Article
Business History Review

Milestones in Marketing

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine Jocz

Format:Print
| Pages:12

Abstract

Marketing flourished in U.S. business schools in the prosperous years following World War II. Students preparing for assistant-product-manager positions at the likes of Procter & Gamble, Lever, and General Foods enrolled in courses in marketing management, management of promotion, marketing research, sales management, distribution, and cost accounting. As the marketing field matured in the 1950s and 1960s, it articulated a set of foundational concepts. As early as 1900, some firms chose to differentiate their products in order to do a better job of satisfying customers' diverse needs. In subsequent years, the marketing discipline developed increasingly sophisticated tools for competitive positioning, target-market segmentation, and product-line strategy. Within firms, the boundaries of marketing proved to be fuzzy, in large part because customer issues cut across many different aspects of a firm's activities. The concepts of Smith, Borden, Kotler, Green, and Levitt continue to inform marketing education and research. Their ideas about market segmentation, the marketing mix, marketing for nonbusinesses, market research, and globalization are embedded in business practice.