【正文】 nation of goods, services, and ideas) to the chosen customers. What marketing people do is to plan and execute the marketing plan, which consists of product strategy, pricing strategy, distribution strategy, and munication strategy. The execution of the marketing plan will create or facilitate the exchange or transaction between the target customers and the organization.Then we look into the definition of marketing by AMA in 2004. Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, municating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. It is clear from the definition that marketing includes both marketing as a business function (an organizational function) and as a management philosophy/orientation (a set or crossfunctional or crossdepartmental processes for [a] creating, municating, and delivering value to the target customer and [b] to manage relationship with customers in ways that benefit the stakeholders). Marketing as a management philosophy requires an integrated effort of every members of the organization to provide superior value to the customer and to build, enhance, and maintain relationship with (profitable) target customers.When we look at the definition of marketing by AMA (2004), you can see that marketing, as a management philosophy, requires the integration of every function or department to work together to satisfy the target customers. The target customer is the focus of the pany39。s operations. Everybody in the pany (1) works together to create, municate, and deliver value to the customer and (2) manages the relationship with customers in ways that benefits the pany and its stakeholders.We then discussed about the formula of value to demonstrate that customer value creation es from the integrated effort of every employee of the firm.Value = quality/price + relationshipsQuality: Quality represents everything that customers get from buying your product. As such, quality must be defined by your customers. There are two types of quality: (1) objective quality (., actual quality as can be tested in the lab according to the specification) and (2) perceived or subjective quality (., quality as perceived or believed by the customers). Ramp。D and production staffs make sure that the objective quality of the pany39。s products is acceptable. Quality standards and measures such as TQM, QC, ISO, etc are used to ensure objective quality. Marketing people use integrated marketing munication (IMC) to build perceived quality in the mind of the customers. It is important that there is a match between objective and perceived quality.Price: One of the determinants of price is cost. Today, there are two major sources of cost reduction: (1) global sourcing and (2) logistics management. Global sourcing concerns with two consecutive decisions: (1) to make or to buy (., to manufacture the products by yourself or to subcontract other people to produce for you), and (2) where to make or where to buy. Proper global sourcing can give cost advantage to the firm. Logistics concerns with the strategic movement and storage of products into the firm, inside the firm, and out of the firm. Purchasing or inbound logistics concerns with the movement and storage of raw materials, processed materials, and ponent parts into the firm. Manufacturing support of intra logistics concerns with the movement and storage of semifinished products inside the firm. Finally, physical distribution or outbound logistics concerns with the movement of finished products from the firm to its customers. The main concept of logistics is (1) to provide the desired service level to both internal and external customers and (2) at the lowest total cost. A logistics system consists of 3 performance cycle: (1) inbound logistics (or purchasing), (2) intra or inside logistics (or manufacturing support), and outbound logistics (or physical distribution). A good logistics system not only reduces the cost for the pany but also provides petitive advantage for the pany. In other words, a good logistics system can give a pany sustainable petitive advantage by providing appropriate level of service at the lowest total cost.The service level in logistics consists of:1. Availability2. Operational performance a. Speed b. Consistency c. Flexibility d. Malfunction and recovery3. ReliabilityThe costs in logistics include:1. Order management costs2. Inventory management costs3. Material handling costs4. Transportation costs5. Warehousing costsRelationships: There are two types of relationships: (1) relationship with your customers (., relationship marketing and customer relationship management or CRM) and (2) relationships with suppliers and channel members (., strategic alliance/partnership). Strong relationships with both customers and suppliers/channel members are important in the value creation process for the customers.A pany that adopts marketing as its management philosophy or pany orientation will try to survive and grow in longterm by focusing on satisfying the needs and wants (., preferences to be more accurate) through the integrated effort of everybody in the firm. As such, a marketingoriented pany has the following characteristics:* Longterm focus (., profit and growth as a result of customer loyalty/longlasting relationship)* Customer focus or customer orientation (., understanding the target customers39。 needs/wants/problems and their alternatives now and in the future)* Competitor focus or customer orientation (., understanding the major petitors39。 objectives and strategies now and in the future)* Interfunctional or interdepartmental coordination (., every employee takes full responsibility of the success/failure of the firm) 17