Marketing

Although some marketing critics see marketing as wasteful or even against society's best interests, it is important to recognize the benefits of marketing:
Marketing connects remote producers and consumers. Mass communication and mass transportation allow products to be shipped where they're needed.
Marketing allows mass production with its economies of scale.
Marketing encourages growth and new ideas. Competition for consumers' money forces firms to think of new and better ways of satisfying consumer needs.

In combination, the forces of competition and the choices made by customers to support those firms that do the best job of meeting their needs drive our macro-marketing system to be more efficient.

Some changes come quickly. A good example is the speed with which firms have adopted e-commerce. E-commerce refers to exchanges between individuals or organizations a...