Marketing and Development in Third World Contexts: An Evaluation and Future Directions

Abstract

This study attempts to locate existing marketing perspectives on development within the larger framework of "development studies." The purpose is to ascertain the underlying principles and assumptions in the development of marketing thought and thereby to facilitate the evaluation of the role of marketing in the development process. Such an approach is in keeping with the aims of creating critical knowledge through radical deconstruction processes outlined by Firat, Dholakia, and Bagozzi (1987). This article assesses marketing perspectives in terms of their fundamental assumptions and key features as and when they fall into three schools of thought: modernization, institutional, and radical. By grounding them in this manner, we argue that a critique of such ideas is possible, which then allows for a fuller assessment of contributions made by marketing scholars.

Globalization and Development: An Expanded Macromarketing View

“…It has been generally concluded that the more radical approaches to modernization are likely to be effective because they provide a multidimensional perspective that other approaches do not. Although the names given to the more radical approaches differ, they include the labels political economy (Taylor andOmura 1994, 1995), activist socioeconomic (Hosley and Wee 1988), and revised radical (Joy and Ross 1989), and all have a number of elements in common. Primarily, each of the radical approaches to development recommends multidimensional analysis that goes beyond the economic, and they give recognition to cultural differences, favor constituent autonomy, and value distributive justice (Vann and Kumcu 1995).…”

Changing Accessibility and the Reorganization of Rural Marketing in Nigeria

“…As Slater (1977) observed, &dquo;it is not sufficient for marketing to focus on transactions without analysis of the interactive consequences of transactions upon the socio-economic processes of the society.&dquo; This study aims to undertake such analysis at the interface between the market system and the rural poor. Its incorporation of cultural analysis, including discussion of the changing pattern of women's marketing, and the ethnographic style of field research are in line with the marketing research recommendations of Joy and Ross (1989).…”

The discourses of marketing and development: towards ‘critical transformative marketing research’

“…It is therefore ahistorical and ignores economic and cultural specificity (e.g. Joy & Ross, 1989). This strategy is consequently functionalist in that it is oriented towards systems maintenance, that is, with the perpetuation of capitalist and neoliberal relations.…”