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Convergence between Marketing Approaches and the Aims of the Public

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DOI: 10.18775/jibrm.1849-8558.2015.21.3003

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 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing
Volume 2, Issue 1, 2016
jo u r n a l h o me p a g e : w w w. res ea r ch l ea p . co m

Convergence between Marketing Approaches and the Aims of the Public

Administrations: Towards an Optimization of the Citizen Relationship Management
(CiRM) in Morocco

El Yachioui Maryam, Aomari Amina

Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco

ABSTRACT

2016 Research Leap/Inovatus Services Ltd. Traditionally, there is a tendency to think that administration and marketing are two
All rights reserved. antagonistic notions. Marketing is the science of designing the supply of a product according to
the analysis of consumer expectations and taking into account the capacities of the
DOI: 10.18775/jibrm.1849-8558.2015.21.3003 organization as well as all the constraints of the socio-demographic, competitive environment,
URL: dx.doi.org/10.18775/jibrm.1849- legal, cultural in which it evolves. For Butler and Collins (1994) marketing has shifted from
8558.2015.21.3003 transactional marketing, rather product-oriented to relational marketing, more client-oriented,
which corresponds more to the expectations of public administrations regarding their relations
Keywords: with the citizen, especially the user. But in Morocco, there is a marketing myopia in the public
Marketing Myopia, sector. Indeed, this industry often complains about the lack of citizens' interest in their services
Marketing-mix in public sector, and products. These citizens become more demanding and must be satisfied. This article thus
Generics, has a twofold objective: first, to show wherein the marketing myopia in Moroccan Public
Public Administrations (PA), Administrations lies, in order to define the heart of their business, and second, to propose a
E-administration marketing mix for these administrations to optimize their Citizen Relationship Management
(CiRM) and see how e-administration responds to a marketing approach.

1. Introduction the characteristics of the public administrations and the marketing

According to Levitt (1960) marketing myopia is defined as a myopia in the operational component, which will allow us to
disease of the managers and executives of many companies who propose an applicable marketing mix within the Moroccan PA to
fail to take a broad view of their business and therefore put optimize their relations with citizens and to see how e-
growth at risk through lack of marketing orientation. In Morocco, administration responds to a marketing approach.
there is a marketing myopia in the public sector due to the lack of
a core business definition. Indeed, the Moroccan PA has 2. Characteristics of Public Administration
undergone many reforms during the last decade. Innovative 2.1 Private sector model vs. Public sector model
experiments have been conducted in many areas. Despite these Before highlighting the characteristics of Public Administration,
many achievements, the action of the administration and its mode the table below gives an overview of the important differences
of operation are subject to criticism both from its users and on the between the private sector and the public sector. Table 1 clearly
part of civil society. shows that the public sector is governed by values that are totally
different from those that lead the private sector. Thus, where the
According to a satisfaction survey regarding the Moroccan PA private sector depends on individual consumer choices, the public
that we have conducted to obtain citizens’ opinions (El Yachioui sector, on the other hand, depends on collective decisions. When
and Aomari, 2015), it was clear that the perception of public price and demand drive the private sector, the public sector
services by users remains generally negative. The citizen as a focuses on resource needs independently to some extent from
balance of power, which is weighted against the individual price and demand.
citizen, experienced the relationship with the administration.
Service was perceived as a favor rather than a right. The Other characteristics of the public sector model are equity of
Moroccan PA is thus endangering its growth due to its lack of needs, the search for justice, citizenship and collective action as a
marketing orientation. So the aim of the present article is to show political instrument. In the end, while in the private sector a

24 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, vol. 2, issue 1, pp. 24-33, November 2016
25 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

consumer can simply stop his relationship with the company, in their main characteristic is to form a group more heterogeneous
the public sector he cannot get out of this relationship but only than that of the customers. Most private companies are targeting
complain about it. their clients, hence the relative homogeneity of this group. The
products of the Public Administration are consumed by a wide
Table 1: Private Sector and Public Sector Model (Stewart and range of people, ranging from the worker to the doctoral student.
Ranson 1988) Despite this great heterogeneity, citizenship refers to a notion of
equality, that is to say, that all citizens are supposed to be treated
Private Sector Model Public Sector Model equally regardless of the level of their income or any other
Individual choice on the Collective policy choice criterion. "This idea is reinforced by the fact that many public
market services are free at the place of issue and the link between use and
Request and price Resource Requirement payment is long and tenuous.
Private action Public action open to all
Moreover, it is not clear which citizen is the consumer: is it the
Market equity Equity of Needs taxpayer, the patient, the pupil, the parent or society in general?
Search for market satisfaction Search for justice (Collins and Butler, 1995). It may be added that citizens are
Customer Reign Citizenship obliged to be loyal to their nation, that is, they can not leave the
relationship but must make their voices heard when they
Competition as a market Collective action as an
complain (Hirschman 1970). Compared to competitors in the
instrument instrument of policy private sector, public sector products are offered in a wide range
Stopping the relationship as a Claim as condition of competitive environments, ranging from legal monopolies to
stimulus almost perfect competition without any protective measures
(Common and al., 1993). For example, Collins and Butler (1995)
tell us that in England, Her Majesty's stationery department has a
2.2. Characteristics: actors and processes monopoly for the Parliament's press, but it is competing with
We will see which actors and processes of the Public private publishers for the other products in its range. Public
Administration to better understand this market. service providers are increasingly exposed to the privatization
threat they face.
 Actors:
In this section, we will present the Public Administration as an
• Process :
organization, as well as the main actors with whom it must
We can identify five major processes in the public sector: new
interact, namely political authorities, citizens and private sector
product development, payment-billing cycles, delivery systems,
competitors. For the Public Administration as an organization, we
internal market operations and evaluation of results. Product
must consider two main characteristics: first, its mission is often
development is a fairly formal process. The ideas of new products
non-profit, and second, public administration organizations are
are often issued by politicians or from an urgent request of the
politically responsible. A Public Administration organization is
Society (which then pushes the politicians to submit the
non-profit making. Its activities can generate profit, usually called
corresponding ideas). Before being applied to Public
"surplus", but it will serve to produce the services of the
Administration, these ideas are somehow tested through the
following period. In no case shall surplus or profit be used for
legislative and executive system. They are then adapted according
private purposes. "However, most public sector organizations are
to what is expressed by the political parties, the lobbies and more
expected to provide equitable, effective and efficient services that
generally the interested public. The Public Administration,
meet the desires and preferences of multiple" clienteles ",
therefore, does not create its new products alone, even though it is
including users, players, donors, politicians, Spokespersons, the
the most qualified to do so. On the other hand, it advises
media and the general public "(Lamb,1987). Regarding being
politicians on new products, without taking responsibility for
politically responsible, all actions and activities of a public sector
them.
organization are and must be transparent to be considered by the
Society or political representatives potentially. There is nothing
We can identify two types of processes in the payment billing
asked of the private sector. Even if the supply or delivery of
cycle. The first, the simplest, corresponds to the payment
Public Administration products can be provided by the private
proportional to the use (for the realization of a new identity card
sector as well as by the public sector, the ultimate responsibility
for example). The second process is much more complicated.
rests with those who are politically responsible (Dunleavy and
Costs are allocated and paid by taxes and other charges. Let us
O'Leary 1987).
take the example of the social security system or the educational
system of many countries. Many pay without ever having the
Regarding political powers, they are very important for the Public
opportunity to use these services. In Germany, studying at
Administration since they define the rules and give the direction
university is free. Everyone contributes to the functioning of the
to be taken. Politicians are responsible for the development of
university system by paying taxes, but only a small portion of
new products and are ultimately responsible for the activities and
these people go to university and can benefit from it.
actions of the Public Administration. Concerning the citizens,
26 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

These issues are difficult because the situation is often felt unfair by student contributions. This is why it is difficult to introduce the
by taxpayers who do not benefit from these services. notion of the client in relation to students.

The delivery process is becoming increasingly complex. A few  Clients are captive
years ago, most of the products of the Public Administration were For most Public Administration services, clients are captive,
issued through this institution. Today, there is a multitude of ways either because there is no competing offer (the passport is issued
to deliver products, using the private sector for example, or only by the State), or because the (Children and adolescents are
through private-public partnerships. Since 1998, for example, obliged to attend school until a certain age). Bon and al. (1977)
Central Park in New York is managed by Central Park find that "most administrations have rendered mandatory or
Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization that has signed indispensable the use of their services. The user is therefore
a contract with the Parks and Recreation Department of New forced to submit to the conditions that are made to him. This
York City. characteristic of the public sector is in complete contradiction
with the principle of consumer sovereignty in the private sector,
The creation of internal markets is fairly recent. A few years ago, which stipulates that the customer can decide whether or not to
when a public organization worked for/helped another buy, for example, bread.
organization of the same type, there was no payment in return. On
the other hand, it is increasingly the case now, following the • Public administration must focus on groups with little
mimicry on the private sector and its use of internal transfer costs. interest
Even when there is no real competition, organizations evolve to While the private sector concentrates on market segments
resemble quasi-markets. Large organizations in particular play a potentially interested in its offer, the Public Administration must
"commercial role" (Common et al., 1993) by dividing themselves concentrate on groups that are not interested or even opposed. A
internally into suppliers and service buyers (creation of internal good example could be the large population of smokers directly
markets). targeted by anti-tobacco campaigns.

On the evaluation of results, it is particularly complicated in • Public administration often has a complementary role to
public administration according to Peter Smith (1993), because of private companies rather than a competitor role
the absence of performance indicators. That said, financial and The Public Administration must identify the citizens who are not
quantitative indicators do not necessarily measure success in the or badly served and develop a marketing mix that is favorable to
public sector. Van der Valle and Bouckaert (2003) find that more them rather than targeting the most profitable segments of
and more information is needed on the effectiveness of consumers. Several authors even doubt the possibility of applying
"governance" as a whole, such as "quality of life" indicators. the concept of a customer to the public sector (Stewart and
However, often these qualitative indicators are not understood by Ranson 1988, Swiss 1992, Frederickson 1992, Moe 1994,
the Company, which is then problematic. Pegnato 1997, Patterson 1998), explaining that this would reduce
citizens to passive consumers That they must be active agents
2.3 The concept of the target market for a public administration (Patterson 1998). Similarly, Alford (2002) states that "most
A target market is "a set of buyers who share the same needs or public-client organization interactions differ from private
characteristics that the company will have decided to satisfy" and consumer transactions", but also that "the notion of exchange [...]
a buyer is "the person who does a real act of purchase". can be broadened in a stronger sense The importance of the
According to De Quatrebarbes (1996) public marketing, and responsiveness of directors to their public ". By making a
therefore marketing in public administration, "is addressed either distinction between citizen and client, Alford (2002) argues that
to very broad targets, sometimes to restricted targets, individuals the value delivered by the Public Administration is perceived as a
or companies". public value by citizens and as a private value by clients.

In the Administration literature, there are many terms referring to However, the expression of wishes and preferences regarding the
purchasers of public administration services such as "customer", values to be offered and the price they must cost is only possible
"consumer", "user", "stakeholder", "citizen", "taxpayer" or simply for the citizen during an election. Thus the citizen not only
the "public" (Alford 2002). However, the Public Administration pronounces on the public value but also on the private value (the
has four specificities that do not make it apprehend the client in customers are supposed to consume). It is quite different for the
the same way as most private companies: private sector, where "the exchange is direct, in the sense that the
consumer's money is directly related to the private value they
• Public administration does not need the customer as much receive" (Alford 2002). The solution proposed by Alford (2002)
as a private company: is to broaden the concept of exchange that dominates the private
According to Lamb (1987), PA is less exposed to the market since sector: first, things other than tangible items can be exchanged,
she receives part of her income from the State and not only such as friendship, respect, and honesty; second, there may be
directly from the client who buys her services. For example, more than two parties involved in the exchange. Nevertheless,
German universities are almost entirely financed by taxes and not with regard to the target market, marketing has at least two
important potential roles:
27 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

