The Foundations Of Marketing Thought

The study and teaching of marketing as a university subject is generally understood to have originated in America during the early 20th century emerging as an applied branch of economics. This book tells a different story describing the influence of the German Historical School on institutional economists and economic historians who pioneered the study of marketing in America and Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing from archival materials at the University of Wisconsin, Harvard Business School, and the University of Birmingham, this book documents the early intellectual genealogy of marketing science and traces the ideas that early American and British economists borrowed from German scholars to study and teach marketing. Early marketing scholars both in America and Britain openly credited the German School, and its ideology based on social welfare and distributive justice was a strong motivation for many institutional economists who studied marketing in America, predating the modern macro-marketing school by many decades. Challenging many traditional beliefs, this book provides an authoritative new narrative of the origins of marketing thought. It will be of great interest to educators, scholars and advanced students with an interest in marketing theory and history, and in the history of economic thought.

Shelby Hunt's revision of "Foundations of Marketing Theory" continues the tradition of the previous three by providing a clear framework for advancing marketing thought and research.

Between 1815 and 1890, the German book market experienced phenomenal growth, driven by German publishers’ dynamic entrepreneurial attitude towards developing and distributing books. Embracing aggressive marketing on a large scale, they developed a growing sense of what their markets wanted. This study, based almost entirely upon primary sources including over seventy years of trade newspapers, is an in depth account of how and why this market developed—decades before there was any written theory about marketing. This book is therefore about both marketing practice and marketing theory. It provides a uniquely well-researched account of how markets were developed in very sophisticated ways long before there was a formal discipline of marketing: for example, German publishers used segmentation at least 150 years before the first US articles on the subject appeared. Much of their experience was also shared by the UK and US book markets through international interactions between booksellers and other businessmen. All scholars of marketing will find this historical account a fascinating insight into markets and marketing, This will also be of interest to social historians, scholars of German history, book trade and book trade historians.

Summary: "This new major work by Sage performs the vital task of collecting together those articles that have examined the history of marketing thought. It includes not only the seminal articles in the field but also those that have been forgotten, neglected and elided from the history of marketing as it has been represented to date. Part I provides an overview of the development of marketing thought using a range of key publications that cover the history of marketing thought until present day. Part II introduces historical figures that have played an important role in developing marketing thought. Part III places the development of marketing thought in its historical context by connecting the changing industrial climate of the late nineteenth century, with the emerging conceptual foundations of marketing thought. This major work, compiled by well-reputed researchers in the field, will ensure that material published in difficult to obtain sources is kept in circulation as well as providing academics and students with a resource that will endow them with an in-depth understanding of the development of their discipline."--pUBLISHER DESCRIPTION.

Bringing together the latest debates concerning the development of marketing theory, featuring original contributions from a selection of leading international authors, this collection aims to give greater conceptual cohesion to the field, by drawing together the many disparate perspectives and presenting them in one volume. The contributors are all leading international scholars, chosen to represent the intellectual diversity within marketing theory. Divided into six parts, the Handbook covers the historical development of marketing theory; its philosophical underpinnings; major theoretical debates; the impact of theory on representations of the consumer; the impact of theory on representations of the marketing organisation and contemporary issues in marketing theory.

One of the true classics in Marketing is now thoroughly revised and updated. "Marketing Theory" is both evolutionary and revolutionary. As in earlier editions, Shelby Hunt focuses on the marketing discipline's multiple stakeholders. He articulates a philosophy of science-based 'tool kit' for developing and analyzing theories, law-like generalizations, and explanations in marketing science. Hunt adds a new dimension to the book, however, by developing arguments for the position that Resource-Advantage Theory provides the foundation for a general theory of marketing and a theoretical foundation for business and marketing strategy. Also new to this edition are four chapters adapted and updated from Hunt's "Controversy in Marketing Theory" that analyze the 'philosophy debates' within the field, including controversies with respect to scientific realism, qualitative methods, truth, and objectivity.