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Evolution of key terms in marketing
Edited by Ben Wooliscroft
Using an appropriate marketing strategy is a critical element for business success. Choosing an effective strategy requires knowledge of what various alternative marketing strategies exist and understanding how they work under varying environmental and organizational conditions. To find the answers, several fundamental questions guide this research: when and where did the notion of marketing strategy originate? Who are the key scholars who developed the basic strategic terms and concepts? What is the current state of marketing strategy? Why did strategic terms and concepts become so inconsistent and contradictory? How can a marketing strategy be improved? The purpose of this article in addressing these questions is to use the history of marketing thought to inform current marketing research and practice. Developments in marketing thought are used to organize the various isolated strategic approaches into a logically coherent framework. The construction of such a framework allows a manager, based on internal and external conditions, to choose the most effective strategy from among the feasible alternatives to attain marketing management's goal(s).
The term strategy is derived from the ancient Greek word "στρατηγημα " pronounced strategema ([70] Liddell and Scott, 1871, p. 653) meaning "the act of a general, esp[ecially] a stratagem, [or] piece of generalship." The word strategy was used by the military since ancient times, and practitioners have long employed the concept of business strategies - without using the term.
The generalizability of the strategy concept from the military to business was first noted by Xenophon of Athens (a contemporary of Plato), who was a mediocre philosopher, but renowned historian, and legendary general. In a dialogue, Xenophon (1832, pp. 560-562) credits Socrates with observing that analogous to the general of an army, the businessman must also efficiently allocate resources and effectively organize activities, i.e. employ a stratagem, to achieve his goal - whether victory or profit. Without using the term strategy, probably the first recognized marketing stratagem to achieve profitability - "buy cheape, sell deare" - was criticized in Catholic England as early as the thirteenth century ([307] St Thomas of Aquinas, 1274), Protestant Europe in the sixteenth century ([308] Luther, 1524), and Puritan America as early as the seventeenth ([309] Keayne, 1653). Xenophon's strategic...