ABSTRACT
Does marketing need reform? is a welcome question. I have become increasingly convinced that there are critical issues in our field that require attention and discourse within the college of marketing and I raise several of these that I see as most pressing. In this chapter I address three essential points, one as background, and two as key issues for us to consider, discuss, and hopefully rectify:
• As a background perspective, in my view the academy of marketing needs its own identity in certain of these discussions-we need to be more specific in our referents when analyzing our field. It is interesting to recognize that in recent years, when discussing “marketing,” we often implicitly equate marketing practice and marketing academics, as if the problems, opportunities, and issues are equivalent in these spheres. While the two do have a symbiotic relationship, clearly there are also occasions for which issues, perspectives, and behaviors will be sharply distinct. My personal interests are in the realm of marketing thought, which links closely to marketing academia. Thus my discussion here will involve issues and possible reforms for marketing academia.
