2.0 Introduction to Lesson 2

It is important to recognize that the marketing function in an organization is charged with the following responsibilities:

• Capture prospective customer needs, wants, desires and values (commonly known as the voice of the customer or the voice of the market).
• Create a product/service (something of value) that satisfies (meets or exceeds) the prospective customer’s expectations.
• Collect payment for product/service delivery (sell).

A customer is a person/organization who not only has needs, wants, desires, and values but is willing to spend money to fulfill those needs, wants, desires, and values (i.e., there is an exchange of value).

Raffi Amit, Wharton School of Business, and Christoph Zott, University of Navarra IESE Business School in Spain, were recently interviewed to discuss business modeling and changes the COVID-19 pandemic causes in an economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a severe, multifaceted global crisis--both a health crisis and an economic crisis. The shocks to the economy were both on the demand side as well as on the supply side. A catastrophic pandemic such as COVID-19 is very likely to alter the preferences, habits, and risk attitudes of consumers, in part because of the long stays at home and the social distancing measures that were applied. What seems very likely is that many companies--both large and small, both private and public, bothe for-profit and not-for-profit--will be prompted to reimagine themselves, to reinvent themselves, in order to survive and prosper in the future.

The way they engage with their customers might change dramatically. For the last almost year, we didn't go to malls. We didn't go shopping. We did everything online. If you are a mall owner, you will ask yourself, "Will consumers come back to malls? Will they need the mall? Will they need to go when they are so used to shopping online today?

There are profound behavioral changes that might occur as a result of this pandemic. Companies need to look at themselves and say, "Should we find new ways to interact wiht our partners, with our customers?" Therefore, "Do we need to design a new business model?" There is no doubt that the pandemic has prompted companies to reimagine and redesign their business models. I think that we don't really know how the new normal will evolve. That's work in progress, right? There are so many things that are happening, both politically, socially, and otherwise, and there is a record level of uncertainty as a result. That, for sure, will affect how companies will decide to engage with their stakeholders. Raffi Amit

Knowledge@Wharton. (2021). Business Model Innovation Matters More Than Ever. Podcast. 15 Feb 2021. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/business-model-innovation-ma...(link is external)

What is due for Lesson 2?

Lesson 2 will take us one week to complete. There are a number of required activities in this lesson, listed below. For assignment details, refer to the lesson page noted.

Note: Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates.