1. What We Explore is Important: Delving into the Larger Field of Marketing
William L. Wilkie,
Nathe Professor of Marketing
University of Notre Dame
AMA Symposium: “Ideas That Matter…”
Boston, MA.
August 13, 2010

2. My Extended Effort: to Try to Discover for Myself “What is Marketing, Anyway?”
Working for 13 years on various dimensions of how to conceptualize our field of study… 3 primary outcomes of the project so far…
: “Marketing’s Contributions to Society”
Journal of Marketing (Millennium Issue 1999), with Elizabeth Moore
: “Scholarly Research in Marketing: Exploring the 4 Eras of Marketing Thought Development”
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing (Fall 2003), with Elizabeth Moore
: Several articles aimed at improving the AMA Definition of Marketing (with Greg Gundlach and Elizabeth Moore)
*** All papers are available for download from my homepage at Notre Dame (nd.edu)

3. Overview of My Basic Questions about What Issues to Explore
Question # 1: Do we need aggregate perspectives in conceptualizing the Marketing field? (a brief reprise of the “Aggregate Marketing System.” )…
Question # 2: Should we be interested in the impacts Marketing is having in our world? Why are we not?
Question # 3: Is knowledge being lost from our field? Where have we been and where are we heading? (a brief reprise of the “4 Eras” of Marketing Thought)…

4. 100 Years of the Aggregate Marketing System in the United States: What has It Brought ?
Three Early Insights were that Marketing’s contributions:
(1) Accumulate Over Time
(2) Diffuse Through a Society
(3) Occur within the Context of Everyday Life
This can make it difficult to distinguish them at
any given point in time, so we took a 100 year
glimpse.

5. The Aggregate Marketing System at Work
2 Background Issues:
Most elements of Marketing are “hidden from view” for anyone but the persons participating. This is a challenge for understanding (and appreciation).
Today in Business Schools we’re not looking at Marketing as a larger system.
So let’s begin with an illustration of the Aggregate Marketing System in action … “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Please picture Tiffany Jones in her New York apartment having breakfast with her family. She blows across her cup of coffee…

6. THE SYSTEM AT WORK PANEL A: COFFEE Retailer’s Warehouse
Retail Store (A1…n)
Retail Store (B1…n)
(T)
CONSUMERS
Exporter
(T)
Large Chain Retail Store (C1…n)
Large Chain Retail Store (D1…n)
(T)
Manuf. Roasting Plant
Coffee Grower
Manuf. Regional Distribution Center
(T)
Grower’s Depulping Mill
(T)
(T)
Mass Merchandiser (E1…n)
Mass Merchandiser (F1…n)
(T)
Grower’s Warehouse
(T)
Wholesaler’s Warehouse
Retail Store (G1…n)
Retail Store (H1…n)
(T)

7. Intermediate Ingredient Production System
THE SYSTEM AT WORK
PANEL B: BREAKFAST PASTRY
Wheat Farmer
Sweeteners
Fruit Flakes
Milk Proteins
Wheat Flour
CONSUMERS
Intermediate Ingredient Production System
(T)
Dairy Farmer
Corn Farmer
Apple Grower
Manufacturer’s Plant
NOTE: SAME DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS AS IN PANEL A

8. THE SYSTEM AT WORK Family Breakfast Items Kitchen Support System
PANEL C: FAMILY BREAKFAST
Family Breakfast Items
Kitchen Support System
Tiffany
- Coffee
- Non-Dairy Creamer
- Sugar
- Breakfast Pastry
Cooking
- Automatic Coffeemaker
- Coffee Filters
- Toaster Oven
- Microwave Oven
- Cooking Utensils
Maintenance
- Refrigerator
- Freezer
- Dishwasher
- Dish Detergent
- Sponge, Dish Towel
Service
- Electricity
- Piped Water
- Water Purifier
- Lighting
Robert
- Coffee
- Equal
- Corn Flakes
- Skim Milk
- Banana
Jim
- Orange Juice
- Frozen Waffles
- Butter
- Maple Syrup
Housewares
- Ceramic Mugs
- Plates, Bowls
- Flatware
- Tablecloth
- Napkins
- Table and Chairs
Laura
- Orange Juice
- Microwaveable Oatmeal
- Skim Milk
- Daily Vitamin

9. PANEL E. DEPICTING THE ENTIRE AGGREGATE MARKETING SYSTEM
PANEL D. SELECTED MARKETING SYSTEM ACTIVITIES (present in the coffee and breakfast pastry examples)
Knowledge Development/Intelligence
Sales and Delivery
Purchasing and Use
Marketing Plans and Programs/Government Actions
The Classic Functions of Distribution
- Transportation (2)
- Storage (2)
- Financing (2)
- Risk-Bearing (2)
- Assembly (1)
- Selling (1)
- Standardization (2)
- Market Information (1)
Organizations:
- Sourcing Raw Material
Supply (2)
- Quality Specifications (2)
- Purchase of Capital
Equipment (3)
- Outsourcing: Specialist/
Expert Services (2)
- Purchase for Resale (1)
- Assortment Building (1)
- Bulk Breaking (2)
- Order Processing (2)
- Negotiation: Terms of Sale (1)
- Transfer of Ownership (2)
Organizations:
- Market Analysis (1)
- Market Demand Assessment (1)
- Analysis of Competitive Strategies (1)
- Market Segmentation (1)
- Market Forecasts (1)
- Performance Monitoring (1)
- Program Evaluation (1)
Consumers:
- Consumer Education (2)
- Information Search (2)
- Word of Mouth (3)
- Store Visits (2)
- Post-Purchase Analysis (3)
Organizations:
- Financial Projections (2)
- Board of Directors Approval (2)
- Product Design (2)
- Product Line Decisions (1)
- Budget Setting (2)
- Distribution Planning (1)
- Brand Name Selection (1)
- Packaging (1)
- Market Testing (1)
- Positioning Strategy (1)
- Pricing Decisions (1)
- National Advertising (1)
- Direct Marketing (1)
- Consumer Promotion (1)
- Trade Promotion (1)
- Trade Advertising (1)
- Communication to (1)
Sales Force
- Point of Purchase Materials (1)
- Publicity (2)
- Warranty Terms (2)
- Customer Service (2)
- Retailer Assortment (1)
- Merchandising (1)
- Retail Advertising (1)
- Inventory Management (2)
Government Agencies:
- Standard Setting (2)
- Export/Import Controls (2)
- Trademark Protection (2)
- Financing Arrangements (2)
- Nutritional Labeling (2)
- Inspections (3)
- Regulatory Rules and (2)
Guidelines
N.B., Detailed Levels of Activities Exist: (e.g., Transport Activities)
- Truck to Depulping Mill
- Beans to Drying Area
…..…….
- Ship to New Orleans
- Hopper Truck to Roasting Plant
- Truck to Retail Store
… additional steps in text
Consumers:
- Product Acquisition (2)
- Product Preparation (3)
- Product Consumption (3)
- Product Maintenance/Repair (2)
- Product Disposition (2)
Numerical Key:
Centers of Little or No Marketing Involvement
(1) = Largely or entirely controlled by marketing managers
(2) = Largely controlled by others, but influenced by or coordinated with marketing managers
(3) = Little or no influence by marketing managers
(n) = Activity does not involve marketing
Organizations: Government:
- Internal Management of Work Force (n) All non-commerce/non-consumer sectors (n)
- Management of Plant & Equipment (n) Consumers:
- Financial Mgmt., Accounting & Control (n) All non-consumer aspects of daily life (n)
- Basic Research, etc. (n)
PANEL E. DEPICTING THE ENTIRE AGGREGATE MARKETING SYSTEM
Brand Coffee System (Panel A)
All system activities given for the cup of coffee, beginning with harvest of beans on left, ending with consumer use and disposition on right. (2) (2) (2) (2) (1) (1) …… (note: not all activities controlled by marketers, see key in panel D) …… (2) (3) (3) (2) (2)
(Multiplicative Increase)
Add all coffee systems
(Similar sets of activities, participants and forms of value creation)
All system activities given for pastry beginning with creation, storage and transport of 15 pastry ingredients and ending with consumer use and disposition.
Brand Pastry System (Panel B) “
(Large Geometric Increase)
Add all breakfast systems, on-premise restaurants and home kitchen systems “
(Larger Geometric Increase)
Add all other food and beverage systems “
(Huge Geometric Increase)
Add all product systems and all service systems “
(Huge Geometric Increase)
Add all not-for-profit marketing activities “
(Huge Geometric Increase)
Add all government and all consumer marketing system activities “

10. Panel D: Essential Points
Selling, purchasing and use occur throughout system.
Note the significance of infrastructure, careful planning, coordination and repetition … this system is very structurally sophisticated, and routinely provides breakfasts for 100 million households every day.
The Government is an important behind the scenes facilitator of business (marketing) activity.
A surprisingly large number of marketing system activities in just a simple illustration (over 75 listings).

11. Key Lessons From the Project…
(Re: Today’s Symposium): From Panel D we see that Marketing managers control only some (30 of the 75) of the AGMS activities: other activities are controlled by persons who do not consider themselves in marketing. This property of the system demands a perspective on Marketing that reaches far beyond a sole focus on a marketing manager’s controllable decisions. An inclusive appreciation of business organizations and processes is clearly required.
Overall, the U.S. AGMS is Huge, Practiced, and Powerful. It is composed of both extensive physical infrastructure and a massive, trained and experienced workforce (we estimate that some 30 million U.S. adults are directly employed in carrying out the activities of the AGMS). In my view, it deserves much more directed attention in our Ph.D. programs, and from our college of marketing thinkers more generally.

12. II. The “4 Era’s” of Marketing Thought: What are We Thinking About?
Background:
-- An Historical look across the last century.
-- Just as the real world of marketing has changed, so has its body of academic thought.
-- Before discussing where we’re going, a key perspective: where have we been?

13. Conceptual Offering: The “4 Era’s” of Marketing Thought
(“Pre-Marketing”) (Before 1900)
I. “Founding the Field” ( )
II. “Formalizing the Field” ( )
“A Paradigm Shift…Marketing, Management, and the Sciences” ( )
IV. “The Shift Intensifies: A Fragmentation of the Mainstream of Thought” ( )

14. Era I. “Founding the Field” (1900-1920)
Academic Field of Marketing
1st Courses with “Marketing” in Title
Emphasis on Purview of Marketing’s Activities as an Economic Institution
Focus on Marketing as Distribution
Attention to Aggregate Issues
Willingness to Raise Larger Questions
(e.g., Are there too many middlemen? Does distribution cost too much? Does advertising raise or lower prices to consumers?)
Key Criteria: Based on Economic Efficiency

15. Era II: “Formalizing the Field” (1920-1950)
Academic Field of Marketing
Development, and Integration of Marketing Thought
Aimed at “Marketing Principles”
Creation of Organized Infrastructure for Knowledge Development and Dissemination
Some General Characteristics of the Period
Economic & Social Upheaval
(e.g., prosperity of early 1920s; Depression, WW II, Post-war)
New Product Choices, Technological Developments
Resurgence of Consumer Movement (in 1920s and 1930s)

16. Academic Organization
Growth in Formation in Colleges of Business and Departments of Marketing
1924: Formation of Nat’l Association of Teachers of Marketing & Advertising.
1930: American Marketing Society Forms (focused on practitioners)
1937: Two Groups Merge – Form American Marketing Association, which Provides Bases for Sharing Marketing Thought.

17. Marketing Texts ( )
Core Presentation (Integration of 3 Key Approaches):
Commodity: study processes of marketing a particular product
(e.g., agricultural commodities, raw materials from extractive industries)
Institutional: analysis of wholesale and retail institutions
(e.g., chain stores, mail order)
Functional: activities performed by marketing organizations
(e.g., transportation, storage, financing, risk-bearing, assembly, selling, standardization, market information)
Illustrative Texts: Clark (1922); Ivey (1922); Converse (1924); Maynard, Weidler and Beckman (1927); Phillips (1938)

18. Academic Journals & Proceedings
1925: Journal of Retailing Begins at NYU
1936: Journal of Marketing Debuts
Diverse Contributors:
-- 40% Academics, 45% Business, 15% Government
Papers Tend to be Brief, Non-Empirical
90% Articles Single-Authored
Considerable Coordination of AMA Conferences and JM
-- (41% of JM articles originally presented at AMA)
JM A Communication Forum: Commentaries Encouraged
Becomes Center for Advancing Marketing Thought

19. Era II: Some Observations….
Relative to today, a Different Approach to Marketing.
Descriptive Orientation, Not Problem-Solving at Firm Level.
Significant Attention to External Developments and the Exigencies of the Times.
Later in Period, Substantial Attention to Wartime Issues, then Planning for Post-War Economy.
***Academics Seemed to Have a Willingness to “Stand Outside,” Observe, and Critique.

