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in price. Thus, if the price of a commodity decreases by 10 percent, and the sales of it consequently increase by 20 percent, the elasticity of demand for that commodity is said to be 2.The demand for products that have good, readily available substitutes is likely to be elastic, because consumers can easily replace one good with another if its price rises. The demand for a product may be inelastic if there are no close substitutes and if expenditures on the product comprise only a small part of the consumer's income. Firms faced with relatively inelastic demands for their products may increase their total revenue by raising prices; those with elastic demands cannot
Although the concept of elasticity is most often associated with consumers' demand for a product, it can be applied to other variables. It may be used to measure the responsiveness of the quantity demanded by consumers to changes in their income. Another type of elasticity, known as the cross-elasticity of demand, measures the response in consumers' demand for one product to changes in the price of another. The cross-elasticity is likely to be positive if the products are substitutes for one another, because an increase in the price of one will result in an increase in demand for the other. Supply-and-demand analysis may be applied to markets for final goods and services or to markets for labour, capital, and other factors of production as well. It can be applied at the level of the firm, the industry, or the entire economy. At the last level, though, the analysis is of quite a different nature. The total demand for all goods and services by all sectors of the economy, for example, determines the aggregate income in the economy; income thus depends on production, and a circular relationship exists between production, income, and final demand. The same may be said of the relationship between the supply of factors of production and the compensation offered, as in the case of unemployed workers who (theoretically) would willingly accept work at the going wage if it were available.
Market
Market is a means by which the exchange of goods and services takes place as a result of buyers and sellers being in contact with one another, either directly or through mediating agents or institutions.
Markets in the most literal and immediate sense are places in which things are bought and sold. In the modern industrial system, however, the market is not a place; it has expanded to include the whole geographical area in which sellers compete with each other for customers. Alfred Marshall, whose Principles of Economics (first published in 1890) was for long an authority for English-speaking economists, based his definition of the market on that of the French economist A. Cournot:
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Economists understand by the term Market, not any particular market place in which things are bought and sold, but the whole of any region in which buyers and sellers are in such free intercourse with one another that the prices of the same goods tend to equality easily and quickly.
To this Marshall added:
The more nearly perfect a market is, the stronger is the tendency for the same price to be paid for the same thing at the same time in all parts of the market.
The concept of the market as defined above has to do primarily with more or less standardized commodities, for example, wool or automobiles. The word market is also used in contexts such as the market for real estate or for old masters; and there is the "labour market," although a contract to work for a certain wage differs from a sale of goods. There is a connecting idea in all of these various usages — namely, the interplay of supply and demand
Most markets consist of groups of intermediaries between the first seller of a commodity and the final buyer. There are all kinds of intermediaries, from the brokers in the great produce exchanges down to the village grocer. They may be mere dealers with no equipment but a telephone, or they may provide storage and perform important services of grading, packaging, and so on. In general, the function of a market is to collect products from scattered sources and channel them to scattered outlets. From the point of view of the seller, dealers channel the demand for his product; from the point of view of the buyer, they bring supplies within his reach.
There are two main types of markets for products, in which the forces of supply and demand operate quite differently, with some overlapping and borderline cases. In the first, the producer offers his goods and takes whatever price they will command; in the second, the producer sets his price and sells as much as the market will take. In addition, along with the growth of trade in goods, there has been a proliferation of financial markets, including securities exchanges and money markets.
Price
It is the amount of money that has to be paid to acquire a given product. Insofar as the amount people are prepared to pay for a product represents its value, price is also a measure of value.
It follows from the definition just stated that prices perform an economic function of major significance. So long as they are not artificially controlled, prices provide an economic mechanism by which goods and services are distributed among the large number of people desiring them. They also act as indicators of the strength of demand for different products and enable producers to respond accordingly.
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This system is known as the price mechanism and is based on the principle that only by allowing prices to move freely will the supply of any given commodity match demand. If supply is excessive, prices will be low and production will be reduced; this will cause prices to rise until there is a balance of demand and supply. In the same way, if supply is inadequate, prices will be high, leading to an increase in production that in turn will lead to a reduction in prices until both supply and demand are in equilibrium.
