ABSTRACT
The first academic definition of marketing to gain wide acceptance was that of the American Marketing Association. The performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user. Most marketing texts and discussions always assume the operating unit to be a business enterprise. Marketing was a peripheral problem in the same class as accounting. Marketing was necessary only to distribute productive capacity. The customer was assumed and no effort was made to satisfy his particular needs. Because customer demand usually outstripped productive capacity, this was a perfectly valid and operative management philosophy. In addition to the macro-environmental changes, there are simple market place changes that create the need for new products. Shifts in customer purchases create direct changes in a company's sales. Changes in customers' manufacturing methods can be the cause of immediate product obsolescence.
