"THE OTHERS"

Technology is constantly changing, therefore the 4 P’s of marketing are also changing and must keep up with the current times. Peter Drucker said, “Don’t solve problems, seek opportunities.” (Twelve Principles of the Networked economy, Kelly). In a world where a network economy is constantly changing and evolving, it creates exciting opportunities for companies to grow and seek out new opportunities to accomplish success in inovative ways. We are in an era in which new technologies are constantly being presented and if companies look for the opportunities within these new products and ideas, they have the potential to reach more consumers and potential consumers which can help them monopolize more of the market share.

Managers are always looking for new ways to enhance their product and gain a competitive advantage over competitors and as Kelly says, “value is carried by abundance, rather than scarcity...” Businesses have made a big step in reaching out to customers in more ways making it easier for customers to reach them with questions on products or even shopping for them. People no longer want to put effort in seeking out new potential products to consume. They also want to have their needs met immediately. The fast pace society in which we have become accustomed to no longer involves a large amount of time seeking out information on products. It is expected that they are presented to us quickly when we need them. The way in which we have evolved as consumers has put pressure on companies to deliver fast information, and instant gratification. Many companies are seeing this as a daunting, yet exciting challenge to reach their consumers. Companies are very successful and are finding that more consumers reach them much easier. A good example was the BestBuy example used in class, the twelpforce. Making a 24 hour service availble to consumers allows them to be much more satisfied with the product and the quality help offered also creates more loyalty to the company. It gives consumers a connection to the company.

If companies can create and establish this connection with consumers, it creates loyalty to their brand. So what about the 5^th P? We have always studied the 4 P’s yet what about the 5^th? It is the idea that in this networked economy a company can create innovative ways to reach out to consumers and give them satisfaction yet also being able to establish feedback as well. This creates PARTICIPATION. When a company can motivate or facilitate participation from the consumer, they are able to gain feedback, instead not from a board of directors from the company, but from the person who is actually buying and consumer the product. This participation created by the new networked economy helps companies benefit from hearing feedback which can help generate for success within a company.