
sub-heading also forces proactive corporate leaders to identify who
is their  specific demographic or target group that they intend to
produce a product for, or service they intend to target the specific
group with. In this case your target market must be clearly
established in your mind, based on age, gender, social class, culture
and life-style and groups and reference groups. If this sounds
complicated, it is just the tip of the iceberg. This process, under
the same heading, addresses issues like your target market size,
density and dispersion, which means that after you would have identified
the total size of the market, it is still necessary for you to know how
the target market is composed regionally and spread out
geographically. After figuring these essential characteristics about
your target market, you still have to go further to identify products
and services that are aligned to their needs. And because you are not
the only player in the market, except that you are dealing with a
product or service that addresses a gap in the market, or you have some
unusual monopoly on the market, you will be forced to focus much
attention and financial resources on issues relating to market forces.

It is important that, at this stage of the market development process,
you understand the composition of the market, not just from the stand
point of knowing the socio-economical characteristics of your specific
target group (s) but also you should understand the level of
competition that can come at you because of market forces. With this
market intelligence data, you can begin to
make informed and educated
decisions on the capital investment necessary to cater for the needs
and wants of different demographic types that you are desirous of
serving and it will also enable you to determine how viable it is
to serve your intended market.  Managing a business can prove to be a
very self-fulfilling exercise; but for it to work effectively as the
HUB of social growth and economic progress, key stakeholders within the
micro and small business sector must take enough time to understand
how business functions at the strategic, tactical and operational
level.  To be continued.
Gary Thompson
Lecturer, Author & Business Consultant.