3.1 Product
 Marketing can help the Public Administration to identify The PA's products have the characteristics of so-called "public
the target market and better reach its consumers. goods". Those goods are consumed jointly, that is to say, that
"Marketing in public services allows for a bottom-up relationship consumers are not rivals (Samuelson 1954). Moreover, it is
between the public and the organizations, which leads to more impossible to stop people who do not pay for these public goods
adapted services and therefore an increased resistance to direct or from consuming them (Varian 1992). For example, streetlights
indirect competition" (Lamarche 1998). Analyzing consumer illuminate the streets for everyone, whether they contribute or not,
behavior can provide a better understanding of the utility through the raising of taxes. There is rarely the issue of non-
customer. The analysis of the market and consumer behavior of rivalry in the PA, when you take for example the seating system
the Public Administration is often non-existent. in Moroccan universities. Seats are allocated according to the
results of the baccalaureate. Thus, although seating at Moroccan
Traditionally, the needs and expectations of citizens are conveyed universities is a product of the PA, it cannot be considered as a
to the Public Administration only through the results of the public good since there is not a spot for everyone; students are
political elections. Of course, political parties are testing to some rivals because they can be excluded from selection. The PA
extent their action plan to determine the potential reactions of provides services rather than goods. Services have the following
citizens. However, they test rather general ideas about an action characteristics: intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and
(often perceived negatively, like introducing a new tax), but they perishability (Parasuraman et al. 1988; Zeithaml et al. 1985). In
do not determine the detailed characteristics of a response to a addition, the typical problems encountered in services are the
neutral action (what are the characteristics of a citizen who has same in the PA. The inviolability implies problems of sampling
just passed his driving license). In addition to analyzing consumer and evaluation. The inseparability limits the number of possible
behavior, continuous marketing feedback can help keep consumer operations. The heterogeneity makes quality control more
data up-to-date: private organizations are gathering continuous difficult, and the perishability involves storage issues as soon as
information about the changing environment and On its demand fluctuates (Parasuraman et al. 1988; Zeithaml et al.
performance. Non-profit organizations are less focused on 1985).
collecting vital information about the results of their actions and
the events that are happening on the market. The equipment, constraints, and duties are the main products of
the PA (Butler and Collins 1995). Equipment corresponds to
• Marketing can help to apprehend the consumer more assets such as bridges and museums, or they correspond to
individually, without losing the efficiency of mass production. services, such as health, education, the police, so citizens view
A good segmentation allows knowing first of all which different them positively. Regarding constraints, they prohibit certain
types of consumers exist. If one takes the example of the behavior (such as banning smoking in public places) and act as
education sector, two segments of consumers must be treated laws and regulations. Such laws and regulations are beneficial to
differently: on the one hand the students themselves and on the the public interest but hinder interest. The individual constraint is
other the taxpayers who do not benefit from university education. seen as the price to pay for the public benefit. As for duties, they
However, marketing has its limitations. Taking into account the ensure that certain behavior is required and are usually
heterogeneity of the population through segmentation is limited in accompanied by sanctions.
the Public Administration by the fact that all citizens must be
treated equally by the public services. Again, in view of the general interest, citizens are asked to make
efforts, such as paying taxes. Product development is rarely done
The private sector postulates that one can not serve everyone in in the Moroccan PA. Indeed, it is rather the politicians or strong
the same way, which is not applicable in the Public demand from companies that create new products. Politicians
Administration because "it is statutorily mandatory to deliver a often have to find the right balance between losing popularity
public service on a universal basis" (Walsh 1991). There are, points and acting for the good of the nation. For example, the
however, exceptions to this rule if we consider foreigners who do introduction of a new tax is not highly appreciated by the public;
not speak the language of the country in which they reside: they however, it may be the solution for a heavily indebted country.
can benefit from a public translator and a certain number of aids These new product developments often take place just after the
that are not accessible to other persons. Marketing can in any case elections and not just before. Consumers prefer products that offer
help to understand the citizen, whatever role he plays at any time, the best quality, highest performance, and best attributes.
whether he is a client, a taxpayer, a user, etc.
Thus product improvement is needed. But the Moroccan PA does
3. A marketing-mix poorly defined in the Moroccan PA not much improve their products; in particular, they do not
Moroccan PA put their growth in danger due to their lack of recognize themselves to be in competition. But even when there is
marketing orientation, especially their operational marketing. To no competition, we see the importance of the increase of
do this, we will demonstrate the marketing myopia in each improved products, as is the case for the administration's'
element of the marketing mix in Moroccan PA. monopoly (the issuing of identity cards). The dissatisfied
customer cannot turn to a competitor. Instead, he can express his
dissatisfaction through demonstrations, which generates
28 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

