Introduction Marketing as a business operation has become an integral part of business in the 21st century. According to Rowley (2002), the current business environment is characterized by uncertainty, stiff competition, globalization, as well as innovation in all areas of business operation, including marketing and production. However, for a business to have competitive advantage, it requires to meet or exceed customers’ needs. However, for the company to achieve this, it needs to establish appropriate strategies that can guide its operation in satisfying, as well as exceeding customer expectations. Therefore, there is a need for companies to employ marketing concepts as a philosophy to guide its operations in order to achieve their goals. Marketing concepts, as a business philosophy, have become critical management philosophy for today’s companies (Dibb, 2005). Currently, organizations are using marketing concept to satisfy, as well as addressing consumers’ wants through creation of innovative products and services (Burt et al. 2002). In this respect, this essay uses Marks & Spencer Company to illustrate how marketing idea is a relevant management philosophy for the current organization in current business environment. Marketing Concept Marketing is an important concept of business operations because it helps the organization to speak out the value of product to consumer. Stevens, Loudon and Wrenn (2012, p.1) defines marketing as “the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing promotion, and distribution of ideas products and services. By evaluating the definition of marketing, marketing in business has a lot of signifance (Schnaars, 1998). First, marketing is a managerial function because it entails planning and execution of operations. Ideally, marketing operations are conducted through a planned process and, at the same time executed with the aim of achieving business objectives. Secondly, the definition also shows marketing as management of specifics of elements of business. Essentially, in this case, they include product, price place, promotion, as well as distribution. Schnaars (1998) argues that, during the marketing, a marketer focuses on planning, executing and controlling activities that ensure that the business communicates the value of product to the consumers. Furthermore, attainment of goals constitutes another element of marketing, whereby, marketing aims at creating a good environment that foster good relationship between consumer and producers. Ideally, the primary concern of marketing is meeting the needs of consumers and, at the same time ensuring that the consumers acquire the satisfaction that they expect from products and services offered by the company. On the other hand, businesses concentrate on a given customers who have similar requirements. As Dibb (2005) argues, when businesses are marketing their products services, they do not focus on all customers. However, they target a given group of customers with the same needs. As a result of this pre-selection of customers, there are creation marketing segments (Burt et al. 2002). Essentially, a business, through application of appropriate strategies, end up focusing on a given group of people, therefore, satisfying their need appropriately. On the other hand, Schnaars (1998) indicates that marketing concept is a philosophy that focuses on satisfying consumers’ needs at acceptable costs, as well as revenues. Organization that focuses on using the marketing concept philosophy, aim at addressing the needs of the business segment that the business targets. Dibb (2005) argues that the market concept should not be seen as marketing definite, or only applicable to the business environment, however, it should be viewed as a way of thinking of a business, which constitute a marketing philosophy. As a result, of the marketing concept being a philosophy, it should be seen as a guideline for business operations, where; in this case, marketing concept is a customer oriented philosophy (Ellis et al. 2008). In this regard, marketing concepts provide a guideline of how businesses conduct their operations. Burt et al. (2008) argue that it also provides a concept that ensures businesses develop a better position to achieve their future objective through maintenance of a profitable relationship between customers and the businesses through meeting of customers’ need. As Rowley (2002) indicates, there are four principles of marketing concepts including customer satisfaction, total company effort, profitability, as well as orientation towards societies. Therefore, business needs to have these principles in order to remain competitive in the current businesses environment. Marks & Spencer Marks & Spencer is among the best known British retailers in the UK. The company retails products such as clothes, foods, foot wears, house appliance, and gifts. Within the UK, the company has more than stores 450 stores and more than 850 stores internationally in more than 40 countries all over the world. Currently, the company employs more than 65 000 employees (Marks & Spencer, 2014). The company became the 43rd largest retailers in the world. In the UK, company concentrates on foods and clothing stores, however, at the start of the century, the company has expanded its product range to include products such as home wares, furniture, as well as technology (Marks & Spencer, 2010a). In 1894, one of the founders, Thomas Spencer started to invest in Marks activities, and opened their first store as a partnership. From 1950 to 1972, Mark & Spencer started to expand its market, by introducing Asia foods and building international markets (Marks & Spencer, 2014). Although after the company started to expand its business has plunged to much crises, it was the first company in 1998 to make a pre-tax of 1 billion dollar profit (Jackson and Sparks, 2005). Additionally, although the company has less market share than Tesco in the UK, it is the biggest mix retailer in the UK. With its diversified products, the company aims at meeting the need of its diverse customers needs both in the UK, as well as stores in the international arena. As a result of Marks & Spencer being a very challenging environment, marketing concept is a critical to the company because the industry the company operates involves a direct contact with the market, customers, rivals