of marketing is the selling concept, which "assumes that consumers will either buy or not buy . . . the organization's products," as a result of the organization's "effort to stimulate their interest in its products" (Kotler, 1987, p. 29). The selling concept of marketing implies that consumers "have a normal tendency to resist buying . . . things that are not essential," but that they "can be induced to buy
. . . through various sales stimulating devices" (Kotler, p. 29). The selling concept, whether or not it may be successfully used overtly by hospitals in the health care services delivery environment, would draw the censure of most people. The selling concept might be viewed as being acceptable in the marketing of cosmetic surgery, but not for the marketing of essential health care services.
A third concept of marketing "holds that the key task of the organization is to determine the needs and wants of target markets and to adapt the organization to delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than its competitors" (Kotler, 1987, p. 31). A nonprofit hospital will, in most instances, adapt the organization to the needs of the community, or segment of the community, it is intended to serve. A profit oriented hospital, by contrast, will in most instances, select a specific segment of a community which it desires to serve, and will then target that population segment through its marketing strategy (Higghins, 1986, p. 14).
The marketing concept is both acceptable, and widely employed. There are, however, two significant criticisms of the marketing concept. First, it is said that the marketing concept fails to consider the conflict between individual want, satisfaction, and the long run public interest (DeLozier & Woodside, 1988, p. 7). Certainly, this criticism is often valid, when the marketing concept is applied by profit oriented hospitals (Baitistella, 1985, pp. 19-26).
The second ma...