A customer focus is widely seen as desirable and necessary to business success. This paper focuses on the obstacles that prevent firms from adopting and maintaining a customer focus. The authors suggest that the marketing concept is intrinsically difficult to implement. A failure to focus effectively on customer needs may be the normal state of affairs; it is not an aberration or a shortcoming peculiar to poorly run businesses. Only a deliberate effort on an ongoing basis can overcome the natural tendency to lose touch with customers.

marketing, entropy, customer, business