ABSTRACT
In “Marketing Myopia,” Theodore Levitt notes that businesses can focus too much on technical research and development. Scientists running businesses tend to see the product as more important than the customer. Levitt’s work enhanced the business practices in the latter half of the twentieth century—and his principles. People are generally driven by needs and wants, not by data and facts. The engineer-manager may believe that the company’s skilled sales force, armed with a superior product, can sell the customer anything. While engineer-managers may pride themselves on being fact-based and data-driven, Levitt notes that scientists in top management become “totally unscientific when it comes to defining their companies’ overall needs and purposes.” The secondary ideas Levitt raises in “Marketing Myopia” build on his key themes, particularly the problem of obsolescence and its remedy. Managers focus narrowly on research and development—which seems to be a safe path, especially for those trained as scientists.
