MINT was also to first to add another numbering range system as it had exhausted the previous subscriber numbering range. Over the years the company has grown and Increased the number of services they provide from the basic product offering to more complex and updated products ranging from basic phone calls to mobile internet connections across the country. It is a market leader In the mobile communication industry with over 20 million subscribers accounting for over 36% of mobile users in Nigeria.
This work will be examined from the business to consumer angle, even though a customer exists in every form of transaction be It for profit or non-profit. It will also take a broad look Into the concept of marketing and will concentrate on customer orientation and market orientation with the hope of establishing or answering the question what is customer centrality. Customer centrality is hard to pigeonhole it in a definitions as it is seen from different perspectives and means different things some refer to it as customer focus, customer orientation even market orientation.
Customer centrality could be defined as a company’s sum of activities put together from the planning stage to exchange of goods or services with the sole alma of achieving customer satisfaction. “the customer as been a crucial ingredient in marketing literature and marketing thoughts for almost a century” (Sevenths 2001), with this in mind it is apt to say that as the time changes so does the need and requirements of the customer.
The customer therefore should not be concerned as a secondary source of information and with the present marketing concepts of the marketing mix, value chain etc. The Chartered institute of Marketing defines marketing, “the management process which Identifies, anticipates and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably’. This days marketing has come under criticism for being false and patronizing to its customer, creating a false consciousness about certain products in other to turn a profit.
The models and theories by academics of marketing have also been criticized for not taking into account the realities of the business environment. The marketing mix has grown In popularity through the years as a generic marketing concept, the 4 society evolved it became apparent that it was inadequate in the fast changing global economy, the mix was limited and it did not accommodate the advancements that was going on in the marketing sector like the shifts to customer focus and from product to service provision and competitive driven markets.
It was then extended to accommodate the needs of the market 3 As where added people, physical evidence and process this dealt with the customer as the focus as with all things this also came with it challenges, this mix presented its own peculiar problems because it had at its centre the human element. This was crucial because in the service industry the human factor is very important. All this As put together were meant to project a certain image of the company to the customer. The addition to the As didn’t help stem off all the who believed that the additional As did not accurately encompass the acquirement of the market.
The marketing mix still remains a very important part of marketing but new concepts have emerged and keep emerging. Marketing concepts have evolved over the years from product orientation, sales orientation, and market orientation to the present buzzword customer orientation and competitor orientation, (Bellwether, Thomson). Though there is no hard and fast rule to these concepts as some academics and practitioners see the combination of customer orientation and competitor orientation as market orientation.
The various ways in which researchers, authors and businesses have handled the issue of customers over the years have been seen from these basic marketing concepts, product and production orientation, where the basis was on the features and functionality of the product and not what the customer wanted this in turn made the product expensive and the customer reluctant to buy because the products had features they might or will never use, Microsoft software.
This then went on to Sale orientation that was focusing more on the seller than on the buyer, this should not be confused with personal selling that deals with and meeting a customer particular need.
A number of marketing professionals believe that customer orientation and marketing orientation can be used interchangeably, that there is no clear distinction between them as such there is no need for any major distinguishing,(Shapiro 1988 and Webster 1988) The notion that the customer or consumer is central to the success of a company has been the centre point for most business strategies and this by extension makes marketing an integral part of the activities of an organization.
According to Blithe, the idea of customer centrality is the key concept in marketing, “recent research has shown here is positive association between customer satisfaction and shareholder value, this is a clear vindication of the marketing concept” (Anderson et al,2004). According to Nearer and Slater, there has been an increase of revenues and business transactions in the service provision industry that has grown to rival the products sector worldwide Avail and White, 2002, (cited) in Nearer and Slater 1990) as the service industry expands the need for marketing orientation becomes apparent.
The importance of a market-oriented culture is crucial to all levels of the modern organization (Day, 1990; Dishpans and Webster, 1989; Nearer and Slater, 1990; Shapiro, 1988). Comprehensive theories explaining the nature and consequences of a market orientation have been developed (Kohl and Gasworks, 1990; Nearer and Slater, 1990; Shapiro, 1988) and a body of research illustrating the relationship between 1992; Slater and Nearer, 1994).
Market orientation has also taken a central role in discussions about marketing management and strategy (Day, 1992). In this light and the new interest in marketing orientation, putting an definite or a blanket definition for it is problematic. Some academics have argued that market orientation is the same as customer orientation but others refuse and I the writer do agree going by these definitions that they are defiantly not the same concept.
One of the definitions that have been used frequently for marketing orientation is “the organization wide generation of market intelligence pertaining to current and future needs of the customers, dissemination of intelligence horizontally and vertically within the organization, and organization wide action or responsiveness to it” Razors and Kohl, 1993), Gasworks and Kohl center their definition from the angle of immunization and fifteen data gartering, but Nearer and Slater (1990) decided that it entails more than Just gartering accurate data, they defined it thus “market orientation consists of three behavioral components – (1) customer orientation, (2) competitor orientation, and (3) inter-functional coordination – and two decision criteria, (1) long-term focus and (2) profitability. ” Nearer and Slater believe that to achieve profitability and efficiency market orientation is the way to go because market orientation embodies the three factors that are crucial to total customer distractions, meeting the stakeholder requirement and also improving efficiency and boosting profits.