additional costs. These include the violent demonstrations in front 3.4 Promotion
of the Moroccan Parliament, as a sign of discontent, or the 20th Current marketing requires more than just creating a quality
February movement (M20) which emerged from young product, setting the price and making it available. Companies
Moroccans' dissatisfaction. These events generate huge costs. must also communicate with existing and potential customers. It
Besides the difficulties in developing and improving products, an is also the critical point on which the efforts of a company must
essential step for the Moroccan PA is what it sells. Therefore, we bear in building good relations with its customers. Various
will explain the concept of "generic". According to Kotler and traditional means of communication can be used, both by the
Levy (1969), a modern company that sells soap defines its core central administrations and local authorities such as advertising
product as "cleaning" and not as soap. (information campaigns on road safety, for example), the "sales
force" (open house), the "promotion of sales" (tax reduction for
The Moroccan PAs often complain about the lack of citizens' online tax declarations), and public relations. Now it has long
interest in their services and products. We can, therefore, speak sought to animate the Administration through promotional
about marketing myopia in the public sector due to the lack of activities. In New York, for example, the Economic Development
definition of its core business. Levitt (1960) gave the example of Department has appealed to the advertising agency, Well, Rich
the railway system. The reason they defined their industry and Green to develop a marketing campaign for the city of New
incorrectly was that they were railroad oriented instead of York. The result was the famous slogan "I ♥ NY" that we can
transportation oriented; they were product oriented instead of often see on T-shirts sold in the city and even circulating around
customer oriented. Similarly, we can say that there is certainly a the world. Morocco is still not aware of the importance of its
public service demand, but it is not satisfied properly. In this case, cities.
citizens are looking to meet their demand outside the public sector
(e.g. using a private clinic or private university) or they resort to There are private or international organizations that promote the
public systems in other countries. most beautiful cities in Morocco, such as the city of Chefchaouen
which was ranked the sixth most beautiful city in the world by the
3.2 Price prestigious Condé Nast Traveller magazine or the website
Moreover, according to Christian Dussart (1994), "the price plays TripAdvisor which ranked the city of Marrakech as one of the
a crucial role in the strategy of organizations, it has become the most beautiful destinations in the world. Butler and Collins
nerve center." However, the PA is non-profit, meaning that (1995) show that "communication campaigns informing the
private persons do not receive the profit. The PA's activities may public of the benefits and value of public services are becoming
generate profits, called "surplus" but will be assigned later to the increasingly important." Marketing can help improve the negative
provision of future services. Unlike the private sector, in which image by, for instance, explaining what the reasoning behind a
the adaptation to market realities is indicated by the fact that the certain requirement is. For example, it can adequately explain
customer is ready to buy at that price, this is more difficult for the why it is necessary to wear a seat belt when driving. This reduces
public sector because the Moroccan citizen is forced to buy there the negative feelings experienced in respect of this rule to follow.
(through the taxes they pay), or it has no alternative, as the PA is An anti-smoking campaign is certainly badly perceived by
a monopoly (we can only get our birth certificate or driving smokers, but the Administration has to lead it anyway. But
license through the PA). A fixed price must be precisely aligned promotion remains the last concern of the Moroccan public
with the positioning of the product. The Moroccan PA is a administrations.
monopoly, and therefore there is no competition against which to
position its products and services. There is, however, a 4. A marketing-mix proposal for the Moroccan PA
positioning through the price within the Administration: imagine We present in this part the implementation of the "4P" in the
driving licenses cost nothing. Citizens would be inclined not to public sector. To do this, we will briefly present each element of
care, to lose them and therefore generate more renewal work for the mix while illustrating these with Moroccan examples, but also
administrative officers. other countries that the Moroccan PA can take as a model to
understand the differences and similarities between the private
3.3 Place and public sector. We then demonstrate how the e-administration
Distribution is defined as "all activities of a company to make the answers to a marketing approach. In fact, aware of the ICT's
product or service available for targeted consumers" (Kotler et al. importance, Morocco has launched e-administration programs to
2005). For many services, such as the delivering of national develop a digital technology. Finally, we discuss the limits of the
identity cards (NIC), additional distribution points do not increase implementation of each element of the mix in the PA.
the demand for the service; we repeat that the Administration has
the monopoly for issuing NIC. But the opening of these additional 4.1 Product
facilities reduces public transaction costs and can lead to greater According to Kotler et al. (2005), the product dimension has eight
satisfaction. Here one can speak of a balance between cost and tools: variety, quality, design, attributes, branding, packaging,
increased customer satisfaction which the Moroccan public services, and warranties.
administration does not take into consideration.
29 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

