If exchange is the foundation concept of the discipline of marketing, what is the discipline's unit of measurement? The answer is a transaction. transaction consists of a trade of values amid two parties. We must be able to say A gives X to B and gets Y in return. Jones gives $400 to Smith and acquires a television set. This is a characteristic monetary transaction, although transactions do not require money as one of the traded values.

The theory of markets finally brings us around to the concept of marketing. Marketing is any human activity that takes place in relation to markets. Marketing is working with markets to actualize likely exchanges for the intention of satisfying human needs and wants. Thus we return to our definition of marketing as human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes.

Human desires are the form human needs take as formed by culture and individual personality. A hungry person in India wants mangoes, suckling pig, and beans. A hungry person in the United States wants a hamburger, French Fries, and a coke. Wants are illustrated in terms of culturally defined objects that will satisfy the need in this case hunger.

It is more than advertising. Marketing consist of both selling and advertising, but it also involves developing products that the populace want, pricing those products, and distributing them to potential consumers. Marketing is not always seen favorably by people who do not understand it. Nor is it always well represented by those who abuse it. But few would argue that when properly done, it is a powerful tool of business.

The primary concept underlying marketing is that of individual needs, which we define as follows: A human need is a state of felt deprivation in a person. Human needs are plentiful and complex. They include basic physiological needs for food, clothing, warmth, and safety; social needs for belonging, influence, and affection; and individual needs for knowledge and self-expression. These needs are not created by an external force, but are part of human life.

Marketing occurs when people decide to satisfy needs and wants through exchange. Exchange is the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.