午夜剧场

Changes in the technological environment bring about significant changes in the way markets exist. For example, in the past, automobile manufacturers only needed to be aware of other manufacturers in the same industry as competitors. However, today, as the fusion of cars and the internet becomes a reality, it has become necessary to view companies like Apple and Google as powerful competitors. In response to such changes in the market environment, Toyota Motor Corporation declared that it would change its model from a "company that makes cars" to a "mobility company" that provides all services related to movement. Furthermore, companies are re-examining their own positions, with JR East and Odakyu Electric Railway becoming strongly conscious of "MaaS (Mobility as a Service)," which signifies the shift of transportation into a service, as their future direction. Writing it this way makes it seem like a new recent trend, but for some reason, it feels like déjà vu.

Theodore Levitt once issued a warning called "Marketing Myopia," referring to how companies miss potential competitive threats and market opportunities by defining their business and markets narrowly around products. For example, he argued that because railroad companies narrowly defined their business as the "railroad business" rather than the "transportation business," they declined as their demand was taken over by automobiles and aircraft, even though the demand for passenger and freight transportation was increasing. Although Levitt proposed this concept more than 60 years ago, it feels as though "mobility company" and "MaaS" correspond directly to the examples Levitt cited.

One of the attractions of marketing as a research field is that new and interesting themes appear one after another as the social environment changes. Recently, I myself have been conducting research exploring the increasing use of online information by consumers and the significance in marketing of transactions that do not involve the transfer of ownership, as exemplified by subscriptions. However, as "Marketing Myopia" shows, there are parts of marketing that do not change so easily. While the continuous emergence of interesting research themes is a great attraction of marketing, I believe it is also important to maintain an attitude of constantly questioning what the essence is, rather than being swept away by superficial matters.