Businesses orientate themselves to the marketplace in different ways. The theory of company orientation towards the marketplace categorises businesses into one of five main orientations – production, product, selling, marketing and holistic marketing.
The production concept focuses on production efficiency, low cost and mass distribution. It is based on the assumption that consumers prefer products that are cheap and easy to obtain. Companies pursuing this strategy are effectively stating they can deliver their product to the end customer quicker and cheaper than their rivals.
At odds with the production concept is the product concept. The founding belief of this concept is that consumers prefer higher quality products that are innovative, more effective, or more styled than their cheap and easy to obtain counterparts. The assumption of this concept is that customers are able to detect and appreciate the higher quality.