One day, while I was attending a college introductory marketing class, the professor asked me to define "the marketing concept" in front of the class. Not having been fully prepared, I slowly stood up and sheepishly replied with an interrogatory "Buy low, sell high?" Okay, admittedly I hadn't been prepared at all.

Commensurate with an outburst of laughter from the class, a student, two rows in front of me was called upon after furiously waving both arms as if to shout "I know, I know, please pick me professor!" In that moment, the only person who could have felt worse was this guy had he answered wrong. Unfortunately he got it right. And after the professor showered him with high praise, my embarrassment morphed into humiliation.

I have never forgotten the marketing concept. More than thirty years later, I can still recite it verbatim:

Firms should analyze the needs of their customers first before making decisions about how to satisfy those...