At the beginning of the 20th century, supply for products usually exceeded demand for them.

• If present trends continue, human demand on the Earth's ecosystem is projected to exceed nature's capacity to regenerate by about 75% by 2020, and by 100% (meaning that we would need two Earth planets to meet human demands) by 2030.
• Humanity currently uses resources at a rate 50% faster than they can be regenerated by nature. The pressures of population growth, climate change and environmental degradation, expanding influence of the East and South are placing increasing stress on finite, non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels and minerals.
  | Related Megatrends: Demography; Consumerism; Geopower
• Global demand for materials has increased ten-fold since the beginning of the 20th century and is set to double again by 2030, compared to 2010.
• The competition for some raw materials will increase in the future as key countries such as China and USA, together with the EU, are all highly reliant on imports for the same materials (e.g. niobium, chromite ore, platinum, palladium, rhodium, tantalum, etc.). 
  | Related Megatrends: Inequality; Consumerism; Security
• By 2035, the demand for phosphorus might outpace the supply, causing problems of a global dimension, if replacement is not found.
• The SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2017 shows that OECD countries face major challenges in meeting several SDGs, mostly on sustainable consumption and production (SDG12), climate change (SDG13), clean energy (SDG7), and ecosystem conservation (SDGs14 and 15); data on each spillover indicator show that high-income countries tend to generate negative SDG spillover effects for poorer developing countries (countries with larger spillover: Switzerland, Singapore, Luxemburg, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, USA, Belgium, UK.)
  | Related Megatrends: Inequality; Consumerism; Security; Climate and environment
• Cognitive procurement systems (based on cognitive systems and AI) can increase the efficiency of the global supply chains, by improving procurement processes at all phases -- from supply assessment to risk mitigation and contract management.  
  | Related Megatrends: Technology; Work

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companies began to realize that they must also take into consideration the long-term interests of the society. Societal marketing, an offshoot of the marketing concept and corporate social responsibility, began in the late of 1960s and early 1970s. It challenges companies to work for the benefits of both consumers and society while still attaining a profit. E.g. the Body Shop, a skin and cosmetics company, sells products that are made with only 100 percent natural ingredients.

Hive studio saw that it is time to begin to believe about how your marketing essence will evolve in the upcoming years. It’s a good way of thinking to look back for a moment, assess the success and improvement of the previous years’ marketing campaigns, and consider ways to evolve your Marketing approaches in the year to come. Marketing serve a variety of functions. As our Concerns at Hive Studio First and foremost, marketers are responsible for keeping an eye on what people need and want and then communicating these desires to the rest of the organizations. Marketing helps establish desirable pricing strategies and promote an organization by persuading customers that their products are the best. As you’ve learned, a product is any tangible good, service, or idea available for purchase in a market, as well as any intangible benefits derived from its consumption, such as the brand. Marketing is also responsible for distributing Products to Customers at a place and time most suitable to the customer. But perhaps the most important aspect of Marketing, as reflected in the AMA’s most recent definition is to successfully establish meaningful relationships with customers, to instill loyalty, to ensure repeat business. Marketing is one of the most visible functions of any organizations; however, the public sees only the tip of the Iceberg.

Evolution and Nature of Marketing across the 5 improved Eras

1- The Production Concept Era

Source MotorTrend

Hive Studio realized that most companies focused solely on production thus the production concept Era Evolved. A production orientation business dominated the market from the beginning of Capitalism to the mid 1950’s. The prevailing mind-set was that a good quality product would simply sell itself. This approach worked for many organizations during this Era because of strong demand and limited supply of product. Whenever demand outstrips supply, it creates sellers market.e.g. Henry Ford is motivated to remark in relation to his Model T Cars that customers could have ’’any color ( they wanted), so long as it is Black’’. At the time, Black was the only color available.

2- The Sales Concept Era

In the first part of the Era, in 1920s through the 1950s, technological advances accelerated production, however, the United States was in the middle of the great depression, during which unemployment nearing 30%, and people bought only what they absolutely needed. Supply exceeded demand for most products; therefore, competition for customers becomes more intense. Hive Studio emphasizes the importance of the Businesses that began to undertake aggressive sales tactics to sell or “push” their products, and the use of heavy public advertising in all available forms of Media become prevalent. During this Era, Marketing generally took place after a product was developed and produced Even today, many people associate Marketing with Selling or Advertising; however, it has become much more than that.

