[多项选择]Business Strategy: the factors involved in influencing market trends rather than reacting to them

参考答案:Suggested answers:
a．In my opinion, predicting the likely changes in demand for a product is an important factor involved in making business strategy. Marketing is the process of focusing the resources and objectives of an organization on environmental opportunities and needs. In a business enterprise a major objective of this process is profit. During the past four decades the concept of marketing has changed dramatically. The old concept of marketing focused on the product. Companies concentrated their efforts on making a“better”product. The means of achieving the profit objective was by selling, or persuading a potential customer to buy the company’s product. The new concept of marketing has shifted the focus from the product to the customers. Their needs, wants, and preferences in modern marketing are the determinants not only of product characteristics but also of pricing, distribution, advertising, promotion and selling, and service.
b．I think the factors involved in influencing market trends are: Consumer, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. The key difference is that under modern marketing, profits are viewed as a function of providing customer benefits, whereas under the old concept, profits were viewed as a function of sales. In sum, marketing is at the same time a concept, a business process, and a set of activities. This total set of marketing activities, sometimes called the marketing mix, is integrated into a unified program, which today, in addition to profitability, typically includes a host of broader objectives relating to current social concerns. These concerns now focus on such areas as protection of the physical environment, product safety, and equal employment opportunity.
提示: concept概念，观念。employment opportunity 就业机会。 determinants 决定因素。