ABSTRACT
Until the mid 1980’s ‘marketing activity’ had no serious place on the agenda of partner’s meetings in most major design consultants. As the era of the ‘brass plate’ came to a rapid end , and competition on fees increased, practices began to see the advantages of operating as limited liability companies. There developed therefore within the major practices a need for general management skills such as marketing and business planning. However repeated surveys of practitioners and restrictive rules of professional institutions; still in force or only recently removed; suggest that there are a number of deeply held misconceptions about the appropriateness and value of general management skills and in particular marketing. This seems to be preventing the skills being embraced by a sizable part of the profession.
