The development of marketing theory in the United States has roughly experienced the embryonic stage, the functional research stage, the formation and consolidation stage,
There are six stages in marketing management: guidance period, coordinated development period and differentiation and expansion period.
(1) Germination period (1900 ~ 1920)
This period is a period of rapid development of American capitalism. The western development movement and the railway extended to all parts of the country, which greatly expanded the domestic market in the United States. The increasingly fierce market competition prompted enterprises to pay more and more attention to advertising and distribution activities. Specialized advertising companies are becoming more and more active in the United States, playing a very important marketing function. The emergence and development of chain stores and mail order stores have brought a new concept of small profits but quick turnover to marketing. During this period, several figures who were regarded as pioneers in marketing research appeared, the most famous of which were Ake Shaw, Ralph Starr Butler and Wilder.
At that time, the courses on marketing offered by several American universities were more called "distribution" than "marketing". For example, the course offered by University of Michigan 1902 is called "American Distribution Management Industry". In the early teaching and research activities in the United States, no one has ever used the term "marketing", but the most widely used terms are "trade", "commerce" and "distribution". During the period of 1900 ~ 19 10, the concept changed. Although the study of "distribution" was conducted in several different places in the United States, and scholars rarely contacted each other, almost all of them felt that they needed a new name to call the courses they taught, so the term "marketing" came into being. Most of the marketing theories in this period are oriented by the concept of production, and their basis is still the traditional economics centered on supply. However, these studies have built a bridge between the production concept held by economists and the consumption concept held by marketers. Therefore, this period can be called the embryonic period of marketing theory.
(2) Functional research period (192 1 ~ 1945)?
In the decade after World War I, the structure of American consumer economy has changed obviously. Due to the development of American economy and the improvement of international status, the national income has increased rapidly and the living standard has improved significantly, making it the country with the highest consumption level in the world. However, the phenomenon of uneven distribution in the United States is becoming more and more serious. Although the national income has increased significantly, consumers still have a lot of unmet needs. The change of American consumer economic structure has once again aroused the upsurge of studying marketing theory in academic and business circles. The research feature of this period is the research on marketing function.
The definition committee of the National Marketing Teachers Association put forward in 1934 that the marketing functions include: (1) commercialization; (2) purchase; (3) sales; (4) standardization and classification; (5) Risk management; (6) concentration; (7) financing; (8) Transportation and management; (9) storage. The above functions can be divided into three categories: (1) exchange functions-sales (demand creation) and collection (purchase); (2) Logistics function-transportation and storage; (3) Auxiliary functions-financing, risk taking, market information communication and standardization, etc. ?
The marketing research in this period mainly focused on the function research, but the explanation of sales function was intriguing. Clark and Wilder believe that sales are about finding buyers. Alexander suggested that salespeople should be more proactive in persuading existing customers and potential customers to buy. In 1942, Clark put forward that sales is to create demand. From the evolution of sales definition, we can see the embryonic form of marketing concept. ?
(3) Formation of consolidation period (1946 ~ 1955)?
After World War II, socialist countries were born one after another, and colonial countries became independent one after another, which led to a relatively narrow capitalist world market. The productive forces expanded in wartime urgently needed to find a new way out, and the market competition became increasingly fierce. In order to adapt to this change, marketing scholars not only continue to draw nourishment from economics, but also begin to turn to other fields of social science for inspiration. At this time, functional research still occupies an important position. 1952, two important books were published: one is Marketing in American Economy, co-authored by Li Fan, Gretel and Kirks; One is "Marketing Principles" co-authored by Maynard and Beckman. ?
The book "Marketing in American Economy" reflects the influence of economics on market marketing ideas, and discusses in detail how marketing allocates resources, how it affects the distribution of personal income, and what factors affect people's demand and purchase. The author thinks that marketing can balance supply and demand, and take marketing as the guiding force to allocate scarce resources. They still regard functional research as the core content of marketing, and propose that marketing functions should include: purchase, sale, pricing and intra-regional or inter-regional exchange. ?