20. Era III: “A Paradigm Shift: Marketing, Management, and the Sciences” (1950-1980)
“The Boom Arrives”
“The Field Evolves”
-- Two Emerging Perspectives Come to Dominate the Mainstream
-- “Marketing as Science” (Behavioral - Quantitative)
-- “Marketing as Management”
“Growth in the Academic Infrastructure”

21. “The Boom Arrives”
The Post-World War II Period Brings a Dramatically Changing Marketing World:
The “Mass Market” Begins, Fueled by Pent-up Demand and the Massive “Baby Boom” Generation.
Dramatic Improvements in Transportation (e.g., interstate highway system), Communication (e.g,, television, prime time), Technology (computers) , Mobility (new growth regions), and Consumer Incomes.
New Opportunities for Marketing, and New Challenges for Marketing Thought (e.g., how to best deal with a mass market?).
Baby Boom Spurs Enrollments in Business Schools during Era III.
-- More schools become “research-oriented.”
-- Derived demand: increase for research academics.
-- Overall, dramatic growth in research, plus shortage of faculty.

22. GROWTH PATTERNS DURING ERA III
FIGURE 4 (B)
GROWTH PATTERNS DURING ERA III
(1661 % in 1980)
Indexed to Base Year*
*Source: U.S. Dept. of Education (2001); Degrees indexed Relative to 1955

23. The Field Evolves in New Directions
The Turn to a Managerial Perspective:
Those External Factors of the Boom (e.g., how do I best advertise to a mass market?)
New Texts Brought New Education (e.g., John Howard 1957; E. Jerome McCarthy 1960; Philip Kotler 1967).
Burst of New Key Concepts (n.b., still central a half-century later).

24. Field Evolves in New Directions (con’t)
The Emergence of the Sciences:
-- Fueled by a Rapid Development of Computerization.
-- Behavioral Science Diffused Slowly During First Half of Era III, then Rapidly During the 1970’s.
-- Management Science was Stimulated by the National Plan for Math, and Grew More Quickly:
Ford Foundation Program ( )
5 Schools, Serially ( Carnegie, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, Stanford), then “trickle down.”
Gordon/Howell Report (1959): Change needed,
Harvard/MIT Mathematics Institute (1960)

25. Growth in the Academic Infrastructure
-- Over 1100 New Marketing Ph.D.’s between , many wishing to make contributions to the body of thought in Marketing.
-- The Knowledge Infrastructure Expands Substantially.
- Marketing Science Institute formed (1961) to encourage, initiate, and support the new research.
- New Journals Arise (JAR, JMR, JCA, JCR, JAMS).
- New Associations (ACR, TIMS) are created.
- A 4-fold Increase in the body of journal thought during Era III.

26. SOME EXAMPLES OF KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENTS IN MARKETING (1952-1977)
FIGURE 6
SOME EXAMPLES OF KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENTS IN MARKETING ( )
Managerial Frameworks
and Approaches
Discipline-Based Theories
Research Methods, Models, and Measurement
Marketing concept
Marketing mix - 4 P’s
Product life cycle
DAGMAR
Development of marketing cases
Stage approaches to strategy development
New-product development process
Physical-distribution management
Marketing information systems
Product positioning & perceptual mapping
Segmentation strategies
New marketing organization concepts (e.g., brand management)
Territory design & sales force compensation
Marketing audit
Demand-state strategies
Creative approaches and styles
New search & screening approaches
Refinements in test-marketing approaches
Market segmentation
General and middle-range theories of consumer behavior
Image and attitude theory
Theories of motivation, personality, social class, life style, and culture
Expectancy-value theory
Theories of advertising processes and effects
Information-processing
Attitude-change theories
Attribution theory
Perceptual processes
Distribution theory
Refutation and distraction hypotheses
Theories of diffusion, new-product adoption and personal influence
Prospect theory
Data Analysis: Broad & Specific:
– Causal models
– Weighted belief models, determinant attributes
– Bayesian analysis
– Sensitivity analysis & validity tests
– Response functions
– Marginal analysis & linear programming
– Multidimensional scaling & attitude
measurement
– Forecasting
– Econometrics
– Time-series analysis
– Trade-off analysis & conjoint analysis
– ANOVA
– Multivariate dependence methods: multiple regression,
multiple discriminant analysis
canonical correlation
– Multivariate interdependence methods: cluster and factor analysis, latent structure analysis
Data Gathering: Adoption and Refinement
– Advances in survey research
– Focus groups, depth interviewing
– Experimental & panel designs
– Motivation research & projective techniques
– Hypothesis formulation, inference, sign. tests
– Psychographics & AIO studies
– Unobtrusive measures, response latency,
nonverbal behavior
– Physiological techniques:
(e.g., eye camera, GSR, CONPAAD)
– Probability sampling
Marketing Models
– Advertising (e.g., Mediac, Brandaid, Adbudg)
– Sales management (e.g., Dealer, Callplan)
– New-product (e.g., Demon, Sprinte, Steam)
– Product planning: Perceptor, Accessor
– Bid pricing models
– Stochastic brand choice
– Market-share models
Marketing Cases and Simulations
– Simulation & marketing games
– Computer-assisted marketing cases
Adapted from Myers, Massy and Greyser (1980)

