Marketing decisions generally fall into four categories; product, price, place and promotion. The set of these categories is known as the marketing mix or the 4 Ps of marketing. Subject to the internal and external constraints of the marketing company, the marketing mix provides marketing managers with controllable parameters to make customer-focused decisions in the target market. The ultimate goal of the marketing mix is ​​to create value and generate a positive response for any organization. Elements of the Marketing Mix Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2006), describes the marking mix approach to marketing as a model for creating and implementing marketing strategies and emphasizes the combination of various factors in such a way as to achieve both organizational and consumer markets (target markets). When merging these factors, or elements, marketers must understand the customer's wants and needs and use those elements in formulating the appropriate marketing strategies and plans that will satisfy them. Neil Borden, the developer of the marketing mix model, suggests that two sets of information are needed to develop a marketing mix; a list of important elements that enter the mix and a list of forces that influence these decision variables (Wikipedia, 2006). The most common variables used in formulating this mix are product, price, place and promotion. These variables, viewed from the marketer's perspective, are sometimes referred to as marketing management because they describe the elements that marketers must work with. Product Decisions"Historically, the thinking was: a good product will sell itself. Yet there are no longer any poor products in today's highly competitive environment...... middle of paper ......ionsonmicrosoft .com/sample/DOMIS/update/2005/02feb/0205gtmms.htmGates, W. (2006 Message from our President. Corporate Governance. Retrieved November 12, 2006, from http://www.microsoft.com/about/companyinformation/corporategovernance /default.mspxValue Based Management.net (2006, 4P Marketing Mix Model). /about/companyinformation/ourbusinesses/business.aspWebber, S. (2005). Retrieved November 12, 2006, from http://dis.shef.ac.uk/sheila/marketing/mix.htmWikipedia. Encyclopedia. (2006). Marketing Mix. Retrieved November 12, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_mix.