and other macro-economic factors that affect the operations of the business. With the company aiming to expand its market to new markets such as the emerging markets, marketing concepts are very useful to the company because it helps the company to meet and responds to the needs of customers in these markets (Marks & Spencer, 2014). The company, over the years, have tried to focus on the satisfying their customers through different methods. One of the methods the company has focused on satisfying the need of the customer is focusing on its core values. Some of these core values include quality, value, service innovation and trust (Marks & Spencer, 2014). According to Jackson and Sparks (2005), Marks & Spencer has used many strategies in a way of ensuring that it satisfies its customers. For example, generic strategies used by the company, which include differentiation, low cost are focused on meeting the expectation of the customers has been used by the company in an attempt to establish a relationship with the customers. Additionally, the company 10-k report indicates that the company focused on producing quality products that customers enjoy having them. Apart from quality products, the company has also focused on providing quality services, whereby the company is currently using Qmatic’s linear queue systems in busiest areas of the businesses (Marks & Spencer, 2010b). This strategy has brought order and reduced confusion in food departments. Through internal strategy, the company have made an effort in trying to meet consumer wants. For instance, in the computer and internet era, the company has introduced an online shopping for its products. Online shopping offers convenient, as well as provide enough information that make consumer satisfied, and become loyal to the brand. Stevens, Loudon and Wrenn (2012) indicate that provision of information about the products consumers are expected to buy build trust. In addition to providing convenience, online shopping speeds up, offer reliability value and quality (Marks & Spencer, 2010b), which are the core values the company pursues. The company also uses strategies such as “Free Next Day Delivery”, which in turn improves the convenience of acquiring products and offering service to the client, as well as bringing the store closer to the people. As a result, 54 percent of customers order their products using Free Next Day Delivery (Marks & Spencer, 2010b). Additionally iPhone app is another strategy the company has introduced in an effort to improve the quality of services it offers to its customer. This strategy is in growth state whereby sales via mobile phone have increased by 200 percent in the 2014. The company has the largest e-commerce distribution in the UK that allows processing and shipping of up to a million products a week throughout the UK. As a result of these innovations, the company can achieve its long-term goal through customer satisfaction. The increased efficiency of the company website is yet another method that the company has done to increase its quality, convenience of services its customer. According to MacDonald, (2013), the company has recently fostered a Silicon Roundabout-style start-up geared towards establishing a digital lab to spur innovation throughout the business. In this way, the company pursue the core values. Ideally, while the company is pursuing its core values it build a strong long-term relationship with the customer. For businesses to be successful, they need loyal customers that trust its products. Trust in business remains a very crucial operation to maintain loyal customers. MacDonald, (2013) indicates that Marks & Spencer has been the named as number one most trusted venture in the retail market in the UK. MacDonald, (2013) also argues that for businesses to retain their competitive advantage, they require to establish a long-term relationship with customer, and also come up with strategies to acquire new customers. Therefore, through the various strategies the company has embarked on to create quality, value, innovation and trust. Marks & Spencer has also embarked on a number of online strategies that help the company online shopping be most used operation in the market. On the other hand, while multinational businesses focus on introducing these strategies in different markret, they need to know that culture has influence on business operation. Most of the marketing concepts strategies, which focus on consumers’ experiences, as well as market values, are based on UK culture. According to Geert Hofstede’s five dimensional cultural framework, there are five national culture including power distance, uncertainty avoidance, quality versus quantity of life, individualism versus collectivism and finally short versus long-term orientation that affect the operation of multinational organizations in other countries other than their home origin (Leung et al., 2005). This theory implies that some operations employed by Marks &Spencer in the UK may find some resistance in other countries because of cultural differences (MacDonald, 2013). Therefore, Geert Hofstede framework indicate that companies operation in other country other than their home country need to develop customized operations, that represent the values of each country the company is operating. For instance, the UK has individualistic culture; as a result, values in this culture are different from that collective culture found in countries such as China (Leung et al., 2005). As a result, companies need to consider culture while operating outside their countries. Conclusion As discussed in this paper, marketing concept is an integral part of business operation. It does not define marketing, but it is a philosophy that governs the way businesses operate. Marketing concept is a philosophical concept that focuses on meeting the customers’ needs. By analyzing Marks & Spencer, it well seen that the business has led to the company focusing on the core value, which has led to the company increasing its growth, as well as becoming number trusted company in the UK. Marketing concepts has led to the company focusing on core businesses that satisfy consumer needs. This has led to the company having a competitive advantage. References Burt, S. L., Mellahi, K., Jackson, T. P., & Sparks, L. (2002). 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