3- The Marketing Concept Era

By the 1950s, Production continued to expand more quickly than the growth in demand for goods and services, creating a Buyer’s Market and the start of the Marketing Concept Era. After WW2 consumers were be gaining to tire of the “Hard Sell” tactics that companies were using to force them to buy products they didn’t necessarily want or need. Eventually, businesses became to realize that simply producing quality products and pushing onto Customers through attractive Advertising and Promotional Campaigns didn’t guarantee Sales. Companies needed to determine what customers and then produce products that met those wants and needs, as opposed to producing products and then trying to convince customers to buy them.

Hive Studio highlights the Marketing Concept which changed the Focus from Finding the Right Customer for a product to producing a Right Product for a Customer and doing it better than the Competition.
The marketing concept also focuses on aligning all functions of organizations to meet or exceed this customer needs through superior Products and customer service, as well as realizing a profit ( not just sales ) by satisfying customers over the Long Term.
e.g. GE was one of the First companies to implement this new Marketing Strategy that Focused more on meeting the needs of the Customer.
GE’s 1952 report outlined the Philosophy:’’ thus Marketing, through its studies and research, will establish … what the customer wants in a particular product, what price he is willing to pay, and where and when it will be wanted.
Marketing will have Authority in Product planning, Production Scheduling, and Inventory Control as well as Sales, Distribution, and Servicing of the Product”.

This requires constantly taking the pulse of changing customer needs and wants and then quickly adapting to meet them. Moreover, it may mean anticipating customers’ changing preferences before they are expressed or even known by the customer and satisfying this preferences before competitive. Even today, companies such as Apple have had great Success following this Philosophy. Apple has become a Master and Anticipating Customers’ Desires and Fulfilling them with its Range of IPods, IPod Accessories, Iphones, Iphone Apps, and the Ipad.

Source HighTechDad

4- Societal Marketing Era

In addition to considering a customer’s wants and needs, companies began to realize that they must also take into consideration the long-term interests of the society. Societal marketing, an offshoot of the marketing concept and corporate social responsibility, began in the late of 1960s and early 1970s. It challenges companies to work for the benefits of both consumers and society while still attaining a profit.

Source OneCut

E.g. the Body Shop, a skin and cosmetics company, sells products that are made with only 100 percent natural ingredients. The company also actively supports and pursues community trade-using highly killed but small-scale farmers, craftsmen, and rural cooperatives – “not because it’s fashionable but based on the belief that it’s only way to do business’’

5- Customer Relationship Era

The late 1990s saw the beginning of the customer relationship era, in which organizations try to intensify their focus on customer satisfaction over time. the result has been creation of customer relationship management ( CRM ), the process of establishing long-term relationships with individual customers to foster loyalty and repeat business. The marketing concept is good for acquiring customers by offering customized products, among other things, but like Hive Studio perception which is customer relationships management goes one step further by trying to please customers after the sale. It combines IT with customer service and marketing communications to retain customers to stimulate further sales of similar or supplementary product.

Source SlickDeals

e.g. several popular clothing store, including the Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy, offer coupons to customers who join their mailing list. Customers on the list also receive information about sales and promotions to keep them up-to-date on the latest deals at the store.

CRM  Customer Relationship Management

Hive Studio is believing that The idea is to learn as much as possible about customers and their shopping behaviors and create a meaningful one-on-one interactions with each of them. In practice, CRM often involves the sales force gathering information about specific customers to create a customer database. Other companies use CRM software to personalize e-mail or other communications. It enables a company to offer products tailored to specific customers’ needs and desires. CRM databases also mean the customers visiting an organization’s Website or phoning the customer service call center can be quickly and easily recognized so that offerings can be adapted to their preferences. CRM is a part of why airlines offer frequent flyer programs why credit card companies offer customized services and low-interest balance transfer to certain targeted customers.

Source Facecrooks  

When production capacity exceeded the immediate market demand the business philosophy changed from?

What type of product is used directly or indirectly in the operation or manufacturing process of a business?

What is a plan of action for developing pricing distributing and promoting products that meet the needs of specific customers?

Which of the following basic business functions is responsible for actually delivering value to customers?