D.G. Brian Jones

A history of schools of marketing thought

Marketing has been practiced since ancient times and has been thought about almost as long. Yet, it is only during the 20th century that marketing ideas evolved into an academic discipline in its own right. Most concepts, issues and problems of marketing thought have coalesced into one of several schools or approaches to understanding marketing. In this article we trace the evolution of 10 schools of marketing thought. At the turn of the 20th century, early in the discipline’s history, the study of functions, commodities, and institutions emerged as complementary modes of thinking about subject matter and became known collectively as the ‘traditional approaches’ to studying marketing; shortly thereafter the interregional trade approach emerged. About mid-century, there was a ‘paradigm shift’ in marketing thought eclipsing the traditional approaches as a number of newer schools developed: marketing management, marketing systems, consumer behavior, macromarketing, exchange, and marketing history. During the mid 1970s, three of the modern schools - marketing management, consumer behavior, and exchange - underwent a ‘paradigm broadening’. The broadened paradigm has bifurcated marketing thought from the conventional domain of business behavior to the much broader domain of all human social behavior. Thus, at the beginning of the 21st century marketing thought is at a crossroads.

Periodization in Marketing History

This article explores some of the purposes, advantages, problems, and limitations of periodizing marketing history and the history of marketing thought. A sample of twenty-eight well-known periodizations taken from marketing history, the history of marketing thought, and business history is used to illustrate these themes. The article concludes with recommendations about how to periodize historical research in marketing.

The Myth of the Marketing Revolution

This study used content analysis of source material from the 1890s to examine the enduring historical theory of a marketing revolution first proposed in 1960 by Robert Keith and still popular in introductory marketing textbooks today. The results are consistent with earlier studies. Strong evidence exists of sales and marketing orientations during the period known as the production era. We conclude that there was no marketing revolution.

Historical Research in the Journal of Macromarketing, 1981–2005

This article examines the development of historical research in the Journal of Macromarketing during the first twenty-five years of the journals publication. Historical research has been an important part of the journal, especially since 1994, and the journal has been instrumental in nurturing historical research in marketing. Seventy-five historical publications were reviewed. The nature and scope of that historical research in the journal is described as it has changed over time.

Historical research in marketing theory and practice: a review essay

Abstract This paper reviews 30 years of interdisciplinary scholarship that deals with marketing history or the history of marketing thought. We have ranged across the humanities and social sciences to review the very best scholarship that these domains have produced which speaks to issues likely to concern the readers of the Journal of Marketing Management (JMM). These domains include: the history of marketing management, history of market research, history of market segmentation, product management history, retailing and channels history, promotion history, advertising history, the history of marketing thought, and marketing and the management of subjectivity, among others. Given obvious page limitations we have nevertheless tried to appeal to the paradigmatic span of the readers of the JMM. With this in mind, we have critically reviewed material that will be of interest to managerially oriented academics, as well as those who subscribe to consumer culture theoretics and critical marketing studies.

Scientific marketing management and the emergence of the ethical marketing concept

Abstract Our objective in this paper is to recall the linkages between marketing and management thought. At the turn of the twentieth century, the two disciplines were connected via the work of Frederick Taylor and Percival White. As conventionally represented, Taylor was the father of scientific management and, by extension, the management sciences more generally. He is also frequently associated with a focus on production efficiency. However, a close reading of Taylor reveals his appreciation of the connection between production and consumption and thus the importance of the ultimate consumer. Taylors ideas and the work, published in the Bulletin of the Taylor Society, which provided an outlet for the scholarship of early marketing thinkers, provide the linchpin between the production ethos of Taylor and the emergence of ‘scientific marketing’ exemplified in the work of Percival White. The latter demonstrated the ideological credibility of his scientific marketing system via its association with science and attributes such as objectivity. Importantly, in his work we find the first clear articulation of the marketing concept. Unlike present-day debates, which frequently treat it as a synonym for shareholder value, the early articulations of the marketing concept were underwritten by an explicit ethical orientation that placed limits on corporate behaviour, ideas that were again brought to prominence courtesy of the consumerist movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Percival White (1887–1970) Marketing Engineer

This paper outlines an intellectual biography of Percival White whose major contributions to marketing thought focused on market research and the application of scientific management to marketing. White published 20 books during his career, 11 of those dealing with marketing, including one of the earliest texts on market research. Like other pioneers in the marketing discipline, White’s legacy also includes major contributions to marketing practice. His company, Market Research Corporation of America, represented some of the best technical practices of the 1930s. Unlike many other pioneers in marketing whose education was in economics, White’s background was in industrial engineering. He considered himself a marketing engineer.

Hollander's doctoral seminar in the history of marketing thought

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe Stanley C. Hollanders doctoral seminar in the history of marketing thought and offer some insights into its uniqueness.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a combination of personal reflections, personal interviews, and documentation from the final offering of the course.Findings – Hollanders course was distinctive among such efforts at doctoral education and probably one of the last such seminars in North America.Originality/value – There has been little written about teaching the history of marketing thought and to date no published account of Hollanders seminar.

Simon Litman (1873-1965): Pioneer marketing scholar

This article presents a biographical sketch of Simon Litman, whose academic career in marketing began in 1902 at the University of California - Berkeley and developed over several decades at the University of Illinois. Litman is known only for teaching one of the first university marketing courses, but he made several other important contributions to marketing thought which have gone unnoticed by marketing historians until now. Among other distinctions, Litman was a pioneer in the study of international marketing.

Pauline Arnold (1894‐1974): pioneer in market research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a biographical sketch of Pauline Arnold focusing on her pioneering contributions to the field of market research.Design/methodology/approach – Archival source material included the Pauline Arnold Collection at the University of Minnesota and the Lucy Sallick Papers including correspondence, unpublished documents, and the transcript of a 1995 oral history interview with Matilda White Riley, who was Pauline Arnolds stepdaughter. Primary historical source material includes the scholarship, both published and unpublished, of the subject. An important primary, published source for this study is the periodical, Market Research, to which Arnold contributed under the auspices of the Market Research Corporation of America from 1934 through to 1938.Findings – Pauline Arnolds contributions to the field of market research are documented.Originality/value – Pauline Arnold has been cited as having made important but neglected contributions to market research, includin...