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Meeting Management

Coca-Cola’s market share through changes in product and MEETING
targeted promotion strategy. In the 1940s, television pro- MANAGEMENT
vided a powerful tool for both new and old companies to
Meetings have been considered very important from time
reach segmented markets. By the 1960s, market segmen-
immemorial. In fact, it could be said that virtually all of
tation had surpassed mass marketing as the primary
the great events in history resulted from meetings. Meet-
approach.
ings undoubtedly started when the first cave dwellers met
to make crude hunting plans. Today, meetings are essen-
MASS MARKETING NOW AND IN tial means for achieving the communication necessary for
THE FUTURE the operation of virtually all organizations, large and
In spite of the shift to market segmentation, mass market- small.
ing continues to be used in many situations and has Just exactly what is a meeting? A meeting is a number
potential for others. Products with broad appeal and few of people assembled together, usually at a prestated date
distinguishing characteristics, such as household cleaners, and time, to discuss a topic for the purpose of presenting
potato chips, and pain relievers, lend themselves to mass information, swaying opinion, formulating a decision,
practicing a skill, and/or developing a plan of action.
marketing just as they always have. At the same time,
Those at the meeting may belong to the same group, to
businesses that use mass marketing for their goods and
different groups, or perhaps not to any group at all. A
services continue to look for ways to enlarge their markets
meeting might be called by an individual or by an organ-
by designing different appeals for noncustomers. Chewing
ization. Usually the people meeting convene together
gum, for example, is presented as an alternative to smok-
physically within a designated area. Sometimes, however,
ing. Utilities and credit cards offer special rates to entice
meetings are held by people thousands of miles apart via
potential high-volume customers, while discount retailers, telephone conference calls or video conferencing.
such as Wal-Mart, match their mix of mass-marketed
products to local customer bases.
MAJOR TYPES OF MEETINGS
Any product that has mass-marketable attributes will Many kinds of meetings are held in business. Probably the
likely be marketed by some form of the approach. In addi- most common are staff meetings, project team meetings,
tion, the Internet provides a new medium for mass-mar- process and procedure meetings, and quarterly meetings.
keting initiatives, and newly opened international markets In most large companies, hundreds of these meetings may
offer a possible arena for mass-marketing opportunities. occur weekly. Employees of all levels, including many
SEE ALSO Market Segmentation; Marketing below top-management level, attend them.

Staff meetings. Most supervisors and managers hold
BIBLIOGRAPHY weekly or biweekly staff meetings with their “direct
Gardner, Dana (1998, June). E-Mail Status Is Elevated as Mass
reports.” In these meetings, they communicate higher-
Marketing Tool. InfoWorld, 1, 84.
level decisions that have been made, discuss progress of
Lakelin, Philip (1999, April). Mass Marketing the Internet.
the team toward departmental or company goals, and
Telecommunications (International Edition), 59-62.
answer any staff members’ questions.
Tedlow, Richard S. (1996). New and Improved: The Story of Mass
Marketing in America. Boston: Harvard Business School
Project team meetings. In most large companies, there are
Press.
often project teams developed and facilitated by project
Tedlow, Richard S. (1997, Fall). The Beginning of Mass Market-
ing in America: George Eastman and Photography as a Case managers. They are often comprised of people from dif-
Study. Journal of Macromarketing, 67-81. ferent departments whose purpose is to design, develop,
and/or implement a new product, process, or system. Pro-
ject team members are assigned certain tasks to complete
Earl C. Meyer within stipulated time frames. Many of these people serve
Lori A. Dailey as part-time project resources in addition to performing
their “regular” jobs.

Process and procedure meetings. These meetings are usu-
ally called to communicate new processes and/or proce-
MATRIX STRUCTURE dures to a group of people who are affected. The
SEE Organizational Structure communication includes an overview of the new process

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION 509