Chapter Summaries - Chapter 24

In this chapter we have explored a number
of current issues which may, or may not,
have a significant impact on future marketing
thinking and practice. These have
included information technology and the
development of e-commerce, together with
the associated claim that their influence
heralds the birth of a ‘new economy’. As my
quotation from Ecclesiastes suggests, I
don’t think so!

We also reviewed the ideas of Vargo and
Lusch (2004) published in the Journal of
Marketing, in which they call for a new
model of marketing. This has prompted
extensive discussion and, in this case, we
believe the jury is still out.

Ethics, green issues, and corporate
social responsibility (CSR) are all subjects
of wide debate. A brief overview of the
issues is given and I anticipate they will be
of increasing importance in the future.
Finally, we looked at globalisation which
is both a product of trends in information
and communications technology (ITC) and a
driver of the other issues discussed in this
chapter. While no particular attention has
been given to the topic of ‘Emerging
Economies’ this is largely due to my belief
that ‘Marketing is Marketing – Everywhere’
an extended discussion of which is to be
found in Vikalpa (30(3), 2005) based on the
keynote address I gave at The International
Conference on Marketing Paradigms for
Emerging Economies held at the Indian
Institute of Management, Ahmedabad,
12–13 January, 2005