Marketing Segmentation and ‘Fordism’ Essay

The rules and laws of the business world differ from the laws that rule the lives of ordinary people. However, the unifying point in both is trying to benefit from one’s activities. This trying can be observed in individual people and in business companies. The latter implement various policies to attract more customers, to make their products more accessible and cheaper (Kotler & Keller, 2008). Some companies focus on segmentation as a means of achieving this goal (Hague, 2009; Kotler & Keller, 2008), while others keep to the point of view formulated by Henry Ford, who saw the future of business in mass production.

Thus, marketing segmentation is the process of bringing “the focus on to manageable groups of like-minded individuals who have a high disposition for a product” (Hague, 2009). In other words, companies like Coca-Cola try to reach every single customer in his or her preferences by offering products for those preferring cold and icy drinks, for people desiring cheap beverages, for those who like to drink refreshing substances at home or outside (Hague, 2009). Thus, focusing on several market segments, Coca-Cola tries to embrace so many possible areas of activity to increase its profits in such a comprehensive way (Hague, 2009).

However, the Fordist approach to the issue is opposite to the idea of segmentation (Willamette, 2009). Henry Ford expressed the idea that people want access to goods, and the way to give this access is to reduce prices and increase the wages of workers (Kotler & Keller, 2008). As price reduction is the result of mass production and generalization of product lines, Ford assumed that people, for instance, want to have cars while their colors or technical characteristics bother them at the last turn. The idea was later labeled as Fordism and the mass production initiatives received this name as well (Willamette, 2009).

Nowadays, Toyota implements this Fordist approach to expand its international markets and offer the widest range of products to the largest number of potential customers (Leaders, 2009). Although Toyota claims to leave Fordism behind, its mass production process and being the largest auto manufacturer in the world today prove the opposite (Leaders, 2009). Caring for the quality, Toyota also tries to make their cars cheap and accessible to attract new and new customers, and mass production allows reduction of the prices (Leaders, 2009).

The same is true about Samsung Electronics Company that launches mass-produced goods one by one into the market. The latest mass-produced innovation by Samsung is the 512Mb DDR SDRAM Using 90-Nanometer Processor that promises to be a new trend in the computer industry. Finally, McDonald’s proves to act according to its Fordist philosophy providing the bulk of customers with similar, mass-produced, and cheap products including hamburgers, cheeseburgers, potatoes free, etc (Willamette, 2009).

To conclude, the success that Toyota, Samsung Electronics, and Mcdonald’s have in the international markets proves the idea by Henry Ford that mass-produced goods for ‘average’ customers bring more clients to the company and accordingly more incomes. Segmentation might also be beneficial and the example of Coca-Cola proves this, but too much of it does not allow the company to focus on one or several areas of activity and succeed in them. Therefore, the Fordist idea of mass production may be the most profitable option for business companies.

Reference List

1. Hague, P 2009, Marketing Segmentation. B2B.
2. Kotler, P. & Keller, K 2008, Marketing Management. Pearson/Prentice Hall.
3. Leaders 2009, Will Toyotaoism Replace Fordism ? Leaderswedeserve.
4. Willamette 2009, Fordism, Post-Fordism, and the Flexible System of Production. Willamette.edu.