Reaction Paper on the Article “Marketing Myopia”

Submitted by:

John Paul Loredo

Submitted to:
Prof. Roselle Marie Azucena

Submitted on: Sep 12, 2018

AGSB MBA – Standard | Marketing Management
The article “Marketing Myopia” by Theodore Levitt talks about the shortsighted approach to
marketing that focuses on the needs of the firm to sell its products rather than defining the
business and its products based on the customers’ needs and wants. It is about businesses
becoming more product-oriented than customer-oriented, hence they fail to keep up and satisfy
the ever-changing needs of consumers. As a result, not only has it slowed and stalled their growth,
they fail to capitalize on growth opportunities and are now at risk of becoming obsolete.

I concur with the author’s main viewpoint that businesses will do better in the end if they
concentrate on meeting customers’ needs rather than on selling products and companies stop
growing because of myopia simply because what he provided are quintessential examples of
industries and companies that are maybe on their way to obsolescence sooner rather than later
or have already become obsolete because of myopia. For example, the Petroleum industry
narrowly defines their main product as gasoline rather than energy. They believe that as a utility,
it is an indispensable product hence, there have been no major improvements on the product
itself as there is really no incentive to do so. This may be true a couple of years ago, but it may
not be the case in the future. As more and more people are becoming aware of the long-term
effects of global warming, people are starting to choose more eco-friendly options. With electric
cars becoming cheaper year after year, the need for gasoline-powered vehicles may become a
thing of the past.

Another specific example of a myopic company was Kodak. For years, the company has been at
the top of printing industry, however thing started to change during the era of digitalization. It
disrupted its core business which led to the company filing for bankruptcy a few years back. It was
an inevitable death since no amount of product improvement can save the business. However,
had it aligned itself in the photos sharing industry rather than narrowly defining its business as
simply a printing business, they could have emerged from the disruption caused by digitalization
by venturing into the online photo sharing business. Instead of stumbling into the abyss, they could
have been at the forefront of digitalization. Their competitor – Fujifilm who has been a distant
second to them has been a thriving business largely due to their exploration of products that cater
to the needs of consumers like videotapes and copiers.

The author also pointed out how paying too much attention to R&D can be as dangerous as not
paying enough attention to research and development. This creates a dangerous notion that a
superior product will sell itself thus, completely disregarding the need to identify what the
consumer’s preference. This is the same behavior that led to the demise of Blackberry –one of the
leading Smartphone manufacturers in the Smartphone business back then. During the time when
the trend was moving towards bigger touchscreen displays, other companies like Apple and
Samsung perfectly rode the trend whilst, Blackberry relied on its features that made it a superior
product before like reliable email and security and stuck with the keypad on their mobile phones.
They ignored or failed to adapt to the constantly changing tastes of consumers. While BlackBerry
was focusing on the keyboard, Google and Apple were focusing on making better cameras,
speakers, and video recording. By the time Blackberry has realized its mistake, Apple and other
Android manufacturers have already established a foothold among smartphone users.

The common trait among these obsolete companies is that they have been so successful in their
field and industry that they have become so complacent and instead of being consumer-oriented
they focus more on selling their products that have made them successful. In the end, these
businesses and industries are unprepared for unforeseen disruptions like digitalization and in turn
fail to adapt to the constantly changing patterns of consumer preference and needs, thus leading
them to obsolescence. This article highlights the importance of avoiding marketing myopia to keep
your business afloat amidst these changes by capitalizing on growth opportunities even if it seems
obvious opportunities have been exhausted.