Percival White (1887–1970)

Abstract

This paper outlines an intellectual biography of Percival White whose major contributions to marketing thought focused on market research and the application of scientific management to marketing. White published 20 books during his career, 11 of those dealing with marketing, including one of the earliest texts on market research.

Customer Orientation: Its Surprising Origins, Tumultuous Development and Place in the Future of Marketing thought and Practice

“…The Nordic construction of the marketing concept is in line with CO, stating that the marketing function exists “to establish, strengthen and develop customer relations where they can be commercialised at a profit and where individual and organisational objectives are met” (Grönroos, 1989, p. 6; italics added). In other words, and as Levitt (1960) stated, the organisation must not think of what it produces, but “as providing customer-creating value satisfactions…with the kind of flair that excites and stimulates the people in [the organisation].” In this way, CO can be viewed as an extension of the Nordic expression of the marketing concept, as it relates to a strategic approach of the organisation beyond the realm of the marketing function, and includes cultural orientation of the firm in which the needs of the market are an area of strategic focus (Kankam-Kwarteng et al, 2019).…”

RestoringPhronesisand practice: marketing’s forgotten P’s

“…Marketing Management (White, 1927), was an explicit attempt to apply Taylor's ideas in the wider domain of marketing (Jones & Tadajewski, 2011;Tadajewski & Jones, 2012). Like Taylor and Hoyt, White was an engineer, which gave him the metaphors and mindset for his analysis of markets and marketing.…”

“…What he described as a 'marketing engineer' should solve marketing problems using a systematic, evidence-based approach akin to the way Taylor's 'industrial engineer' solved production problems without recourse to heuristics or rules of thumb (White, 1921). White's arguments had an important, if largely forgotten, impact on marketing thought and led to the development of various 'scientific' approaches to marketing practice, such as the application of time and motion study to the work of salesmen (Jones & Tadajewski, 2011;Nolen, 1940;Tadajewski & Jones, 2012). However, in retrospect, the translation of scientific management into marketing was largely unsuccessful if we accept Burger's observation in 1959 that, while manufacturing had produced scientific management over 50 years previously, there was still no equivalent development in marketing: "The essentials of scientific method are observation, deduction, hypothesis, and verification.…”

“…For instance, Veblen (1908Veblen ( , 1919 presented an important critique of marketing-related activities at that time, while Percival White adopted a clear ethical stance in his writing, seeing good ethics to be good business and highlighting the long-term downside of treating customers badly (Jones & Tadajewski, 2011).…”

“…An early adopter of these ideas was the engineering graduate Charles Hoyt, who argued in his book, Scientific Sales Management (Hoyt, 1913), that the "old" salesman, whose expertise was based on personality and contacts, should be replaced by a "new" type of salesman, who was "scientifically selected, trained, motivated and directed" (La Londe and Morrison, 1967, p. 10). Percival White expanded these ideas beyond sales management and his book, Scientific Marketing Management (White, 1927), was an explicit attempt to apply Taylor's ideas in the wider domain of marketing (Jones and Tadajewski, 2011;Tadajewski and Jones, 2012). Like Taylor and Hoyt, White was an engineer, which gave him the metaphors and mindset for his analysis of markets and marketing.…”