Table 1: Product dimension in the public sector 4.2 Price

According to Kotler et al. (2005), the function of prices has five
tools: pricing, rebates, discounts, payment terms and credit terms.
Marketing Tools Examples in public administration
Variety: the number of Different types of driving license are
Table 2: Price dimension in the public sector
different products available in Morocco: category A for
Marketing Tools Examples in public
contained in a product motorcycles, Class B for cars, trucks,
administration
class category C and category D for bus
Pricing: contains the sales price The rates for a license, for an
Quality: all the The new biometric passports are
of all the products available, ID card or passport
attributes and considered higher quality than
presented in a catalogue or list.
characteristics of a traditional passports because they
Discounts and rebates: price An example would be that of
product or service that offer a higher level of security and
reductions over time. The delivery of the French
have the ability to protection against counterfeiting and
discounts are granted government, which granted
satisfy expressed or false papers.
specifically for worn or 20-euro reduction in 2006 to
implied needs
damaged goods. taxpayers who filed their tax
Design: attributes and The European version of the
returns on the Internet (Sanz
packaging have much biometric passport contains a digital
2006).
to do with aesthetics, image and a biometric fingerprint on
Payment Time: is the period in In Germany, companies have
but also the a RFID chip while in the Moroccan
which the payment is due. to pay VAT at the time of
composition of the version, there is a digital image on
billing. But companies with
product or service. the chip.
annual sales of less than
250,000 Euro can only pay
Brand: a name, term, Public universities can have a brand.
their VAT when the bills of
design, symbol, In Germany, the brands "University
their customers are met.
design, or a of Cologne" and "Munich University"
Credit terms are the terms on Example penalty: you pay
combination of these, have the image of a more selective
which the parties agreed. Most extra when you do not pay
to identify the goods recruitment than the "University of
of the times it is the number of taxes on time.
or services of one Hamburg." In Morocco, we can give
days between delivery and
seller or group of the example of the Higher Institute of
payment, but also discounts for
sellers and to Commerce and Business
advance payment or penalties in
differentiate them Administration (ISCAE).
case of late payment.
from their
Source: Author: The remaining definitions, as well as the list of
competitors.
marketing tools included, are adapted from Kotler et al. (2008)
Services: activities, When you buy a passport in Belgium,
benefits or one is expected to get it in a shorter
4.3 Place
satisfactions available amount of time. You can access this
Four tools are related to the distribution: the channels, coverage,
for sale. service by paying three to five times
range and places. We must ask two questions to select the
the usual price.
appropriate channel: first, who should manage the channel, the
Warranties: Any social security system can be Administration itself or a private company? Second, what is the
agreements between a considered in a sense as a guarantee: most appropriate channel for delivering a specific service? The
buyer and a seller of the conditions are set according to the Administration may provide service to a physical building or the
goods or services, type of disease. The country finances Internet. In October 2005, Estonia was the first country to allow
giving details of the treatments. elections online. The coverage was required to meet customer
conditions for which needs. France chose to keep intense coverage of Commons, the
the seller will cover lowest level of the administrative division composed of large
the repairs without the cities as well as villages. We mean by "assortment" the choice of
buyer having to pay products and services to be offered by the same distribution
extra. channel. The agency for German Federal Employment was
decentralized and offered only jobs in the respective regions; now
Source: Author: The remaining definitions, as well as the list of it has been centralized and offers jobs in all of Germany. Places
marketing tools included, are adapted from Kotler et al. (2008) are locations where one can find the physical buildings.
30 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

