Being production oriented

Back to a bit of theory. When we think of marketing, we need to remember that it is a field that has taken its time to evolve. See the image below:

Let's understand what the above image says. At first, when mass manufacturing was becoming popular, the focus of the organisation was on making products widely available at inexpensive prices. They assumed that this is what consumers wanted. There is a famous quote of Henry Ford in this regard that is often quoted in textbooks

Think of how China has dominated the manufacturing scene. It's all about assembly line manufacturing at the lowest possible price. The problem with this kind of a concept is that the consumer's need is not of importance to the manufacturer which means that customers can become dislillusioned by what is available. There's no room for innovation here. I'm reminded of the Premier Padmini car which was so popular in the 70s. It featured in movies, was popular as a taxi in Mumbai (known as 'kaali peeli') as was a very distinct looking boxy car. Yet, it never kept with the times and is now vanished. Same problem - manufacturer focused and not customer focused. 

Here's an old ad for the car:

Another example that comes to mind is HMT Watches. Watches manufactured in India at a time, 1962 to be precise, with the intention of making India self-sufficient in watches. Again production focused. Of course, lots of other issues led to its downfall, but this was one of the leading causes.

Here's an ad of HMT

A nice blogpost about it https://www.windingritual.com/hmt-janata-watch-india-history-tribute/

Many more examples of this. Summarizing a few key learning points:

This concept focuses on:

1. Mass production

2. Focuses on economies of scale - meaning you produce a lot in order to reduce production cost

3. Focused on the manufacturer or the producer and not the customer

4. Mostly used when demand is more than supply

Advantages:

1. Low per unit cost therefore the pricing is competitive

2. The business becomes scalable quickly (scalable means a company can grow and expand its market without spending too much

3. It can reach and serve more customers

4. The processes become more efficient

Drawbacks:

1. Customer needs are completely ignored

2. It is a standardized product or a one-size-fits all product. No innovation at all. Does not change with the times

3. Leads to what is known as "Marketing Myopia" - meaning the manufacturer is short-sighted, there's no long-term vision to sustain and therefore when there is new and better competition, the company becomes vulnerable and can die easily

This sort of a company is only able to survive when there is a demand for low-price, standardized products. Think of soaps as a category, commodities like rice, dal etc., stationery items, agarbathis, matchboxes, etc. Anybody remembers Cheetah Fight?

Any other brand comes to your mind? Do share

Will write about the other concepts slowly. Thank you for patiently reading uptil here. See you soon.