The use of marketing methods in Czech companies

The main objective of this bachelor thesis was to identify how marketing activities are used and implemented in selected companies operating in the Czech Republic, and to compare the collected data with marketing activities of a selected company. A partial objective was to propose recommendations based on the identified situation. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part is based on the analysis of specialised literature and investigates terminology, such as marketing, need, wish, products, demand, offer, market, company marketing program, and also the characteristics of marketing activities. The first stage of the practical part involved the analysis of marketing activities of a selected company. The analysed company did not wish to be revealed and thus, for the purposes of this thesis, it was renamed "XY". The primary data were collected by way of controlled structured interview with the marketing director of "XY". The main purpose of the interview was to map the role and use of marketing in the selected company. Furthermore, the interview aimed to identify how the selected company implements marketing activities and how important these activities are within the company. The results of the controlled interview indicate that "XY" creates a marketing strategy and annual marketing plan every year. The analysis furthermore revealed that "XY" defines marketing correctly, i.e. as a process aiming at satisfying the needs and wishes of the customers, but cannot use and implement it to the full extent as it focuses too much on promotion activities and establishing a certain image on the market. The second half of the practical part presents the survey by way of online queries of selected companies operating in the Czech Republic. The objective of this survey was to reveal how the selected companies perceive marketing and how they approach its use within the company. The results indicate that marketing affects the management of Czech companies only marginally. Out of the 50 companies involved, only 6 strictly Czech companies (12%) can define marketing correctly. Up to 88% of the companies involved (44 out of 50) does not know the proper meaning of marketing and mistake marketing particularly for promotion activities, advertising, and building of the company image on the market