20. Marketing

Marketing is a functional area within a business firm. It includes all the activities that the firm has at its disposal to sell products or services to other firms (wholesalers, retailers) or directly to the final consumers. A marketing manager needs to decide strategies for pricing (toward consumers and middlemen), consumer promotions (discounts, coupons, in-store displays), retail promotions (trade deals), support of retailer activities (advertising allowances), advertising (television, internet, cinemas, newspapers), personal selling efforts, product strategy (quality, brand name), and distribution channels. Our objective is to demonstrate that differential games have proved to be useful for the study of a variety of problems in marketing, recognizing that most marketing decision problems are dynamic and involve strategic considerations. Marketing activities have impacts not only now but also in the future; they affect the sales and profits of competitors and are carried out in environments that change.