France has decided to sell some administrative buildings in town expresses himself, he participates in the debate, and he becomes
centers and moved administrations to the periphery so as to critical, emerging as an active player.
collect more money.
5.2 E-administration: a pricing policy to build
4.4 Promotion The specificity of non-market services is that the price is set
According to Kotler et al. (2005), there are four tools related to below their cost price or even that they are free. The public sector
communication: advertising, sales force, sales promotion and must often demonstrate the value of their products according to
public relations. the general interest. There are two aspects: the dematerialization
of procedures and the availability of public data.
Dematerialization is an opportunity to generate economies of
Table 3: Dimension communication in the public sector
scale in both study phases of realization and use of resources. The
Marketing Tools Examples in public
cost of treatment is a hundred times lower than a paper process
administration
and ten times less than a magnetic treatment. The release of
Advertisement "any form of Awareness campaign by the
public data, commonly known as open data for the benefit of
remote presentation and Moroccan government:
citizens is an unprecedented opportunity for social and economic
promotion of ideas, goods, or diabetes road safety
innovations. It is an innovation that facilitates information for
services by an identified
citizens and a better understanding of public policies, contributing
sponsor" (Kotler et al. 2005, p.
to greater involvement of everyone. In Morocco, the Ministry of
905).
Industry, Trade, and New Technologies has introduced a first
Salesforce is an "a personal Open days held in police
version of the website data.gov.ma in March 2011, making
demonstration by business to stations in several countries
Morocco a pioneer in the field of Open Data platform. But,
generate sales and build to inform citizens about
despite its innovative character, the Moroccan initiative for Open
customer relationships" (Kotler police work and to build
Data has not experienced the interest it deserved, and the
et al. 2005, p. 917). relationships.
published datasets were limited.
Sales Promotions: "Short-term In 2006, the French
incentives for the purchase or government offered a 20-
5.3 E-administration: a local distribution
sale of a product or service" euro reduction to taxpayers
The Internet provides a distribution channel that makes saving
(Kotler et al. 2005, p. 920). who filed their tax money possible at the same time as increasing customer
declaration online (Sanz satisfaction. Filling in online tax declarations is regarded by many
2006).
citizens as a benefit to them, as well as being cheaper for the
Public Relations include Numerous Internet sites Administration. The presence of many regional and local
"creating good relations with where the Administration institutions can improve the satisfaction of collective welfare. The
different audiences for a gives information about its electronic administration appears as a way to rethink the
company to get positive organization, such as the distribution of existing services (portals, mobility), rearrange
publicity, to build a good image Moroccan Ministry of (combine on the same support functions of information,
and to wash away negative Finance website. communication and transaction terms) and also, increasingly, to
rumors, stories or events that invent new services (collaborative encyclopedias associating
can harm the company's image. users and administrations). But the provision of online services
The main PR tools include press (informational, interactive, transactional) via a window or front
relations, product promotion, office represents the tip of a processing and distribution
corporate communications, management (back office), which is also modified extensively.
lobbying, and the board
"(Kotler et al. 2005, p. 919) 5.4 E-administration: a more interactive communication
Source: Author: The remaining definitions, as well as the list of One of the advantages of e-administration, regarding
marketing tools included, are adapted from Kotler et al. (2008) communication, is to facilitate and speed up communication
between the administration and users and with partners, including
5. E-administration: a marketing approach the use of Web 2.0. The latter, commonly called "social Internet"
5.1 E-administration: a very ample offer of product and/or allows you to create new modes of exchange and communication
services within the administration and with citizens. It meets the needs to
Digital products are either scanned information products, as express, share and react in real time.
offered by open data, or scanned related services as proposed by
the digital administration. Digital products are not produced in 6. Application limits of the marketing-mix in the Moroccan
their consumption but are duplicated to infinity, and they have PA
negligible physical costs of production and distribution. Web 2.0 The first difficulty is the evaluation of performance. To improve a
allows for the sharing of services and expertise because of its product or service, we must know the consumer, but we must also
community focus and its ability to build a digital identity, such as assess performance. Nevertheless, we must not forget that the
finding one's way or the organization of events. The individual performance indicators for services are harder to implement than
31 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

