The Course of Marketing
(A2020-59717)

AUTHORS

Berend Wierenga, Erasmus University Rotterdam

ABSTRACT

There is a hefty discussion in marketing about where the field is going, or should be going. In this Special Session we will address the major issues, discuss different viewpoints, draw conclusions, and propose directions. We like to do this in direct interaction with the audience. EMAC brings together marketing scholars from all over the discipline and from all over the world, and it is particularly interesting to have this discussion in the broad international academic marketing environment that EMAC is.

There will be four papers in this session. Berend Wierenga presents an overview of the current concerns about marketing, with an assessment of their seriousness, and proposals for action. Don Lehmann provides a critical discussion of the way research is conducted in marketing. Ajay Kohli discusses marketing’s relationships with other disciplines: the intellectual dimension (borrowing from other disciplines) and the social dimension (attracting talent from other disciplines). John Roberts deals with the issue that marketing is losing its influence in the boardroom, and how improvement can be achieved by better calibrating marketing action on target consumers.