Modern pioneers in marketing: autobiographical sketches by leading scholars

Abstract

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Guest editorial

“…It has published issues focusing upon Stanley Hollander, Don Dixon, Danny Monieson, a number of major female contributors, as well as more recently a series of autobiographical contributions by marketing luminaries. For instance, in two previous special issues, Brian Jones and I have commissioned key figures in our discipline to reflect upon their careers (Tadajewski and Jones, 2017a; Tadajewski and Jones, 2017b). Specifically, we asked them to recall their formative years, the influences on their intellectual development, personal turning points, extrapolating from their experiences any lessons that current and future scholars might appreciate.…”

Autobiographical reflections part II: risk, tenacity and philosophies of research

“…Since we discussed it in our previous editorial (Tadajewski and Jones, 2017), we will not belabour a key theme that presents itself very clearly across these reflections, namely, the importance ascribed to hard work; hard work, in turn, often leads to serendipity -a major theme in Bolton's autobiography. Bolton and Zeithaml, for example, both underscore parental guidance as formative influences in their lives.…”

“…While not averse to the managerial agenda and the symbolism of mathematics that accompanied the reorientation of marketing after the Ford and Carnegie reports of the late 1950s (see Tadajewski, 2006), he was nonetheless dissatisfied with the circumscribed boundaries this placed around the subject. As he travelled the world -extensive and prolonged travel being a hallmark of most of the pioneers we have featured in these pages (Tadajewski and Jones, 2017) -Layton looked at the various market structures he encountered, particularly how they were embedded within specific cultural contexts, and started to appreciate that the literature did not reflect the variety and diversity of what he saw in situ. This impacted upon his research.…”