Networks, ecosystems, fields, market systems? Making sense of the business environment

Rethinking marketing: back to purpose

“…The article ‘Marketing’s theoretical and conceptual value proposition: opportunities to address marketing’s influence’, written by Thomas Martin Key, Terry Clark, OC Ferrell, David W. Steward and Leyland Pitt, raises the fundamental question about the purpose of marketing. Aligned with other critical voices (such as Webster and Lusch 2013 ; Möller et al 2020 ; Yadav 2010 ; Jaworski and Kohli 2017 ), the authors alert the marketing research community to the need for a radical revision of how we conceptualize, study, and apply marketing. They point to four interrelated problems: 1) loss of domain expertise, 2) detachment from real-world phenomena (see also, Möller et al 2020 ; Nenonen et al 2017 ; Webster and Lusch 2013 ), 3) nurturing of methodological monocultures (see also Hunt 2018 ; McAlister 2016 ; Jaworski and Kohli 2017 ; Zeithaml et al 2020 ) and, 4) detachment from the discipline’s value proposition and purpose.…”

“…The field of strategic (business) marketing presents an extensive and fast-growing knowledge base to address some of the complexity in contemporary business environments. At the same time, as suggested by Key et al ( 2020 ) and Möller ( 2020 ), we need to make such knowledge bases more accessible for broader academic audiences and, potentially even more importantly, for managers and policymakers though an academic language that requires less disciplinary proficiency. Further, as emphasized by Key et al ( 2020 ), to embrace the complex and systemic nature of contemporary business environments, we need more plurality in research methods (Brodie et al 2019 ), a stronger focus on longitudinal and qualitative (action) research (Brodie and Peters 2020 ) and more appreciation for theories-in-use, developed in the field by and together with managers (Zeithaml et al 2020 ; Nenonen et al 2017 ).…”

“…A similar argument runs in the marketing niche of business and industrial marketing. Möller et al ( 2020 ) demonstrate, in their recently published positioning paper, highly cited contemporary managerial writing reveals how underlying megatrends–digitalization, globalization, and environmental awareness in particular–render today’s business reality inherently systemic, complex, and volatile. Like Key et al ( 2020 ), the authors point to the pressing need for marketing academe to theorize about such complex business environments.…”

“…Like Key et al ( 2020 ), the authors point to the pressing need for marketing academe to theorize about such complex business environments. In their literature review, Möller et al ( 2020 ) show that various streams in business marketing research are already tackling the complex contemporary business environments that managers face. These strands of research offer strategic marketing approaches drawing on business, service and innovation ecosystems (e.g., Aarikka-Stenroos and Ritala 2017 ), including, for example, strategies for network orchestration, network management and network capabilities (e.g., Perks et al 2017 ; Nordin et al 2018 ).…”

“…More specifically, I will point to system theories, growing with and out of (S-D logic), which provide a range of marketing frameworks and midrange theories (Brodie et al 2011 ; Vargo and Lusch 2017 ) that acknowledge and embrace the marketing discipline’s diversity. Further, the field of business and industrial marketing presents an extensive and fast-growing knowledge base to address some of the complexity in contemporary marketing environments (Möller et al 2020 ). At the interface of service research, information systems and design, we may find methods that embrace the inherently complex and reflexive nature of many marketing tasks.…”