This focuses makes sense because to deal effectively with the current situation on ground it will be foolhardy for a company striving to survive in this climate to rely solely on meeting the needs and satisfying the expectations of the modern consumer. Segmenting the market is fast becoming problematic as customers now want to be known and dealt with individually, thus leading us to the other side of the table to people who believe that the key to success is through effective customer orientation. Dishpans et al. 1993) define customer orientation “as the set of beliefs that puts the customer’s interest first, while not excluding those of other stakeholders such as owners, managers, and employees, in order to develop a long-term profitable enterprise. Know (1995), defines it as “putting customers at the heart of an organization’s product-market definition is the first rule of effective customer orientation management. Know is a firm believer of customer orientation and believes there is enough evidence to prove that this is needed in organization especially service based organizations because there is prove to support he fact that when the customer is central to the core of the organizational strategic plans, and the practice is well ingrained in the organization it will translate to profit, customer retention and a good standard of service quality. He believes a lot of organizations pay liveries to customer orientation, in this climate of financial uncertainty managers have to do more than pay liveries to their customers.
He also believes that a customer orientation mean different thing to an organization it depends on how the organizations think the end user sees them either from a product or organizational view. This in its self is not a wrong assumption as this theory can be backed up with evidence but so can others. Carson and Gilmore 1998,opine that, majority of marketing theorist believe that putting the customer first is the moral high ground and has it rewards but what implication does this have for stakeholders. The theorists place the emphasis on the customer and profit is not considered all that important. The environment does not allow for the company to be solely led by the customer.
In their paper they also provided evidence of why basing decisions solely on customer need can lead to poor performance in the market place s the case was with Coca cola’s ;classic” brand Managing service quality, gave a brief analysis of why customers are crucial, during the war times putting the customers first was forgotten and the ripple effect of this was huge for companies that didn’t comply to the notion that the customer is a crucial and central part of the business and as such they should be consulted and their opinions should be put in place, due to the unprecedented access to information customers can now make an informed decision, a compare prices and the quality of service and as such can switch loyalties thou hesitation.
Levity 1983, says that to avoid such a thing from happening the seller should form a relationship with the buyer by offering extra services, it shouldn’t be about transactional exchange but building customer relationship This way of thinking is what Carson and Gilmore, believe that the theorists engage in they do not consider the cost of productions and other expenses incurred in doing this especially as they the practitioners are in business for the profit. The issue of the customer being a major party in any business as never been in doubt but the extent o which the customer is allowed to influence the decisions of the company has to be monitored and effective decisions taken that will benefit the customer and also turn profits around.
Both concepts converge on the fact that the customer is crucial to the survival of the business and the fact that proper management of customers could give a company a competitive advantage over its competitors. The choice the company makes in choosing the concept and how its wishes to market its product is crucial as this could or would shape their strategy thus other operating departments of the company. The service industry though cannot ignore the concept of customer centrality as they deal with the customers on an almost daily basis and it is important to put the needs and wants of the customer at the centre of the business in order to fully satisfy them.
Lack of sufficient and proper interpretation of data could lead to misinformation and inefficient service provision. MINT have tried in making decisions based on their customers, though in the beginning that was not the case. Their tariffs were high and they were charging by the minute but when the competitors came and where offering lower prices and per second billing it had to adapt to the market. Eventually though it went ahead to pioneer other products for the market place. Through segmentation MINT has divided its customers through age and needs. It provides services to phone vendors to enable them provide efficient and affordable service to the end consumer while still turning a profit.
MINT created an avenue for the customer to be able to get their products easily and conveniently as top ups can be both from phone vendors who are spread all around student customers it has a share and sell service that allows you to transfer or sell credits from the one already loaded on number. It also provides it customers with options on how much one can pay to up, going as low as ONION and as high as NANNY, through this pricing method MINT was able to retain its customer base. Though this services may seem normal here but in Nigeria, this is well appreciated and received. It is fair to opine that strategies will differ from one environment to the other what might be considered as been customer focused in one might not be in the other.
They positioned their brand in such an a way that it was extendable to all regardless of social class or income. They also engaged in giving back to the immunity by educational schemes and organizing campus tours around Nigeria. MINT has been able to respond to the needs of their customers but it is very much in doubt as Mint does not offer any loyalty reward programmer or offer free text messages and calls as their competitors do. They offer good services and quality product offerings. Though they are sometimes encumbered by the operational problems with call drop problems and network failure but this can be understood considering the environment in which they operate.
In conclusion MINT Nigeria, is not entirely customer focused because the need the customer to survive because the service they offer puts them in contact with their customers. They do take into consideration the current trend of the market and look and imitate the competition when the need arises, they also have still gone ahead to offer services that have not been doing well for them like the caller tunes, this could be attributed to the price being paid for that particular service. They are getting there though; they have come a long way in customer appreciation since their launch in 2001. It was a process of watching and learning the customer in order to provide exceptional service to them.
The philosophy of customer centrality is a noble one but is it a sensible one, what is the point if a company attends and centers’ it strategy on the customer and satisfying their needs without paying attention to the other aspects of the business. Customer centrality should be partial to small and medium businesses because how will it be put into place by multi nationals who already have to deal with the diversity they face in operating in another market would it not be a step too much in asking them to abide and listen to the customers. Their have been uniqueness for companies that overlooked the needs of the customer and suffered or still suffering as with the case of the automotive industry, also with the credit crisis, the financial houses were willing to offer their customers what they needed and the thing still did not go down well.
