Is the Church a Business?
Who are we to please?
by Rodney E. Zwonitzer
I address you today from the following background which has shaped my life and I believe has given me an interesting perspective for this symposium. I was involved in a career in product marketing with such corporations as Westinghouse, Storage Technology Corporation and United Technologies for nearly fifteen years before entering the Seminary. I graduated from this Seminary in 1988 and served two congregations in British Columbia, Canada before accepting a call in December of 1991 to my present call in Dearborn, Michigan.
Much of my experience in product marketing was in brainstorming sessions as to what could be adjusted to either bring in more sales or increase profits, or the usual demanded objective, increase both. Such frequent discussions generally entailed a microscopic look at all areas of our marketing effort. For those of you unfamiliar with marketing (who might define it incorrectly as “sales”), I offer the following definition from a classic university marketing textbook: “Marketing is the performance of business activities which direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user in order to satisfy customers and accomplish the company’s objectives.”[1]
Useful for our purposes here today is a traditional marketing way of looking at business by breaking it down into the Four P’s of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Thus, the brainstorming sessions that go on in corporate America revolve basically around this discussion: which of these four variables or “marketing mix” can we adjust to gain a higher share of our market? For instance, if I lower my price on a given product ten percent, how will it affect sales? If I improve the product significantly or replace it with a new design, how much more of the market can I capture? Sound analogous to any discussions within the LCMS these days?
This type of analysis goes on continually in business with constant research, planning, implementation, and follow up being done in looking at changes to the marketing mix – the four P’s – which will result in higher sales, higher profits.
