Do Big Companies Depend too much on Marketing, Finance, Lobbying and Tax Rules?

Do Big Companies Depend too much on Marketing, Finance, Lobbying and Tax Rules?

In his book Antifragile, Taleb stated that the core of business is offering an honest and decent product or service that gives your customers value for money.
If this is not the case, then it's likely that we're dealing with a fragile organization, because of:
1. FINANCE (leverage, debt). If companies spend more time on financial constructions than on a decent product, probably that makes them fragile in the end; see the summary of Taleb's Black Swan Theory.
2. MARKETING / ADVERTISING. Taleb says on marketing:
- Companies mess with your cognitive biases and that's sneaky;
- Marketing is basically bragging and that's bad manners;
- A good product will sell itself. Anything one needs to market heavily is necessarily either an inferior product or an evil one;
- Marketing (beyond conveying information) should not be needed and is a sign of insecurity;
- Marketing is meant to maximally confuse the consumer. For example soft drink companies that (implicitly) promise happiness to their drinkers in advertisements.
3. LOBBYING. Lobby machines of large companies spend more and more on lobbies, because they feel fragile without them. Because they are dependent on finance (low interest rates), big companies friendly regulation and marketing.
These lobby machines of big companies are successful because they can hijack the State or Country they're in, because if they go broke it would cost a lot of people their jobs.
4. TAX RULES. Buy leveraging all kinds of complex financial products, etc.
What do you think, do big companies have products that are good enough, or do they depend too much on marketing, finance, lobbying and tax rules?

		Comments Sort by date Sort by rating Rating
		1 Barry Schaeffer Consultant, United States
	Marketing Provides Valuable Information to the Consumers I agree with much in this post. What I cannot agree with however is the negative view and assessment... Sign up

		2 Lei Qu Canada
	Where is the Good Product From? In many organizations, the marketing also includes defining a product. I agree when a good product ... Sign up

		0 Edward Ramos Professor, United States
	The Value of Marketing @Barry Schaeffer: I agree. Most of the products and/or services offered in today's markets are highl... Sign up

		1 Madeline Rios Consultant, United States
	The Core of Business is not Marketing As a freelance translator and interpreter, my experience completely validates these principles. My "... Sign up

		3 Ted Garrison Management Consultant, United States
	Marketing not the Core of Business Again we have a half truth. The idea that if you build a better mouse trap they will come has been p... Sign up

		4 Dominic Owusu Analyst, Ghana
	Society Benefits from Marketing You may have a good product, but how would the customer know. Through marketing customers are able t... Sign up

		3 Dr Brian Monger, Australia
	What do You Think Marketing is About? Some folk here think that "marketing" is only about Promotion/Advertising/Selling OR it refers to a ... Sign up

		0 Ted Garrison Management Consultant, United States
	Monger's Got it Right @Dr Brian Monger: absolutely - marketing is everything you do. If your product or service is no good... Sign up

		0 SETIONO WINARDI Business Consultant, Indonesia
	After Sales Service of Marketing Stages is the Most Important The after sales stage or service stage of marketing is most important, which is the way to establish... Sign up

		-1 Jun Labindao Manager, Philippines
	Marketing is to Communicate Nothing is more important and satisfying in a service-based industries than to inform your current a... Sign up

		2 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Marketing is to Create, Communicate and Deliver If marketing is to create a product, communicate and deliver value to customers, society at large th... Sign up

		0 Ed Richardson Business Consultant, South Africa
	Marketing is the Core of the Business The author would seem to have a very narrow view of marketing. Instead, it can be argued that market... Sign up

		0 Nancy Muttu Manager, Uganda
	Marketing is the Soul of Any Business In his book Antifragile, Taleb stated that the core of business is offering an honest an decent prod... Sign up

		0 nasera Faruk Milky Student (MBA), Bangladesh
	Marketing as Core of Business I do believe that a good product will sell itself but marketing also plays an important role to make... Sign up

		0 Marcel Wiedenbrugge Consultant, Netherlands
	What is Marketing About? I think Taleb's view on marketing is a distorted and inconsistent. Marketing basically consists of t... Sign up

		0 jacinta wamwaki Kenya
	Marketing is the Core of Business Research on what the market requires is Marketing, informing the public what you have produced is Ma... Sign up

		0 Ajogbasile Olamide Student (University), Nigeria
	MARKETING IS NOT THE CORE OF BUSINESS @Ted Garrison: I strongly agree with you sir. Word of mouth could also be seen as a promotion mix, a... Sign up

		0 WALTER Pascal, France
	The Core of Business is not Marketing I certainly agree with the affirmation "marketing is not the core of business". We all know the impo... Sign up

		3 Alan Kennedy, Canada
	Is Government Part of the Problem? This is a fascinating question. It really speaks to the role of government in the marketplace and ho... Sign up

		0 Sonny Vicente Coach, Philippines
	Marketing isn't just Selling or Providing Truthful Information I agree for the most part with Mr. Nieland that a good product will sell itself but marketing isn't ... Sign up

		1 Jun Labindao Manager, Philippines
	Marketing IS Definitely the CORE of Business Who will know about your business if you don't market it? Even casually telling your best friend tha... Sign up

		0 Emmanuel Osafo Gyane Manager, Ghana
	Is Marketing the Core of Business? The pros and cons of all reactions on this subject are that marketing favors a vendor in a competiti... Sign up

		1 Wangari M. Ndia, Kenya
	The Core of Business is NOT Marketing I agree that the core of business is not marketing. However, without marketing especially in a comp... Sign up

		0 Ted Garrison Management Consultant, United States
	The Core of Business Reading all the comments - there seems to be a debate back and forth about what is more important th... Sign up

		4 Alan Kennedy, Canada
	The Issue is Dependence on Marketing, Lobbying, Tax Rules, and Finance I think the question here is whether companies have products that are good enough (the implication b... Sign up

		4 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	The Title of This Discussion Has Now Been Changed @Alan Kennedy: Indeed you are right, the title of this discussion (which used to be: "Marketing is N... Sign up

		0 Dr Brian Monger, Australia
	How can Companies Over-rely on Marketing? Since one of the major, fundamental, activities of a business is about the transaction between the b... Sign up