Maynard and Beckman defined marketing as "all necessary enterprise activities that affect commodity exchange or transfer of commodity ownership and serve commodity logistics" in their book Principles of Marketing. They put forward five methods to study marketing: (1) product research method, that is, in-depth analysis of marketing activities according to product categories. (2) institutional research method, that is, to study various institutions involved in market activities, such as wholesale institutions and retail institutions. (3) Historical research method, that is, from the perspective of historical development, analyzes the marketing function and its executive body, and finds out the reasons for its emergence, development and extinction. (4) Cost research method, that is, starting from the impact of cost on price, studies the impact of cost on marketing activities and customer purchase behavior. (5) Function research method, that is, from the perspective of marketing function, compares the functions performed by various middlemen in the marketing activities of various products, so as to achieve the best combination of various institutions. They also pointed out that since the beginning of this century, marketing has changed from descriptive method to analytical method. Definition is very important. Without a correct definition, marketing cannot be studied. Marketing principle is an exposition of general laws. When people study the causal relationship of various facts, they find some laws that will work under certain conditions. When the marketing principles are combined, it constitutes the marketing theory. ?
Therefore, marketing theory began to take shape during this period. Marketing has been clearly defined as the behavior of meeting human needs, and marketing research has been paid more and more attention in real economic life, and even the social benefits of marketing have begun to be paid attention to. ?
(4) Marketing management orientation period (1956 ~ 1965)?
During this period, great changes have taken place in the production and lifestyle in the United States, and the theoretical research of marketing has also begun to move towards a new milestone, that is, the marketing management-oriented stage. During this period, Alderson, Howard and McCarthy made outstanding contributions to the market marketing ideas. In his book Marketing Activities and Managers' Actions (1957), Odson put forward "functionalism". He explained that functionalism is a philosophy of science, and he tried to explain how this mechanism works by looking for some mechanism. He pointed out that functionalism is the most effective way to develop marketing theory. Each organization has its unique function in marketing activities, and the key to its existence lies in its ability to provide certain services more effectively than other organizations. The effectiveness of marketing lies in promoting sales that are beneficial to both parties. Therefore, Odson suggested that managers must understand the fact that there are various supply and demand in the market, make use of the advantages of their own enterprises, look for opportunities and reach a deal. ?
Howard's book "Marketing Management: Analysis and Decision-making" advocates discussing marketing theory and application from the perspective of marketing management. At that time, there were many papers and monographs on "management", but it was the first time to use "marketing" before "management". The book has four main features: (1) management decision-making; (2) Using analytical methods; (3) emphasizing business experience; (4) Introduce the theory of behavioral science. Howard pointed out that the essence of marketing management is the creative adaptation of enterprises to dynamic environment. Howard pointed out that the task of marketing managers is to use these means to achieve the best environmental adaptation. In order to survive and develop in a dynamic environment, enterprises must adopt corresponding policies and measures according to the changes of the situation.
In his book Basic Marketing, McCarthy described three methods of studying marketing: commodity research, institutional research and functional research. In addition, he revised the definition of marketing given by the Definition Committee of American Marketing Association in 1960, and then put forward his own definition: "Marketing refers to the enterprise activities that transfer goods and services from producers to consumers or users to meet customer needs and achieve various goals of enterprises." McCarthy stressed: "It is not production but marketing that decides what products should be produced, what prices should be set, where and how to sell products or advertise." McCarthy put forward a new viewpoint in marketing management theory. He first regarded consumers as a specific group, called the target market. On the one hand, we should consider the external environment of the enterprise, on the other hand, we should formulate the marketing mix strategy, and through the implementation of the strategy, we can adapt to the environment, meet the needs of the target market and realize the goals of the enterprise.
As can be seen from the above analysis, Howard only discusses marketing management from the relationship between enterprise environment and marketing strategy, emphasizing that enterprises must adapt to external conditions. McCarthy, on the other hand, put forward a marketing management system that takes consumers as the center, comprehensively considers the internal and external conditions of enterprises and promotes the realization of various goals of enterprises. ?
