From Marketing Knowledge Tomarketing Principles

Abstract

A bold and ambitious project, the Marketing Knowledge Project, is envisaged by Rossiter (2001). It concerns the knowledge upon which our discipline is based. Stage I of the project, the focus of his article, is to define the forms of marketing knowledge. Stage II is to have a panel of experts reach agreement on the content of marketing knowledge. The development of an operational test of marketing knowledge is planned for Stage III. The motivation for this project is laudable. Through textbooks, dictionaries, courses, expert systems, and decision-support systems we strive to convey marketing knowledge. The existence of dictionaries of marketing and business implies that we believe we can codify marketing knowledge (Bannock et al., 2002; Lewis and Littler, 1997; Mercer, 1999). One of the most popular introductory textbooks in the discipline claims to be a book of ‘principles’ – the word is in the title (Kotler and Armstrong, 2002). It is useful and timely, therefore, to consider the nature and content of marketing knowledge. Through examinations, quizzes, exercises, case analyses, and assignments, attempts are made to test people’s understanding of marketing knowledge. This may not be the sole purpose of programs leading to the award of bachelor’s and master’s degrees, or of professional accreditation schemes such as those administered by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and the American Marketing Association (AMA), but undoubtedly ‘testing’ is one important purpose. So, giving more thought to the development of operational tests of marketing knowledge is a worthwhile exercise too. However, the difficulty with this project is not with its motivation, but with the specifics of implementation. There are several alternative ways to approach the project, and securing agreement on this is unlikely to be easy. My comments focus on forms of marketing knowledge, the truth status of marketing knowledge, the derivation of marketing principles, and domains of knowledge. Various aspects of