Value: do you add or extract?

The author responds to Hugh Davidson's June 2012 article, 'Only consumers can make capitalism work', which identified the distinction between value adding and value extracting as fundamental to marketing.

Value: do you add or extract?

Fiona McAnenaClearhound

In the June issue of Market Leader, Hugh Davidson identified banks and other sectors as value extractors. In this article, Fiona McAnena sets out the challenge facing marketers in businesses that are not marketing-led, and suggests ways in which they can lead a change for the better.

Imagine that you're at the checkout at Tesco. As your can of baked beans goes through the scanner, the helpful assistant says: "Did you know we have these for 10p less?"

"Great – charge me less, then," you say.

"It doesn't work...

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