In fact, this function of prices may be analyzed into three separate functions. First, prices determine what goods are to be produced and in what quantities; second, they determine how the goods are to be produced; and third, they determine who will get the goods. The goods so produced and distributed may be consumer items, services, labour, or other salable commodities. In each case, an increase in demand will lead to the price being bid up, which will induce producers to supply more; a decrease in demand will have the reverse effect. The price system provides a simple scale by which competing demands may be weighed by every consumer or producer.
Of course, a totally free and unfettered price mechanism does not exist in practice. Even in the relatively free market economies of the developed Western world there are all kinds of distortions — arising out of monopolies, government interference, and other conditions — the effect of which reduces the efficiency of price as a determinant of supply and demand. In centrally planned economies, the price mechanism may be supplanted by centralized governmental control for political and social reasons. Attempts to operate an economy without a price mechanism usually result in surpluses of unwanted goods, shortages of desired products, black markets, and slow, erratic, or no economic growth.
Price
The second marketing-mix element is price. Ordinarily companies determine a price by gauging the quality or performance level of the offer and then selecting a price that reflects how the market values its level of quality. However, marketers also are aware that price can send a message to a customer about the product's presumed quality level. A Mercedes-Benz vehicle is generally considered to be a high-quality automobile, and it therefore can command a high price in the marketplace. But, even if the manufacturer could price its cars competitively with economy cars, it might not do so, knowing that the lower price might communicate lower quality. On the other hand, in order to gain market share, some companies have moved to."more for the same" or "the same for less" pricing, which means offering prices that are consistently lower than those of their competitors. This kind of discount pricing has caused firms in such industries as airlines and
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pharmaceuticals (which used to charge a price premium based on their past brand strength and reputation) to significantly reevaluate their marketing strategies.
Customers
In order to understand target customers, certain questions must be answered: Who constitutes the market segment? What do they buy and why? And how, when, and where do they buy? Knowing who constitutes the market segment is not simply a matter of knowing who uses a product. Often, individuals other than the user may participate in or influence a purchasing decision. Several individuals may play various roles in the decision-making process. For instance, in the decision to purchase an automobile for a small family business, the son may be the initiator, the daughter may be an influencer, the wife may be the decider, the purchasing manager may be the buyer, and the husband may be the user. In other words, the son may read in a magazine that businesses can save money and decrease tax liability by owning or leasing company transportation. He may therefore initiate the product search process by raising this issue at a weekly business meeting. However, the son may not be the best-qualified to gather and process information about automobiles, because the daughter worked for several years in the auto industry before joining the family business. Although the daughter's expertise and research efforts may influence the process, she may not be the key decision maker. The mother, by virtue of her position in the business and in the family, may make the final decision about which car to purchase. However, the family uncle may have good negotiation skills, and he may be the purchasing agent. Thus, he will go to different car dealerships in order to buy the chosen car at the best possible price. Finally, despite the involvement of all these individuals in the purchase process, none of them may actually drive the car. It may be purchased so that the father may use it for his frequent sales calls. In other instances, an individual may handle more than one of these purchasing functions and may even be responsible for all of them. The key is that a marketer must recognize that different people have different influences on the purchase decision, and these factors must be taken into account in crafting a marketing strategy.
In addition to knowing to whom the marketing efforts are targeted, it is important to know which products target customers tend to purchase and why they do so. Customers do not purchase "things" as much as they purchase services or benefits to satisfy needs. For instance, a conventional oven allows users to cook and heat food. Microwave oven manufacturers recognized that this need could be fulfilled — and done so more quickly—with a technology other than conventional heating. By focusing on needs rather than on products, these companies were able to gain a significant share in the food cooking and heating market.
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Knowledge of when, where, and how purchases are made is also useful. A furniture store whose target customers tend to make major purchases in the spring may send its mailings at the beginning of this season. A food vendor may set up a stand near the door of a busy office complex so that employees must pass the stand on their way to lunch. And a jeweler who knows that customers prefer to pay with credit cards may ensure that all major credit cards are accepted at the store. In other cases, marketers who understand specifics about buying habits and preferences also may try to alter them. Thus, a remotely situated wholesale store may use deeply discounted prices to lure customers away from the more conveniently located shopping malls.
