Abstract
This editorial article reports on interdisciplinary research being conducted at the interface between the scientific disciplines of marketing and design. It reviews the 11 academic papers from the special issue situated at this intersection, thereby showing the richness of research happening in this liminal area. At the same time, the paper observes how the disciplines' different scopes as well as their different modi operandi inhibit the collaboration between marketing and design research. Whereas marketing largely follows the paradigm of empirical realism asking how the current world works, design largely follows the pragmatist paradigm asking how a future world can be shaped. Finally, this paper contains a number of suggestions on how to foster cooperation between the two disciplines.
Highlights
Marketing is a business function that has an important impact on firms' success
We anticipate an important shift towards interdisciplinarity to result from design thinking entering the marketing discipline (Halstrick, Henseler, & Schmidt, 2020)—‘a methodology that imbues the full spectrum of innovation activities with a human-centered design ethos [ ... ] powered by a thorough understanding, through direct observation, of what people want and need in their lives and what they like and dislike about the way particular products are made, packaged, marketed, sold, and supported’ (Brown, 2008, p. 86)
The results show that designers should ensure fit with the parent brand and increase the novelty of the brand extension without sacrificing its typicality
Summary
Marketing is a business function that has an important impact on firms' success. According to the marketing concept, the key to achieving organizational goals is to be more effective than competitors in creating, delivering and communicating superior customer value to the selected target customers (Kotler & Keller, 2008). If firms employ concepts such as service quality and market orientation, they can expect more satisfied and loyal customers (Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, 1996) and increased profitability in their business (Narver & Slater, 1990). Marketing is more than just a value-generating business function; it is a scientific discipline. Departing from its roots as a business practice, it became a profession in the mid-1900s (Brown, 1948) and soon turned into a science (Buzzell, 1963) of which the scope can best be described as the ‘science of exchange’ (Bagozzi, 1975)
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