Industrial Products of Marketing
Although the specific marketing problems and strategies will necessarily be different in certain respects,their essential principles will be seen to be basically the same. For instance, the decision to set up a steel works is a marketing decision like any other since a steel works is a marketing factory -but of a specialized kind- for producing goods that other industries may need, depending on to state of demand for their own products.
Thus the assesment of the demand on the part of the user-industries will be the basis on which the decision to n a steel works must rest:; but in order to make this assesment of user-demand, it will be necessary to look at the trends in the demand for the final products which these user-industries make, in addition to forming an opinion about the trends in growth in the economy as a whole.
If the marketing man were to find, for instance, that there was a pronounced trend in favour of making cars out of fibre-glass, other plastic materials, and non-ferrous alloys, this would be a most important factor to set against the arguments for setting up a new steel works, since one of the important user-industries was clearly moving into the market for materials other than steel.
On the other hand, a trend towards using more steel in domestic house construction would be an important factor in favour; and so on with the many aspects of personal and business activity that have bearing on the assesment of potential profitability, and of risk, associated with the plan to erect a new steel works.