One primary goal for every manager should be saving money for the company. This is the ever-present task of all employees. That means adopting a concern for corporate profits. People in direct touch with customers tend to think of topline growth as the logical way to increase sales. And that belief is entirely valid.
Higher sales [...]
But it usually makes more sense to aim new products at the Innovators and Early Adapters. Innovators are more likely to take a chance with a new product or new technology. And because innovators are usually, though not always, small companies, they make purchase decisions more quickly. Moreover, the actions of Innovators influence all the [...]
These alternatives are also open, of course, to the other, more powerfully financed and organized enterprises; but for the moment, let us consider the small independent shopkeeper`s marketing problems.
In a field of fast-repeating products, standardization -uniformity of brand-types within each product category- has encouraged the building up of chains and the consequent exercise of bulk-buying [...]