ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the importance which is attached to marketing by some of the forty-seven firms visited by the research team. The use of marketing techniques, moreover, enables efficient firms to maximise their sales, thus encouraging the growing points of the economy as against the more stagnant units. The key technique of marketing is that of market research. Information about a firm's market and its customers is collected and analysed in order to determine who buys the firm's products, why, when, and under what circumstances. The chapter shows, by comparing thrusting and sleepy attitudes towards the various techniques of marketing, how selling decisions in some firms are made with reference to outdated practices and with little market information; and how sales promotion is considered irrelevant. Good sales forecasting enables the production programme to be scheduled in advance. Two facets of sales promotion are advertising and public relations.