(5) Coordinated development period (1966 ~ 1980)?
After the previous stages, marketing gradually separated from economics, absorbed some theories of behavior, management, psychology, sociology and other disciplines, and began to merge. During this period, the marketing theory became more mature, and the application of marketing concepts and principles became more and more popular. Scholars such as George S Downing and philip kotler have made outstanding contributions to the development of marketing theory. ?
Downing's main contribution is that he first proposed a systematic research method. In his book Basic Marketing: Systematic Research Methods (197 1), he pointed out that marketing is the whole system of enterprise activities, which provides products and services to real customers and potential customers through pricing, promotion and distribution activities. Tang Ning tries to explain why and how companies constantly revise their behaviors in their chosen markets to enhance their adaptability. He said: "As a system, it has an artificial control mechanism. This mechanism will resist various destructive forces to maintain the balance between this system and its external environment. " As a system, enterprise exists in a large system composed of market, resources and various social organizations. It will be influenced and restricted by the large system, and at the same time it will react on the large system. From the inside of the enterprise system, it is an organic whole composed of several relatively independent departments that are interrelated in a certain way. These departments are called subsystems in enterprise systems. Therefore, marketing is a process. In this process, the enterprise constantly observes the market, discovers and evaluates various changing factors, and then feeds them back to the enterprise as input, which serves as the basis for the enterprise to formulate new strategies and action plans. Eliminate the factors that hinder the realization of the goal with new or revised actions, observe and evaluate the reactions of customers and competitors, and then feed them back to the enterprise as input, and the decision-making department of the enterprise will re-form a new strategic revision plan. Downing emphasized that marketing is not just a function, it is a process that runs through. ?
Philip kotler is one of the most influential scholars in the field of contemporary marketing. His "Marketing Management"
After the book was published in 1967, it became the most popular teaching material of American School of Management. It was published many times and translated into more than ten languages.
It is highly valued by management and business circles in various countries. Kotler pointed out that marketing management is a process of analyzing, planning, implementing and controlling various objectives of an organization by creating, establishing and maintaining beneficial communication and contact with the target market. Its management system includes: (1) analyzing market marketing opportunities; (2) Determine the marketing strategy; (3) Formulate marketing strategy; (4) Organizing marketing activities; (5) Implement and control the marketing work. He also pointed out that marketing is a human activity related to the market, and marketing theory is applicable to both for-profit organizations and non-profit organizations. This view expands the research and application field of marketing.
(6) Differentiation and expansion period (198 1 ~ 1993)?
During this period, a large number of rich new concepts appeared in the field of marketing, which made the subject of marketing appear the trend of deformation and differentiation, and its application scope was also expanding. ?
198 1 year, Levi Singh and philip kotler studied the concept of "marketing warfare" and the application of military theory in marketing warfare. A few years later, Lies and Trow published the book Marketing War. 198 1 year, christian gronroos of the Swedish Institute of Economics published a paper on "internal marketing", and kotler also proposed to create a marketing culture within the enterprise, even if the enterprise is market-oriented. Theodore levitt studied the problem of "global marketing" in 1983, and pointed out that over-emphasizing the adaptability to the local market would lead to the loss of economies of scale in production, distribution and advertising, thus increasing the cost. Therefore, he called on multinational companies to provide unified products to the world and adopt unified communication methods. From 65438 to 0985, Barbara Bender Jackson put forward new concepts such as "relationship marketing" and "negotiation promotion". In 1986, kotler put forward the concept of "big marketing" and the question of how enterprises can enter the protected market. During this period, "direct selling" is also a striking new problem, and its essence is data-based marketing. It is possible to obtain a large amount of information in advance and the development of TV communication technology.
Since 1990s, new theoretical and practical issues such as marketing, marketing network, political marketing, marketing decision support system and marketing expert system have attracted the attention of academic and business circles.