CHAPTER 1
One more time – what is
marketing?
MICHAEL J. BAKER
The enigma of marketing is that it is one of
man’s oldest activities and yet it is regarded as
the most recent of the business disciplines.
Michael J. Baker, Marketing: Theory and Practice,
1st Edn, Macmillan, 1976Introduction
As a discipline, marketing is in the process of
transition from an art which is practised to a
profession with strong theoretical foundations.
In doing so it is following closely the precedents
set by professions such as medicine, architecture
and engineering, all of which have also been
practised for thousands of years and have built
up a wealth of descriptive information concern-
ing the art which has both chronicled and
advanced its evolution. At some juncture, how-
ever, continued progress demands a transition
from description to analysis, such as that
initiated by Harvey’s discovery of the circula-
tion of the blood. If marketing is to develop it,
too, must make the transition from art to applied
science and develop sound theoretical founda-
tions, mastery of which should become an
essential qualification for practice.
Adoption of this proposition is as threat-
ening to many of today’s marketers as the
establishment of the British Medical Association
was to the surgeon-barber. But, today, you
would not dream of going to a barber for medical
advice.
Of course, first aid will still be practised,
books on healthy living will feature on the best-
sellers list and harmless potions will be bought
over the counter in drug stores and pharmacies.
This is an amateur activity akin to much of what
passes for marketing in British industry. While
there was no threat of the cancer of competition
it might have sufficed, but once the Japanese,
Germans and others invade your markets you
are going to need much stronger medicine if you
are to survive. To do so you must have the
courage to face up to the reality that aggressive
competition can prove fatal, quickly; have the
necessary determination to resist rather than
succumb, and seek the best possible pro-
fessional advice and treatment to assist you.
Unfortunately, many people are unwilling to
face up to reality. Even more unfortunate, many
of the best minds and abilities are concentrated
on activities which support the essential func-
tions of an economy, by which we all survive,
but have come to believe that these can exist by
themselves independent of the manufacturing
heart. Bankers, financiers, politicians and civil
servants all fall into this category. As John
Harvey-Jones pointed out so eloquently in the
1986 David Dimbleby lecture, much of our
wealth is created by manufacturing industry