27. Era III: (con’t.) In conclusion,
Notice also that the training required to contribute to the Marketing Body of Thought had changed dramatically during Era III, compared to the end of Era II.
The Paradigm had Shifted The Field of Marketing had Changed.

28. Era IV: “The Shift Intensifies – A Fragmentation of the Mainstream”
Era IV: “The Shift Intensifies – A Fragmentation of the Mainstream” (1980-present)
Major Dislocations in Real World of Marketing.
“Publish or Perish” Pressures Intensify.
The Two Dominant Perspectives Continue.
-- Managerial Focus Persists.
-- Scientific Approach Persists as Well.
But, Tensions Burst, Much as an Overfull Dam, So That Waters Can Find their Course.
Knowledge Infrastructure Expands Rapidly to Accommodate Diverging Interests.

29. Upheavals in the Real World of Marketing
E.g.:
-- The Demise of Command Economies.
-- Globalization.
-- Financial Hegemony (LBO’s) Drives Business.
-- Technological March Continues (e.g., Internet).

30. Upheavals in Marketing Thought
E.g.,
-- JM Policy Change
-- “Post-Positivism” Revolution
-- nb. only 3 articles with the word “Marketing” in the titles in the 1st 20 years of JCR.

31. Trend 1: Business Education Goes Global - Many New Scholars
Huge Jump in MBA Programs Worldwide (e.g., now 50 in Russia, 60 in China, >100 in Cen./Eastern Europe, almost all w/in15 years).
Plus, MBA’s in U.S. have doubled, now 115,000 per year.
So, more demand for business academics.
But largest impact has been in number of internationally-related scholars….

32. Trend 2: An Outpouring of New Publication Outlets
A Remarkable Period from 1980 – 1984: in five short years the number of research-based marketing journals more than doubled (from 7 to 15). See Figure…
Early 1990’s: Development of AMA “SIG’s.”

33. Figure 9 MARKETING JOURNALS INTRODUCED DURING THE 1980’S
Date Publication
Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management
Journal of Macromarketing
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing
Marketing Science
Journal of Consumer Marketing
Psychology & Marketing
1984 Journal of Product Innovation and Management
International Journal of Research in Marketing
Journal of Interactive Marketing
1989 Marketing Letters

34. Trend 3: Research Specialization and the Fragmentation of the Mainstream
“It is troubling to realize that Knowledge does not necessarily accumulate in a field -- that Knowledge can disappear over time if it is not actively transmitted and received.”
(Wilkie, 1981 ACR Presidential Address)
“… this risk has now increased – knowledge outside a person’s speciality may first be viewed as non-instrumental, then as non-essential, then as non-important, and finally as non-existent, in terms of meriting attention.”
(Wilkie, July 2002 Journal of Marketing Essay)
The Crucial Question? Will future young marketing scholars even know they have a choice? What is (will be) their conception of the field of Marketing?

35. Conclusions
-- #1. Marketing scholars should be monitoring the impacts that marketing is having on the world., and should be developing knowledge from this.
-- #2. The Aggregate Marketing System – its characteristics, size, power, and capacities to both improve and injure the world in which we live – belongs as an intrinsic part of the mainstream of marketing thought.
-- #3. Fragmentation of marketing thought is powerful -- perhaps irresistible – but this causes knowledge to be lost from our field... Calls for revised Ph.D. education.
-- #4. This symposium’s attention to both conceptualization and the 1988 AMA Task Force is highly appropriate: It is past time for another hard look at ways to enhance scholarship in our field .