Customers can be divided into two categories: consumer customers, who purchase goods and services for use by themselves and by those with whom they live; and business customers, who purchase goods and services for use by the organization for which they work. Although there are a number of similarities between the purchasing approaches of each type of customer, there are important differences as well.
Marketing
It is the sum of activities involved in directing the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers.
Marketing's principal function is to promote and facilitate exchange. Through marketing, individuals and groups obtain what they need and want by exchanging products and services with other parties. Such a process can occur only when there are at least two parties, each of whom has something to offer. In addition, exchange cannot occur unless the parties are able to communicate about and to deliver what they offer. Marketing is not a coercive process: all parties must be free to accept or reject what others are offering. So defined, marketing is distinguished from other modes of obtaining desired goods, such as through self-production, begging, theft, or force.
Marketing is not confined to any particular type of economy, because goods must be exchanged and therefore marketed in all economies and societies except perhaps in the most primitive. Furthermore, marketing is not a function that is limited to profit-oriented business; even such institutions as hospitals, schools, and museums engage in some forms of marketing. Within the broad scope of marketing, merchandising is concerned more specifically with promoting the sale of goods and services to consumers (i.e., retailing) and hence is more characteristic of free-market economies.
Based on these criteria, marketing can take a variety of forms: it can be a set of functions, a department within an organization, a managerial process, a managerial philosophy, and a social process.
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ЧАСТЬ 7 ПРИЛОЖЕНИЯ
ОСНОВНЫЕ ЕДИНИЦЫ ИЗМЕРЕНИЯ, ПРИНЯТЫЕ В США
Линейные меры
Linear Measure
1 inch (in) дюйм = 2,54 см
1 foot (ft) фут = 30,48 см
1 yard (yd) ярд = 91,44 см
1 mile (ml) миля = 1,760 yards = 1,609 км
Меры площади
Square Measure
1 square inch (in.2) кв.дюйм = 6,45 см2
1 square foot (ft. 2) кв.фут = 629 см2
1 square yard (yd.2) кв. ярд = 0,836 м2
1 acre (а.) акр = 4,8 кв.ярда = 0,405 га
1 square mile (ml. 2) кв. миля = 640 акров = 295 га = 2,59 км2
1 township тауншип = 36 кв.миль = 93,24 км2
Меры объема
Cubic Measure
1 cubic inch (in.3) куб.дюйм = 16,39 см3
1 cubic foot (ft. 3) куб.фут = 0,028 м3
1 cubic yard (yd.3) куб. ярд = 27 cubic feet = 0,76 м
1 stack стек = 4 cubic yards = 3,04 м3
1 cord (short) корд (малый) (для круглого леса) = 3,568 м3
1 cord (gross) корд (большой) (для дров) = 3,624 м3
1 standard стандарт (для пиломатериалов) = 4,672 м3
1 freight ton тонна фрахтовая (корабельная) = 40 cubic feet = 1,13 м3
1 register ton 100 cubic feet тонна регистровая = 100 cubic feet = 2,83 м3
Меры веса Weight Measure
1 ounce (oz) унция = 28,35 г
1 pound (lb) фунт = 16 ounces = 453,59 г
1 stone стоун =14 pounds = 6,35 кг
1 hundredweight (cwt) (net, short) хандредвейт (малый, короткий) 100 pounds = 45,36 кг
1 hundredweight (cwt)(gross, long) хандредвейт (большой, длинный) 112 pounds = 50,8 кг
1 ton (ne) (sh.tn) тонна (малая, короткая) = 20 hundredweight (short) 2000 pounds = 907,18 кг
1 ton(ne)(tn) тонна (большая, длинная) = 20 hundredweight (long) : 1,016 кг
Меры жидкостей
Liquid Measure
1 teaspoon чайная ложка = 4,4 миллилитра
1 tablespoon столовая ложка = 3 teaspoons = 14,2 миллилитра
1 fluid ounce (floz) унция жидкая = 29,57 миллилитра