This term was very first used by Theodore Levitt in 1960 when he published an article with the same name. His work was re-published in 2004. Deighton emphasized the same as Levitt said: the companies do not understand what their customers want and what their needs are, and they spend too much time and consume their money on the advertisement of their products and services. Companies need to be more customer-specific rather than product-oriented. Professor Levitt used to teach his students, “People want a quarter-inch hole rather than a quarter-inch drill,” quotes Deighton.
A short-sightedness of business for its clients would not be effective until executives take necessary steps by considering essential phases. A writer gives the example of Levitt’s view about rail-road lines; railway business declined because authorities thought that they were more willing for train business. This resulted in the loss of passengers, and they were overlapped by other transport businesses. Leaders should ask themselves what business they are actually running. The entire discussion of the author in the article revolves around the needs of customers because when the head of a company thinks about only its product, then its position in the market may be grabbed by competitors.
Deighton notifies us that the relevance of marketing myopic is still applicable today. He described an example of a writer that he must keep in mind readers’ area of interest; they do not want a newspaper or magazines, but they want the data and stuff that can entertain, stimulate, and inform them with real facts and figures. Deighton cited the reference of an article “The New Marketing Myopia” by Minette Drumwright and Mary Gentile in which they say; Marketers have already taken into account the suggestion of Levitt, and now they are producing customer-oriented products, and they have taken themselves out from the context of business. Deighton explains that people who apply technology tools to their products recognize that their product and medium would change over time, but the constant is only the consumer’s need. Executives of the company cannot predict the future, and they should not try doing this, Levitt says.
