American Marketing Association Research Articles

A Marketing View of Competition

M ARKETING specialists are vitally affected by any legislation designed to regulate competition. So long as such legislation is pending or its outcome remains uncertain, marketing must be classed as one of the most hazardous of professions. For no other profession is faced with the possibility of such drastic revisions of the rules under which it must operate. Perhaps we should also be judged as one of the most supine of professional groups if we do nothing about it. For surely no one is better qualified to play a leading part in the consideration of measures designed for the regulation of competition. Since nothing less than the survival of the marketing profession is involved in this matter, it would appear worthy of the concentrated attention of the newly formed American Marketing Association. The association might very properly offer aggressive leadership in the formulation of a marketing view of competition. The aim of this session is to precipitate discussion of these issues. The papers were chosen to illustrate the kind of materials bearing on competition which marketing studies can produce. We are not dealing with the Robinson-Patman Act or any specific piece of legislation as such. We are directing our attention instead to the notions concerning the nature of competition which are embodied in current attempts to regulate it.