As the marketing concept was gaining wide acceptance in business organizations, it was noticed that firms were ignoring their social responsibility while satisfying consumers and achieving their organizational goals. Their activities are often in direct conflict with society’s best interests.
Thus, a firm may totally satisfy its customers, achieving handsome profits but in the process of doing so, they might also be polluting the air and water in the environment or damaging the cultural environment. As companies came to realize their social responsibility, this factor became one of its primary objectives.
It was seen that for a company to prosper in the long-run, it needed to satisfy social needs as well as the economic needs of customers. The marketing concept and a company’s social responsibility is compatible if the management strives over the long-run to:
* Satisfy the wants of its product-buying customers, even if that introduced an element of customisation.
* Meet the societal needs of others affected by the firm’s activities.
* Achieve the company’s performance objectives.
The societal marketing concept holds that organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer’s and society’s well-being.