Innovation plus Marketing Equals Results

“Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two - and only two - basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are ‘costs.’” -- Peter Drucker

For more than a decade, technology businesses have responded to stagnant sales and declining profits by downsizing their work forces and by making acquisitions. Yet, as we have been arguing for almost a decade, down-sizing and acquisitions do not produce real growth. Downsizing and acquisitions may improve the short-term bottom-line results, but they are not sustainable strategies for long-term improvements in sales and profitability. What companies around the world must recognize is that results-driven marketing is the only way to grow a business.