ABSTRACT
Neoclassical thinkers embrace some version of the "economic man" model which assumes that people act in rational ways to achieve perceived goals that are motivated by the twin desires to maximize benefits and or minimize costs. Neoclassical economists often assume that states of perfect information and perfect competition exist. Contemporary marketing theory is an example of neoclassical thinking. Its pivotal premise is the "marketing concept" that argues that the only reason for organizations to exist is serving their customers/clients at a profit. Business anthropologists have a role in offering substantive alternatives that deal with people and their economic behavior in a more robust manner that transcends rationality and universality in order to deal with the lives, thoughts, and actions of actual people. The substantive model looks at economic behavior from a specific cultural perspective, acknowledging that people's feelings often impact the process by which individuals acquire and consume items as well as how production and redistribution takes place.
