Reaction to Marketing Myopita

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CASTAÑEDA, LEONARD G. MARKMA August 11, 2012 ------------------------------------------------- RECTION PAPER TO “MARKETING MYOPIA” Theodore Levitt’s emphasis on the customer’s needs, as opposed to the focusing on the product, or the production method, called for a much-needed re-evaluation of where a company’s focus should lie. It was a relevant call, as indicated by the “bestseller” status it seemed to have achieved in the Harvard Business Review. A brief survey of reactions to the essay, however, showed that Levitt seemed to have belaboured his point ad nauseam when a more concise article would have sufficed. He also limited his examples mostly to the industrial sector, when a treatment of other sectors, such as the service sector, might have showed (or disproved) the seeming universal applicability of what Levitt proposed. In his retrospective commentary, he complained about the “marketing mania” that seemed to have been developed as a result of the ideas the proposed. As a sort of disclaimer, Levitt also said that he intended “Marketing Myopia” to be a manifesto, and not as an analysis or a prescription, although the reader, when first wrestling with the 50-year old text, usually gets the impression that by his choice of words, his essay was intended to be “the” solution companies should adopt in order to stave off obsolescence. Another paper also noted that applying Levitt’s lessons also resulted in a “new marketing myopia” because of its focus on customers and neglecting stakeholders. I must note, however, that criticism is so much easier in retrospect, and it is possible that we can only see the “flaws” simply because we have learned so much since then from others who have taught and refined Levitt’s initial message. -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Brown, Stephen, Reconsidering the Classics: Reader Response to
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