Marketing Concept, Its Application by Financial Service Industries (a Case Study of Zenith Bank Nigeria Limited)
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major objective of the study is to ascertain Zenith bank adopt the marketing concept of marketing management philosophy as a corporate policy and whether this concept is being implemented accordingly by bank personnel.
More specifically the objective of the study include:
- To find out if customers of Zenith bank are satisfied with quality of services they received.
- To ascertain if the service behaviour of bank personnel is in consonance with the requirements of the marketing concept.
- To find out if zenith bank gives adequate training and instruction to their staff on the importance and mechanism for implementing the marketing concept.
- To find out if customers make their withdrawals or deposits quickly and with ease.
- To ascertain if the environment of the Zenith bank is comfortable and conducive for customer services and transactions.
- To determine if customer’s complaints and problems are adequately and effectively addressed.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
THE MARKETING CONCEPT
The Marketing Concept according to Philip Kotler, “is a customer and wants oriented backed by integrated marketing effort, aimed at generating customer satisfaction as the key to ‘Satisfying Organizational Goal’. He therefore went further to say that marketing concept mostly starts with the firms target towards customers, their wants and needs. The firm plans a well-coordinated set of products and programmes, to solve these needs and wants, and in the process derives its profits through creating customer satisfaction. The determination of what and what is to be produced should not be in the hands of the government or in the hands of the firms/organizations but in the hands of the consumers. The marketing concept is the company’s commitment to the time honoured, a concept in economics theory, otherwise known as consumer sovereignty. The company can only earn their profit when they maximize their consumer welfare by trying to produce what the consumer wants. Melver and Major (1980) said in their book, “Marketing Financial Services”, that “the tool of marketing, however elaborate and scientific, are in the end no more than lever, insert and even dull artifacts when not in use, but capable of producing dynamics— when they have a point where they can be fixed, an agreed direction in which the leverages should be put forth.
There are six competing concepts under which organisations conduct their marketing activity.
Exchange concept
The exchange concept of marketing, as the very name indicates, holds that the exchange of a product between the seller and the buyer is the central idea of marketing. While exchange does form a significant part of marketing, to view marketing as more exchange will result in missing out the essence of marketing. Marketing is much broader than exchange. Exchange, at best, covers the distribution aspect and the price mechanism. The other important aspects of marketing, such as, concern for the customer, generation of value satisfactions, creative selling and integrated action for serving customer, are completely overshadowed in exchange concept.
Production concept
It is one of the oldest concepts guiding sellers. The production concept holds that customers will favour those products that are widely available and low in cost. Managers of production-oriented organisations concentrate on achieving high production efficiency and wide distribution coverage. The assumption that consumers are primarily interested in product availability and low price holds in at least two types of situations. The first is where the demand for a product exceeds supply. Here consumers are more interested in obtaining the product than in its fine points. The suppliers will concentrate on finding ways to increase production. The second situation is where the product’s cost is high and has to be brought down through increased productivity to expand the market.
The product concept
The product concept holds that consumers will favour those products that offer quality or performance. Managers in these product-oriented organisations focus their energy on making good products and improving them over time. These managers assume that buyers admire well-made product and can appraise product quality and performance. These managers are caught up in a love affair with their product and fail to appreciate that the market may be less “turned on” and may even be moving in different direction. The product concept leads to “marketing myopia”, an undue concentration on the product rather than the need. Railroad management thought that users wanted trains rather than transportation and overlooked the growing challenge of the airlines, buses, trucks, and automobiles. Slide-rule manufacturers thought that engineers wanted slide rules rather than the calculating capacity and overlooked the challenge of pocket calculators.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitutes of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried to examine marketing concept, its application by financial service industries. Zenith bank, Enugu state forms the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain marketing concept, its application by financial service industries. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of marketing concept, its application by financial service industries
Summary
This study was on marketing concept, its application by financial service industries. Using zenith bank as a case study. Five objectives were raised which included; To find out if customers of Zenith bank are satisfied with quality of services they received, to ascertain if the service behaviour of bank personnel is in consonance with the requirements of the marketing concept, to find out if zenith bank gives adequate training and instruction to their staff on the importance and mechanism for implementing the marketing concept, to find out if customers make their withdrawals or deposits quickly and with ease, to ascertain if the environment of the Zenith bank is comfortable and conducive for customer services and transactions and to determine if customer’s complaints and problems are adequately and effectively addressed.. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from zenith bank Enugu. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
From the analysis of the data obtained, it is concluded that: There is a significance positive relationship between the financial marketing services and profitability of Zenith Bank of Nigeria Plc. There is also agreement among Nigerian Banks on the ranking of factors that shape their marketing strategies. This is not unexpected given the background that the banks operate under the same regulatory environment, more or less the same products, the same market conditions and high labour turnover within the industry with top managers carrying ideas from one bank to another. Also from the facts available, Nigerian Banks appreciate the role of marketing in the achievement of the overall objective of the banks. However, practice of the marketing concept in the banks require towards customer’s satisfaction which will in turn lead to increased profitability. Satisfying the customers is yet to be seen in some of the banks as the essence of marketing efforts. It was also noted that many of the banks in the country have a positive attitude towards embracing modern information technology in their operations and marketing activities. Mastering and efficient deployment of information technology will be one of the critical success factors in banks in the next few years. With increasing competition and higher customer expectation success in banking industry will be distinguished by the accuracy of information transfer and the way it accelerates customer’s business transactions. The level of technical knowledge of the products offered by the Bank was also found to be on the average among the customers and even the marketing officers. This is capable of impacting positively on the consumers in making his choice of products. Adequate training for marketing officers and enlightenment of customers will go a long way in solving this problem.
Recommendation
Below are the recommendations, which will improve the marketing effectiveness of Nigerian Banks and therefore lead to improve profitability. The marketing department should be strengthened and equipped with adequate human and material resources. Most customers are not aware of the services rendered by their banks; Banks should remove the communication gap that currently exists between the banks and their customers. Information can be provided through brochures, pamphlets, circular, adverts etc. The banks should devise ways of making it easy for customers to obtain information from banks. Since Nigerian banks offer more or less the same type of services. The way and manner the services are delivered will make the difference. Greater emphasis should be placed on efficient service delivery. Some of their procedures and processes will need to be restructured. Turnaround time for processing needs to improve. Nigerian Banks should encourage the use of consultancy firms in carrying out market research before new products are introduced. These firms have adequate manpower and database which can be utilized, in erecting market research at a reduced cost. Advancement in information technology, its popularity, and general acceptance have made it imperative for any bank that wants to be relevant in the industry in the next few years to be fully computerized. Some Nigerian Banks with adequate resources should not hesitate to embrace the opportunity offered by the Federal Government’s pronouncement on provision of a level playing field for both commercial banks.
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