goods, even in the private sector. Indeed, the level of satisfaction There are also limits related to promotional activities. The
of a service depends on the interaction with the customer or communication must remain neutral. It does not create an image
consumer, and that helps determine the quality of service. The but only seeks to inform. In the case of the referendum on the
second limit is that the PA does not often decide about its Moroccan Constitution in 2011, for example, it was supposed to
product; it is rather political. inform only on the content of the Constitution. Only political
parties could produce the actual advertising about the
Although the Administration often has a monopoly and has no Constitution. But during the campaign, we saw that the separation
competitors, it cannot act as it wishes. It must take into account between politics and administration was blurred. There is also an
four constraints. First, the Administration cannot fix excessive ethical limit: it is not recommended to share only the benefits of a
prices: citizens decide to stop buying services or products. If the product of the Administration; one should also communicate the
license were too expensive, many people would rather not drive costs. This is part of marketing since it is to build an image of
or travel by bicycle. Even when there is a legal limit to the fixed honesty for the Administration. Finally, marketing can provide
price, as is the case for taxes, the Administration cannot information on the benefits of a service. In this case, it can limit
indefinitely require very high taxes. Citizens cannot get out of the the negative impact on the satisfaction of a consumer, but it
contract, but they can make claims and protests against high cannot make the consumer fully happy with the service.
taxes, which is very costly for the Administration. They can exit According to Levitt (1960), citizens hate paying taxes no matter
the contract by leaving the country. The second constraint is that what and do not like to cooperate with the state to complete
the pricing policy, in this case, is difficult to implement. Third, it forms. It is more useful to minimize the effort required by
is not only the financial aspects that have to be taken into account citizens.
in pricing decisions. It must also rely on the well-being of the
Administration and the non-financial benefits; the prices seem 7. Conclusion and Discussion
impossible to estimate. The best examples seem to be natural In this conclusion, we will lead a general discussion of our article
disasters or defensive wars, where prices are just impossible to before looking at the limits that we have identified and future
determine, The fourth constraint is that most often the research ideas that could be pursued. Having highlighted the
Administration is funded by state and local taxes, while the marketing myopia, which lies within the Moroccan PA, we have
services are provided for free, which can influence the consumer shown the applicability and limitations of the marketing mix in it.
in many ways. We also demonstrated that e-administration responds to a
marketing approach that we can incorporate into the 4P in any PA
There are at least three specific constraints that are not found in in Morocco., something that will allow the public to know the
the private sector. First, we must take into account the aspects of heart of the business and improve the PA's relationship with its
security and control, which do not facilitate the outsourcing of users. The primary purpose of this article is to show that the
services and limit Internet distribution. On the issue of marketing and the public sector are similar, although there are
outsourcing, one can think of issuing passports and the danger still differences. However, it is not necessary to set up new
associated with the delegation of control over the service. We marketing specific to the public sector, but rather to adopt a
could still appeal to the onerous outsourcing rules and strict different angle within the marketing discipline. The Moroccan PA
conditions on the private partner, but the population would never should listen more to marketers. However, it must remain vigilant
accept it and maybe after a few years, the private company might and not think that marketing is capable of solving everything:
decide not to follow the rules and issue passports to anyone. The marketing is not a panacea but only a process that helps one
Internet is not suitable for all types of services. manage the public sector more effectively.

Nevertheless, more and more services are available, and e- Limits and future research paths
government is a very interesting area of research. As we have The main limit of this article is that we have processed a very
already said, it is possible to fulfill one's tax return in Morocco, operational part of marketing, but marketing also deals with more
and Estonia was able to vote for a city council online in 2005. The strategic issues. Thus, the coordination of a comprehensive
second limit is that the increase in distribution points and marketing plan is the key to maximum efficiency. Finally, as far
channels does not necessarily increase customer satisfaction. If as research opportunities in the field of marketing and public
the PA decides to build a new building, it is the taxpayer who sector: it would be interesting to study the relationship between
finances it, and he or she may not appreciate this expense. A final the PA and citizens. And, based on the CRM principles, transpose
limit concerns the place of distribution, which is often contingent these into the public domain, which could lead us to speak of a
on administrative areas, that is to say, a set of administrative new concept, namely the Citizen Relationship Management.
sector basis (and not on population density considerations) or However, this relationship is strongly influenced by political
contingent on existing buildings. Changing the physical location activities. It would be wise to analyze the relationship between
of buildings or administrative boundaries is a more complicated these three actors.
task to achieve in the public sector than in the private sector.
32 Journal of International Business Research and Marketing

 Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary, Wong, Veronica and

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