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4 - Professor Koichi Shimizu's 7Cs Compass Model
4 - Professor Koichi Shimizu's 7Cs Compass Model
4 - Professor Koichi Shimizu's 7Cs Compass Model
Shimizu's
7Cs Compass Model
From 4Ps to 4Cs
Before discussing about 7Cs Compass Model, inevitably we need to understand
the contents of 4Ps and 4Cs. Not matter whether the marketing model is 4Ps,
4Cs or 7Cs, it is not only for the academic research but also can be effectively
applied for the marketing management. A good model can be applied for a long
period even the outside environment has been changed. However when the
changes are too much and out of the expectation of its inventor, the model needs
to be entirely revamped to suite these changes. In 1973, 4Cs is introduced at
such background - from high-growth to low-growth economics while 7Cs compass
model introduced by Professor Koichi Shimizu is to more precisely explain the
essential factors of low-growth economics in 1980.
The 4Cs model is based on the 4Ps. The 4Cs is a customer-centric approach while
the 4P is a product-centric approach. The 4Cs makes more sense since marketing
focuses on satisfying customer satisfaction. Philip Kotler, the expert of
marketing, says that marketing must focus more sharply on the customer. He
convincingly argued that the seller's paradigm of the four Ps - product, price,
place and promotion - should become the four Cs ( Consumer, Cost,
Commnication, Convenience ) of a buyer's or customer's mix as propounded by
Robert Lauterborn (1990) in an interview with Mazur (1991-2).
But at the time of economics downturn, as illustrated by the right column of the
below figure, companies or corporations produce the convenient commodities for
the consumers or citizens with the consideration of the total marketing cost, and
first of all gain their consents through the sufficient communications and then
their confidences by selecting the effective channels in conjunction with the
uncontrollable external circumstances. This is the way to survive in the period of
low growth economics.
We can find out a dozen of marketing jargons for high growth economics like
managerial marketing, social marketing, ecological marketing and de-marketing,
etc. Their basic philosophy is Pro-marketing - to promote the marketing
activities, moving forward. However for the low growth economic, it is replaced
by Com-marketing - to communicate and cooperate with the consumers,
sometimes stopping or even moving backward to listen to their voices.
The core of 4Cs is corporation (company and non profit organization) while the
core of 4Ps is customer - they are the targets for the actions of the attack or
defense. 4Ps look like customer-oriented however in reality, the decisions are
made by the companies or corporations. Therefore the marketing activities of a
company should be encircled by the consumers or citizens as the demanders to
make the requests.
Why "Company" is put in the scope of 7Cs? The reasons are: 1) It is necessary to
place more emphases on the organization of the companies; 2) It is necessary to
execute marketing plans in conjunction with the company's objectives; 3) It is
necessary to tackle the internal communication related problems like corporate
communication or corporate identity system(CIS), etc.
2. Four Cs
3. (C6) Consumer
Consumers are those people encircling the companies. Instead of just the
customers of 4P marketing model, they are the ordinary citizens nurtured by the
motto of the consumerism. However of course they are also including the
customers and the potential customers.
We can then divide the consumers into two categories. The first one is the
perspective customers and the second one is the other citizens who have the
social relationships with the companies. The people of first category were the
target of the marketing activities in the era of the high-growth economics. It is
out of questions that in the era of consumerism, they still need to be explored to
increase the market share. One the other hand, the companies now can not omit
the people of second category even there is not sell and buy relationship with
them. For example, the companies produce noises and trashes in the process of
the production, which lead to the social problem. Since the word "Consumerism"
was introduced from 1960s, the companies so far still sometimes ignore their
benefits.
The factors related to the customers can be explained by the first characters of
four directions marked on the compass: N = Needs, W = Wants, S = Security and
E = Education.
a. Needs - analyze what the consumer needs. Needs is the unsubstantiated
opinion, some of which cannot be converted to the concrete commodities.
Companies can offer more alternatives to meet the various needs of the
consumers;
b. Wants - the substantiated needs to expect the accordingly commodities. The
companies need to place more emphasis on the biggest needs and not to omit the
noiseless needs;
c. Security - the safety of the commodities, the safety of the production process
and the adequate after-sell warranty;
d. Education - consumers right to know the information of the commodities;
4. (C7) Circumstances
International environment now also becomes important. In the very near future,
no one single country can form an independent society. It is a must to establish
the international cooperation mechanism for solving the problems like
international law, energy, military and trade etc.
b. Weather
Despite the advance of the human technology, the weather and natural
environment is still uncontrollable. For most of the natural disasters, the
companies can do little but try to predict when they will happen and adjust the
marketing plans. However more can be done to avoid the disasters caused by
human like the environment pollution.
d. Economic Circumstances
Economic Circumstances is closely related to National Circumstances we have
discussed before however economics climate is changing due to many other
uncontrollable factors like energy, resources, international income and expense,
financial circumstances and economic growth etc. For example, the whole
organization structure for marketing needs to be adjusted from 4Ps to 4Cs or 7Cs
model when the economics is changed from high-growth to low-growth.