(a) Marketing is defined as the performance of business activities which direct the flow of goods and services from the producers to the consumers to satisfy customer needs and wants and to accomplish organisational goals.
(b) The importance of marketing to an economy:
(i) Marketing facilitates economic development. It acts as a catalyst in the provision of infrastructures.
(ii) Marketing stimulates demand for goods and services. Any active marketing leads to expansion of production or economics of large scale and efficiency/Marketing leads to enlargement of market size.
(iii) Marketing offers employment opportunities to the people. A good number of the populace is engaged in retail trade, wholesaling, warehousing, advertising, transport, communication, forwarding and clearing which are all marketing activities.
(iv) Marketing enhances competition among producers and this leads to better quality of products/services and improvement of the quality of goods through standardization and grading, etc.
(v) Marketing enables a nation to engage in international trade to dispose of its surplus goods and services in which it has comparative advantage.
(vi) Marketing improves the standard of living of the citizens in a country by making goods and services available in all geographical regions of a country.
(vii) Marketing adds value to goods and services through marketing research and development in markets, products, etc.
(viii) Marketing bridges the gap between the producers and the consumers by bringing them together.