Business Wants vs. Needs

A need is defined as "a state of felt deprivation in a person" (Kotler, Chandler, Gibbs, & McColl 1989, p. 4). This refers to a general feeling of needing something. This can include needing physical items such as food, clothing, a place to live, or a mode of transport. It can also refer to a more psychological need such as a need to fit in and feel accepted, a need to express oneself, or a need to feel loved and valued.

A want is defined as "the form human needs take as shaped by culture and individual personality" (Kotler, Chandler, Gibbs, & McColl 1989, p. 5). This refers to the specific item that a person wants to fill a certain general need. For example, a general need for clothing may result in an individual wanting a certain pair of jeans and a certain jumper. As another example, a general need for food may result in an individual wanting to have dinner in a specific restaurant. For a psychological need such as the general need to fit in, an individual might want a certain brand of shoes that are considered fashionable.

One of the main differences between wants and needs is that needs refers to a general desire, while wants refers to a specific desire. For example, I need a way to get to work each day is a general desire, while I need a BMW is a specific need. Another important point is that general needs can be satisfied in various ways. For example, an individual needing to get to work each day could buy a BMW, a Suzuki motorcycle, a Dunlop bicycle, or an annual pass for public transport. The related feature of wants is that people can be influenced to accept different items to fulfill a need. For example, if a person has a need for food, this need cannot be influenced. However, the individual...

This theory describes five categories of needs: physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization. The important point about Maslow's theory is that the needs exist in a hierarchy. As Daft (1997, p. 531) explains "low-order needs take priority -- they must be satisfied before higher-order needs are activated." This theory explains why a satisfied need ceases to motivate because once a need is satisfied, a new higher-order needs becomes the focus.
To explain how this works, consider a person who has not achieved the basic physiological needs of food and water. This unsatisfied need becomes a source of motivation. However, once this need has been met, the individual is no longer motivated by a need for food and water. This occurs because the need is no longer unsatisfied. In response, the individual moves up the hierarchy and focuses on the next unsatisfied need, which is the safety need. This becomes the unsatisfied need that motivates the individual. The same process occurs when the individual achieves safety. Once again, this is no longer an unsatisfied need and so the individual moves up the hierarchy to the next need, which is belongingness. This occurs again as the person moves up the hierarchy to achieve esteem needs and self-actualization needs.

This illustrates how individuals are motivated by unsatisfied needs. A satisfied need ceases to motivate because once a need has been met, the individual moves on and is motivated by the next…