# 1.2 The marketing concept

What these two definitions have in common, along with others, is what is commonly referred to as the marketing concept. This is widely considered to consist of three components (McGee and Spiro, 1988):

1. Marketing is customer orientated – it aims to satisfy customers’ needs and wants.
2. Marketing is an organisation wide, coordinated activity which aims to deliver customer satisfaction. (We will explore this when we discuss marketing orientation.)
3. Marketing is profit orientated rather than motivated by sales volume. (Note here that the concept of profit does not have to be financial but may represent a social outcome. For example, an anti-smoking advertisement that reduces the number of people smoking would be considered to have achieved a profit.)

OpenLearn - Marketing in the 21st century
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