Journalof Market FocusedManagement,1.

195-197 (1996)
@ 1996Kluwer Academic Publishers,Boston. Manufacturedin The Netherlands.

Editorial:
Strategy

Marketing Strategy and Organizational

RAJIV GROVER

Terry Chair

rgrover@uga.cc.uga.edu

of Marketing. University of Georgia, Athem, GA 30602

It is ironic that in an era when organizations are increasingly accepting that customers are
extremely important (perhaps the most important) stakeholders, academicians seem to resist
this notion, As R&D engineers conduct market research projects, manufacturing engineers,
guided by TQM, consider customer requirements, and MIS departments electronically
integrate customers, we often hear academic experts claim that customers dont know
and hence leading customers may be more appropriate than being customcr-oriented.l
For example, Hamel and Prahalad (1994, p. 108) write, If the goal is to get to the future first,
rather than merely preserving market share in existing businesses, a company must be much
more than customer-led. Customers are notoriously lacking in foresight. Ten or fifteen years
ago, how many of us were asking for cellular phones, fax machines? Interestingly, in an
earlier section (p. 97) of the same book, they wrote, Having watched her father snap a
photograph, Dr. Edward Lands three-year-old daughter asked to see the results right now.
This innocent question set Land off on a quest to create instant photography. Hamel and
Prahalad punch a hole in their own argument. Dr. Lands daughter knew that she wanted
to see the results immediately, though she might not have known if or how this could be
accomplished. Similarly, in the context of cell phones, if several years ago people had been
asked whether they would want to talk to others from anywhere instead of being tied to
where the phone is, they would have most definitely answered yes. It then would have been
up to organizations to provide such technologies and projects if they were possible and
economically viable. Do customers not know, or do we not know how to listen? Perhaps
we should not expect them to voice that they want a cellular phone or an instant camera.
Perhaps we should be able to listen better to the expressions that they choose to convey
their need-whenever they may do so.
In a similar vein, defining a business in terms of the needs it has chosen to satisfy
probably has more merit than the resource-based or core-competencies framework has
given to it. If Kodak had chosen to stick to its core competencies, it would not have
launched its electronic camera. This successful launch may be a result of Kodak defining
itself as being in the memory business. In other words, being led by customer needs
(targeted at an appropriately high level) is perhaps not a bad idea. An organization can
then become market focused by doing al1 that it takes to satisfy the chosen needs of its
customers. A product or technology is just one means of satisfying the needs of a target
segment, and better products and technology should constantly be sought to satisfy the
chosen needs.

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RAJIV GROVER

Figure 1. Current state: Other businessdisciplines contributeto marketing.

Figure 2. Desired: Marketing contributesto other businessdisciplines.

Another frequently voiced criticism of customer orientation is exemplified by a complaint

made by Peter Senge* when he accused marketers of putting customers on a pedestal and
perhaps giving the store away. Customer orientation does not imply that organizations
have to give away the store. All they have to do is satisfy their customers better than the
competition. If a customer is more demanding, he can be politely asked to try out the
competition.
Having presented some points in favor of the customer perspective, I would now like to
suggest another direction for research. The discipline of marketing has gained immensely
from other business disciplines such as strategy and organization behavior (Figure 1). It is
not unusual for scholars in both marketing and other disciplines to contribute to marketing
based on theories in these disciplines. While I welcome such articles in the JMFM, perhaps
it is time for us to make contributions to other business disciplines based on theories
in marketing. Are any theories in management conducive to modification based on our
knowledge of customer behavior in its entirety? I invite both marketing and other scholars
to contribute in this reverse direction as depicted in Figure 2.

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197

Notes
1. In a previous editorial (JMFM 1:2) I argued that perhaps being customer-orientedencompassesleading
customers.
2. Personalcommunicationduring a presentationmadeby Dr. Sengeat the University of Pittsburgh.

References
Hamel, Gary, and C. K. Prahalad.(1994). Competing for the Furwe. Boston: Harvard BusinessSchool Press.