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Evolution of key terms in marketing
Edited by Ben Wooliscroft
Introduction
The marketing discipline has a rich tradition of historical thought that has been used to explain numerous aspects of marketplace activity. Much of early scholarly work in marketing sought to describe the nature of products, functions, institutions and locations that were a part of the newly industrialized market environment ([3] Alderson, 1954, [4] 1956; [23] Butler, 1923; [30] Copeland, 1923; [71] Parlin, 1912; [72] Reilly, 1931; [80] Shaw, 1912; [89] Weld, 1916, [90] 1917). These works provided the discipline with description and classification systems to understand marketing phenomena ([29] Converse et al. , 1952). Early marketing scholars also believed that based on this knowledge marketing could be developed into a science ([48] Jones and Monieson, 1990a, pp. 102-113). The historical marketing literature remains relevant and can add a robust quality to the discipline ([76] Savitt, 1980). The present paper demonstrates that the richness of the early literature makes it applicable to contemporary electronic marketplace activities. A review of the early schools of marketing thought validates the strength of early marketing scholarship and demonstrates how the basic principles identified in that era can be applied to a vastly different marketplace many years later.
The development of electronic commerce represents a major disruption that has occurred in retail marketing. It follows the development of department stores, mail order retailing, and discount department stores ([25] Christensen and Tedlow, 2000). Each of these previous marketplace disruptions resulted in changes in consumer behavior, the response of existing retailers, and the development of new retailers. The changes that have occurred due to the development of electronic commerce provide an opportunity to relate early marketing thought to a contemporary marketplace in a manner similar to what early marketing scholars undertook. Early marketing writers sought to understand the principles that underscored the vast industrial expansion in the latter part of the nineteenth century ([13] Bartels, 1976, pp. 1-16). Those changes in the marketplace also fostered the development of business training at the college level ([1] Agnew and Houghton, 1941). The changes that are currently occurring in marketing are not unlike those following the industrialization of the US when mass production and improvements in transportation and communication enabled the creation of the...