In these seminars we will discuss the definitions of marketing, as a profession and a business function as well as, crucially, an academic discipline. We will also discuss what we want to achieve from this course.
From many of the readings in the key texts above and papers listed, you should sense some disagreement about what marketing is or should be in one sense this is the key to the whole course. If you are to be a marketing professional you perhaps ought to have a clear sense of what marketing is and what it can achieve. But we need to debate this, and there is likely to be more than one acceptable answer.
A number of writers explicitly evaluate the many definitions of marketing, and this is very useful for all subjects in this course. You need to decide if the definition you are most familiar with is as unproblematic as you may have thought. It is also useful to look at what has changed since these papers were written to put them into some historical context. You should also consider what it means to take a critical approach to marketing (rather than, say, a management or business education approach?).
Slightly more recently, John Rossiter deals with what constitutes knowledge in marketing his conclusions could be challenging. Campbell and Alexander offer a way to tie all this into the practical business of marketing suggesting that the conventional way of constructing a strategy may not actually work very well. Usefully they suggest an alternative.
Finally it is worth contrasting some of the more complex views of marketing in these readings and throughout with the mainstream view advocated by Levitt, Bagozzi, Baker and of course Kotler.
In the Core papers/reader -
1) Luck DJ (1969) Broadening the Concept too far Journal of Marketing, Vol 33, July, pp 53-63
2) Kotler P (1972) A Generic Concept of Marketing Journal of Marketing, Vol 36, April, pp 46-54
3) Kurzbard G and Soldow GF (2001) Towards a Parametric Definition of Marketing European Journal of Marketing, Vol 21, 1, pp 37-47
4) Tadajewski (2004) The Philosophy of Marketing Theory: Historical and Future Directions The Marketing Review, 4, pp307-340 www.themarketingreview.com
The impact(s) of technology
Technology in marketing seems to be the most current and most immediate of the subject areas we cover. We could simply discuss the main, obvious aspects of the internet ,mobile and social media (although its not easy to see where the convergence of mobile/interactive TV will lead) but I would like us to think about why technological change is having an impact. And since we are in marketing this must be something to do with customers, mustnt it?
Furthermore we should look beyond the impact on communications per se. If we consider the conventional marketing mix, 21st century technology is having an impact on all aspects. Really good term papers and seminars dont take the view that the web and mobile phones are just wonderful!
Other considerations are the ethical implications of new technology the way in which data is captured and used for example. One of the issues is political: where is the balance of power with new broadcast and information technologies? Are consumer needs at the centre of strategies? What happens when major brands conduct much of their business electronically and a major portion of the worlds population doesnt have clean water let alone an internet connection
Module 3: Marketing ethics
At the beginning of his book (see reference list) Bodo Schlegelmilch conveys the scepticism of his colleagues when he talks of marketing ethics. For many, marketing is either intrinsically unethical or, at best, is morally neutral. But there is an argument (and Id like to hear it rehearsed in the seminar) that marketing is or should be a force for good. This very much echoed in some of the recent books listed above by Hastings and by Serafinn.
If it is an issue how should marketers respond? How can one judge the ethical impact of a (marketing) action or policy?
To get to grips with this subject, youll need to take a somewhat wider view than marketing ethics, or even business ethics. Ethics itself is a contentious area. In particular it would be good to get some overview of ethical theory. Then we can begin to be a little more critical. Its pretty clear that this idea of marketing ethics intersects with the other subjects we have already mentioned technology and this may crop up in these discussions.
Module 4: Modern, post-modern and other critical approaches.
For many, the notion of postmodern marketing is the most perplexing of all. Stephen Brown however has made a reasonable living, and a reputation, on promoting the idea. And, if you ask him nowadays, hes moved on.
For our purposes, PoMo Marketing is a useful starting point; as a way into understanding a critical approach to marketing.
We need to construct a definition of what postmodernism is and understand how it contrasts with modernism. The debate in chapter 16 of Tadajewski and Brownlie (and in Part I of Brownlie et al) is central to this. I expect these seminars to be amongst the most difficult because we should be discussing the theory behind postmodern thought rather than any practical aspects. Where has it come from and why has it been applied to marketing? Youll need to put considerable work into understanding even just a couple of these papers the latest from Fuat Firat is particularly useful
The major shift that a consideration of PoMo Marketing should bring about is to start to make the familiar unfamiliar. You may begin to question (even more) what marketing is. Again, Brown, Brownlie et al and Fuat Firat (amongst many others) are useful starting points, but by now you should realise that there is plenty (even just in the reading list) to keep you reading for weeks! I am interested in us discussing more broadly how marketing comes to be normalised in our culture; why should we engage in exchange, for a profit etc? Again Babula may help in this thinking as well as work by the French social thinker Pierre Bourdieu.
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