Effektivnost' deyatel'nosti lyubykh predpriyatiy v znachitel'noy stepeni opredelyaetsya funktsionirovaniem marketingovoy sistemy. Marketing, rassmatrivaemyy s pozitsii obespecheniya naibol'shego urovnya pribyli i umen'sheniya kommercheskogo riska - vazhneyshaya funktsiya upravleniya predpriyatiem, tesno svyazannaya s menedzhmentom. Marketing primenyaetsya nezavisimo ot togo, v kakoy stepeni razvity rynochnye otnosheniya, tak kak vystupaet v vide real'noy sistemy, kotoraya uvyazyvaet vnutrennyuyu i vneshnyuyu deyatel'nost' firmy, a takzhe koordiniruet vzaimodeystvie vsekh sub"ektov, vkhodyashchikh v sistemu marketinga. V nastoyashchee vremya funktsionirovanie otechestvennykh predpriyatiy osushchestvlyaetsya v usloviyakh ekonomicheskogo krizisa. Situatsiya kharakterizuetsya zhyestkost'yu konkurentsii; nepreryvnym rostom tsen na tovary i uslugi; nestabil'nost'yu politicheskikh i ekonomicheskikh usloviy reformirovaniya; neobkhodimost'yu prinyatiya resheniy v usloviyakh bol'shikh i bystro menyayushchikhsya potokov informatsii o kon"yunkture rynka.