“The most important part of any business,” said our marketing professor. “is MARKETING!”

You are thinking “of course he’d say marketing, he is teaching it.” But maybe he is teaching marketing BECAUSE he really believes in it.

“Market means demand. Demand means the needs of people” he continued. “Marketing is always about the needs of your customer. If you don’t fill that need, you can be 100% sure that you will have no business. No customer = no business."

I agree with the professor, to be honest with you. Besides, filling needs and providing value to people is THE fun [except money] of doing business, isn’t it?

You find what people need. You create a product to fill it. You find customers who are willing to pay you. Finally, you give those people what they want. There, you got your business.

If nobody wants to buy your product, though, no matter how fancy your advertisement, HR strategy, or how beautiful your office is, the business is kaputt.

“Now let’s talk about the case of Aqualisa,” the professor gave us a business case [by Harvard Business School].

That case was basically to teach us how giant mainstream company can fail to fill customer need [or bring value], which eventually creates a market gap. That gap is then filled by a smaller company. At the end of the day, the big shot company goes out of the game to be replaced by a new one who did a better job in giving value to customers.

“If you want to learn more about this phenomenon,” the professor said at the end of the lecture. “I recommend you to read the theory of disruptive innovation by Clayton Christensen.”

I read it. If you are into doing business at all, I recommend you guys take a look at it too. It is worth your time. I promise 🙂