ABSTRACT
Many commentators believe that both marketing practice and marketing academe need reform. As to marketing practice, for example, J. Walker Smith (2004) of Yankelovich Partners points to studies showing that marketing productivity is declining and consumer activism and expectations are growing. For him, the increasing resistance of consumers to conventional mass marketing communications implies that firms must precisely target their messages, avoid using demographic proxies for targeting, ensure that all messages are relevant to consumer needs, and earn the trust of their customers. As a second practice example, Jagdish Sheth (2004) argues that marketing, headed by a “chief customer officer,” should shift from being a line and business-unit function to a corporate and staff function. This shift would imply that marketing should (1) report directly to the chief executive officer, (2) have responsibilities for branding, key account management, and business development, and (3) manage outside suppliers (e.g., market research firms and advertising agencies).
