单选题
By the early 1950s, some business people began to recognize
that efficient production and extensive promotion did not guarantee that
customers would buy products. These businesses, and many others, found that they
must first determine what customers want and then produce it, rather than make
products and try to change customers' needs to fit what is expected. As more
organizations realized the importance of knowing customers' needs, U.S.
businesses entered the marketing era, one of market or customer orientations
(取向，方向). Orientation toward customer satisfaction has resulted in increased
concern about ethics and social responsibility and brought about an expansion
into global markets. Management at many organizations has realized that we are
in the "Total Quality Era", in which improved product quality, and customer
focus are major components of successful domestic and global
operations. Because the marketing concept affects many parts of
a business's operations, and not just marketing, an organization's top
management must adopt it wholeheartedly. High-level executives must incorporate
the market orientation into their management philosophies so completely that
customers become the organization's most important concern.
Management's second major task is to restructure the organization. To satisfy
customers' objectives as well as its own, a company must coordinate all
activities. To achieve this, the internal operations and overall objectives of
one or more departments may need restructuring. If the head of the marketing
unit is not a member of the organization's top-level management, he or she
should be. Some departments may have to be abolished and new ones created.
Implementing (实施，执行) the marketing concept demands the support not only of top
management, but also of managers and staff at all levels. The transformation to
an organization with a market orientation takes time. In the short run, a firm
may experience the need to retain employees, financial constraints, limits on
technology, capital equipment limitations, and prohibitive union work
rules. Even when an information system is established and the
company reorganized, the firm's new marketing approach may not work perfectly.
First, a firm's ability to satisfy customers' needs for a particular product is
limited. In a mass production economy, most business organizations cannot tailor
products to fit the exact needs of each customer. Second, a company may be
unable to learn what customers want, and when it does correctly identify
customers' needs, it often has a hard time developing a product that satisfies
those needs. Third, by striving to satisfy one segment (部分，部门) of society, a
firm sometimes dissatisfies other segments. Producers of tobacco currently face
this situation. Fourth, a company may have trouble maintaining employee morale
during any restructuring to coordinate the activities of various
departments.
单选题
By the early 1950s, business people began to realize ______.