Marketing levels of activity

At times marketers may focus on broad marketing activities. They consider the way an entire marketing system works or should work. At other times marketers are interested in the ways individual organizations carry out marketing and how they can improve these efforts.

MACRO MARKETING. One level at which marketing activities take place is that of the overall economy. Macro marketing refers to the total flow of a nation's goods and services to benefit society. For example, national measures of new-home sales or retailers' inventory levels describe macro marketing activities. Macro marketing also encompasses such broad issues as overall costs, environmental effects, and social responsibilities of marketing.

In the United States the macro marketing system is based on a market-directed economy. Buyers determine which goods and services will be produced simply by purchasing the goods and services that they want. Thus, since a lot of people buy tax preparation services each February through April, such services are widely available during those months. Another outcome of this type of economy is that for most prod�ucts, U.S. buyers can choose from among many makers and sellers. Rarely are they required to buy from one supplier, such as the federal government.

Buyers and sellers have less freedom of choice in many other countries. Government involvement in other marketing systems often creates inefficiencies because lack of a profit motive leads to little concern for customers. A well-known consequence in the former Soviet Union was that consumers had to stand in line for hours, wait�ing for a chance to buy the scarce goods for sale.

In reaction to such inefficiency, many nations, such as China have been loosening government control over marketing activi�ties. In China, the Communist Party recently embraced what it called a "socialist market economy." Observers expected this would mean the government would con�tinue to own many enterprises but would permit private businesses to flourish as well. Individual investors would be allowed to hold a minority ownership in the state-run enterprises, which should encourage them to operate profitably.

The U.S. macro marketing system has helped to create an economic climate in which businesses can readily start up and grow and consumers can purchase a wide variety of goods and services. But in some cases, the freedoms of the U.S. marketplace can create conflict. This occurs when the goods produced by some manufacturers satisfy their customers but don't necessarily benefit society as a whole. For example, dis�posable diapers are convenient for consumers to use, but they contribute bulky and human waste-contaminated garbage to landfills. And while many people still demand the freedom to smoke cigarettes and thus support the tobacco industry, society suffers due to the numbers of youngsters starting to smoke, the effects of secondhand smoke on nonsmokers, and the cost of treating smoking-related diseases.

MICROMARKETING examines the way an individual organization plans, executes, and allocates its marketing activities to bene�fit its customers. Thus, Kellogg's choice to make some cereals that appeal to children and others that appeal to health-conscious adults is a micromarketing decision. Other micromarketing decisions at Kellogg include the ways in which the company prices the cereals, the channels through which it distributes them and the ads and coupons it uses to stimulate sales.