ABSTRACT
The need for marketing education has become apparent, as China has transitioned from a planned economy controlled by the state to a more capitalistic society guided by free market principles (Alon 2003a). Marketing education in China has followed the general path of business education, which, before the formation of the communist government in 1949, was taught in universities throughout China. After that point, a seller’s market developed, one based on resource scarcity controlled by the central government, and there was no need for market-based consumer orientation, distribution, pricing, promotion, or branding (Zhou 1991). Marketing and business education as it is taught in the West reappeared in 1978 when the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party called for a market socialist economy, a politically autocratic liberal economy. Because of economic liberalization, a buyers’ market has emerged, and marketing, along with other market-based business functions, has grown in importance. A derived demand for marketing and business education followed. It should be noted that the term “business” in China roughly corresponds to commerce, economics, and/or management, and includes marketing as a core component (Zhou 1991). Development aspects of marketing education, business education, and liberal economics education are thus intertwined.
