marketing Activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers. In advanced industrial economies, marketing considerations play a major role in determining corporate policy. Once primarily concerned with increasing sales through advertising and other promotional techniques, corporate marketing departments now focus on credit policies (see credit), product development, customer support, dis¬ tribution, and corporate communications. Marketers may look for outlets through which to sell the company’s products, including retail stores, direct-mail marketing, and wholesaling. They may make psychological and demographic studies of a potential market, experiment with various mar¬ keting strategies, and conduct informal interviews with target audiences. Marketing is used both to increase sales of an existing product and to introduce new products. See also merchandising.
marketing board Organization set up by a government to regulate the buying and selling of a certain commodity within a specified area. The simplest type of board is designed to carry out market research, pro¬ mote sales, and furnish information; it is usually financed by a fee levied on all sales of the product concerned. Examples include the Sri Lanka Tea Board and the Ghana Cocoa Board. Other boards are empowered to regu¬ late terms and conditions of sale, usually by establishing packing stan¬ dards and quality analysis. The primary goal of most marketing boards is to stabilize prices, especially of products intended for the export market, where price fluctuations are often extreme. The boards may raise average prices through manipulation of commodity flows, with the objective of maintaining reasonably high levels of demand at all times. Marketing boards such as the Washington State Apple Commission are used for products whose perishability requires that outlets be set up in advance. See also cartel.
Markham Vmar-komX City (pop., 1991: 154,000), southeastern Ontario. It is situated on the Rouge River, northeast of Toronto. Settled in 1794, the town was named for William Markham, archbishop of York. It annexed the nearby township of Markham in 1971.
Markham, Beryl orig. Beryl Clutterbuck (b. Oct. 26, 1902, Leicester, Leicestershire, Eng.—d. Aug. 3, 1986, Nairobi, Kenya) British pilot, adventurer, and writer. Raised in British East Africa, she became a horse trainer and breeder, training several Kenya Derby winners. Turning
to aviation, she carried goods, people, and mail to far comers of Africa, and in 1936 she made a historic east-to-west solo flight across the North Atlantic from England to Cape Breton Island. In 1942 she published her celebrated memoir, West with the Night.
Markham River River, eastern Papua New Guinea. It rises in north¬ eastern mountains and flows southeast for 110 mi (180 km) to enter the Huon Gulf of the Solomon Sea, south of Lae. It is named for Clements Markham of the Royal Geographical Society. During World War II its valleys were the scene of fighting in 1943 between Japan and the Allies. The area around the river suffered severe earthquakes in 1993.
Markova \mar-'ko-v3\, Dame Alicia orig. Lilian Alicia Marks
(b. Dec. 1, 1910, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 2, 2004, Bath) British ballerina. She made her debut with Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1924 and became a leading ballerina noted for her ethereal lightness. At the Vic- Wells Ballet (1931-35; now the Royal Ballet) she became the first English dancer to dance the lead in Giselle. With her frequent partner Anton Dolin, she formed and directed several Markova-Dolin companies (1935-38) and the Festival Ballet (1950-52; now the English National Ballet). She con¬ tinued to dance as a guest artist with many companies worldwide, admired for her interpretations of roles in Les Sylphides and Swan Lake, among others. She retired from the stage in 1963 and served as director of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet (1963-69).
markup language Standard text-encoding system consisting of a set of symbols inserted in a text document to control its structure, formatting, or the relationship among its parts. The most widely used markup lan¬ guages are SGML, HTML, and XML. The markup symbols can be inter¬ preted by a device (computer, printer, browser, etc.) to control how a document should look when printed or displayed on a monitor. A marked-up document thus contains two types of text: text to be displayed and markup language on how to display it.
marl Earthy mixture of fine-grained minerals, which range widely in composition. Lime (calcium carbonate) is present as shell fragments of snails and bivalves, or as powder mixed with clay and silica-containing silt. Large deposits contain 80-90% calcium carbonate and less than 3% magnesium carbonate. With decreasing amounts of lime, calcium- containing marls are called clays and clayey limestones. Marls rich in potash (potassium carbonate), called greensand marls, are used as water softeners. Marls have also been used in the manufacture of insulating material and Portland cement, as liming material, and in making bricks.
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Marlborough, John Churchill, 1st duke of (b. May 26, 1650,
Ashe, Devon, Eng.—d. June 16, _
1722, Windsor, near London) British military commander. He served with distinction at Maastricht (1673), was promoted rapidly, and advanced at court, in part because his wife (see Sarah Jennings, duchess of Marlbor¬ ough) was a confidant of Princess (later Queen) Anne. On the accession of James II in 1685, Churchill was made a lieutenant general and effec¬ tive commander in chief. In 1688 he transferred his allegiance to William III, who rewarded him with the earl¬ dom of Marlborough and a succes¬ sion of commands in Flanders and Ireland. His relationship with Will¬ iam deteriorated in the 1690s. Queen Anne appointed him commander of English and Dutch forces in the War of the Spanish Succession, and for his successes he was created duke of Marlborough (1702). His victory at the Battle of Blenheim (1704) helped change the balance of power in Europe. In gratitude, he was granted a royal manor, where Blenheim Pal¬ ace was built. His outstanding military tactics continued to produce vic¬ tories, notably at Ramillies (1706) and Oudenaarde (1708). His influence with Queen Anne and financial backing for the war were undermined by intrigue between Tories and Whigs. After his Whig allies lost the election of 1710, he was dismissed on charges of misuse of public money. He retired from public life, though he was restored to favour by George I in
John Churchill, 1 st duke of Marlbor¬ ough, painting attributed to John Clos- terman; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Marlborough ► Marquesas Islands I 1199
Considered one of England’s greatest generals, he secured a repu¬ tation in Europe that was unrivaled until the rise of Napoleon.
Marlborough, Sarah Jennings, duchess of (b. May 29, 1660, Sandridge, Hertfordshire, Eng.—d. Oct. 18, 1744, London) Wife of John Churchill, duke of Marlborough. A childhood friend of Princess (later Queen) Anne, she entered the household of Anne’s father, the duke of York. She married Churchill in 1678 and served as a lady of the bed¬ chamber after Anne’s marriage (1683). When Anne acceded to the throne (1694), the Marlboroughs enjoyed great favour at court. Sarah’s influence grew until her strong Whig sympathies alienated Anne, who dismissed her in 1711. The Marlboroughs retired to Blenheim Palace, which Sarah completed building after her husband’s death in 1722.
Marley, Bob orig. Robert Nesta Marley (b. Feb. 6, 1945, Nine Miles, St. Ann, Jam.—d. May 11, 1981, Miami, Fla., U.S.) Jamaican singer and songwriter. Born in the hill country of Jamaica to a white father and a black mother, Marley was living in the Kingston slum known as Trench Town in the early 1960s when he formed the Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston (Bunny Wailer). Mixing the Jamaican musi¬ cal forms of ska and rock steady with rock, they helped to pioneer reg¬ gae and became its first international stars with releases such as Catch a Fire (1973), Exodus (1977), and Uprising (1980). Marley’s political lyr¬ ics, grounded in his belief in the Jamaican religious movement Rastafari and calling for social and economic justice, made him a voice for the poor and dispossessed. His reputation grew after his death from cancer at age