ABSTRACT
In adopting a true marketing orientation, the firm attempts to direct its efforts towards satisfying customer needs in a competitive manner. This action is designed to ensure, as far as possible, long-term survival rather than short-term profitability per se, and it requires the firm to think beyond the immediate future. An essential part of the process is the building of an appropriate image in the eyes of existing and potential customers such that they will be more favourably disposed to the firm. For the small business, the cost of adopting a complete marketing profile may seem prohibitive, but this should always be weighed against the consequences of opting for the lower-cost alternative of working with very limited marketing information. In the end, it is up to the firm to decide with what degree of uncertainty it can reasonably cope and therefore where its marketing resources can best be deployed.
