CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUIND OF THE STUDY
The implication of marketing is that even though “customer orientation (a derivative- of marketing concept) has become a familiar slogan, with pride of place in the strategy statements of many organizations,” the god of actually implementing the customer orientation has continually been deceptively innocuous” (Nwankwo, 1995). The implication is that marketing is often restricted and viewed- from them. prison of commercial lenses.
This situation has led pessimists of educational market, in- particular, to argue that applying marketing to educational issues is unethical, part of the-jr fear being that merit may be compromised for commercial gains. Such cynicisms emanate from the narrow conceptualization- accorded to marketing by those dismissing it as nothing but a profiteering instrument. However, marketing is far being that, rather, it has long been recognized as an instrument for organizational renewal-:efficient re-source allocation; and sustaining new market though product, service- and process innovation.
This is consistent with the believe that universities are currently perceived as typical business—like enterprises, where the student as a consumer seeks a business—like relationship with the producer (Lecturer) who delivers the knowledge, skills and competencies they want (Newton,2002.) University marketization infuses customer need into the following this tradition, informed opinion in the literature now agrees that knowledge and ideas which are not chandelled to solve problems are worthless (Rokpe, 1998) it in the context that this paper advocates for a market oriented university structure in Nigeria.
Thus subsequent broadening of the concept, marketing which nightly brought into context the foundational role of marketing as a social process (Kotler and Lay, 1969), has provided the desired conceptual robustness that captures the role marketing within the human society. Admittedly, early works (Levi, 1960; Kotler and Levy, 1976; Hunt, 1 976) in the area of broadening, the scope of the marketing concept have been in valuable. However, despite this conceptual boarding, marketing in the context of university management has continued to receive limited attention in Nigeria. Paradoxically, existing literature (Drucker 1958; Bayer, 1968, Bakar, 1996, Onah, 2000; Oguwo, 2003, 20005a) has continued to direct attention to the fact feet that understood to direct attention to the feel that underdeveloped and developing economics could benefits from modern marketing in solving their development from the modem marketing insolving their university management.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
To date limited research has, been directed at linking university management to the marketing process in Nigeria. Public universities in Nigeria are known to be overly state dependence nether than market dependence which have stifle the growth and development of these higher institutions as centre of excellence. Tertiary institutions do not believe in the adoption of strategic marketing management as a tool of repositioning the institutions for national development which has impeded the growth of the tertiary institutions.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION
The relevant research questions that are answered in this study are as follows:
1. What is marketing in general form?
2. Can Marketing ideas be applied to Tertiary Education?
3. How can the Tertiary institutions benefits from the strategic marketing management
4. How can the Tertiary institutions shifts from the overly state dependence to market oriented approach.