Marketing Theory: Foundations, Controversy, Strategy, and Resource-advantage Theory

512 Pages·2010·2.37 MB·English

by  Shelby D. Hunt

MARKETING
THEORY
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MARKETING
THEORY
FOUNDATIONS,
CONTROVERSY,
STRATEGY,
RESOURCEADVANTAGE
THEORY
SHELBY D. HUNT
RO Routledge
U
TLED Taylor & Francis Group
G
E
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2010 by M.E. Sharpe

Published 2015 by Routledg e
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711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa busin ess
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hunt, Shelby D.
Marketing theory : foundations, controversy, strategy, resource-advantage theory /
by Shelby D. Hunt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7656-2363-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Marketing. 2. Marketing research. I. Title.

HF5415.H869 2009
658.8001—dc22 2009018628
ISBN 13: 9780765623638 (hbk)
This book is dedicated to
Marguerite and Donald C. Hunt,
my parents,
who persevered,
with extraordinary courage,
in times of great adversity.
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CONTENTS
Preface xv
PART 1. THE NATURE OF MARKETING AND SCIENCE 1
1 Introduction 3
1.1 Three Contradictions? 3
1.2 Objectives of Monograph 7
1.3 The Nature of Marketing 8
1.3.1 The Scope of Marketing 10
1.3.2 Is Marketing a Science? 17
1.4 The Nature of Science 18
1.5 The Unity of Scientific Method 21
1.5.1 Discovery Versus Justification 23
1.6 Conclusions on Marketing Science 28
1.7 The Three Dichotomies Model: An Evaluation 29
1.7.1 The Positive/Normative Dichotomy in Philosophy of Science 30
1.7.2 Is the Positive/Normative Dichotomy False? 30
1.7.3 Is the Positive/Normative Dichotomy Dangerous? 31
1.7.4 Is the Positive/Normative Dichotomy Unnecessary? 31
1.7.5 Is the Positive/Normative Dichotomy Meaningless? 33
1.7.6 Is the Positive/Normative Dichotomy Useless? 34
1.7.7 Is All of Marketing Thought Normative? 35
1.8 The Three Dichotomies Model as a General Taxonomical
Framework for Marketing 39
1.9 Plan of Monograph 40
Questions for Analysis and Discussion 41
Notes 44
2 On the Marketing Discipline 46
2.1 On Marketing as . . . 46
2.1.1 . . . A University Discipline 46
2.1.2 . . . An Applied Discipline 50
vii
viii CONTENTS
2.1.3 . . . A Professional Discipline 52
2.1.4 . . . A Set of Responsibilities 55
2.1.5 Conclusion on the Nature of the Marketing Discipline 60
2.2 The Defining Marketing Controversy 60
2.2.1 On the 2007 Definition of Marketing 61
2.3 The Defining Marketing Research Controversy 64
2.3.1 Research Questions in Marketing 64
2.3.2 Conclusion on the Nature of Marketing Research 70
Questions for Analysis and Discussion 71
Notes 73
PART 2. THE FOUNDATIONS OF MARKETING THEORY 75
3 On the Morphology of Explanation 77
3.1 Explanations in Marketing 77
3.2 Criteria for Evaluating Explanatory Models 78
3.3 Deductive-Nomological Explanation 79
3.4 Statistical Explanation 81
3.4.1 Theories of Probability 81
3.4.2 Statistical Explanation and the Social Sciences 82
3.4.3 Deductive-Statistical Explanation 83
3.4.4 Inductive-Statistical Explanation 84
3.5 Are Logical Empiricist Models of Explanation Adequate? 88
3.5.1 Is the D-N Model Dead? 88
3.5.2 Is the I-S Model Dead? 90
3.6 The Pattern Model 92
3.7 Functionalist Explanation 94
3.7.1 Uses of the Terms Function and Functional Explanation 95
3.7.2 Preliminary Problems of Functional Explanation 96
3.7.3 The Logic of Functional Explanation 97
3.7.4 Functionalism in the Context of Discovery 100
3.8 Summary and Conclusions 101
Questions for Analysis and Discussion 101
Notes 103
4 Explanation: Issues and Aspects 104
4.1 Explanation, Prediction, and Retrodiction 104
4.1.1 Explanations as Potential Predictions 105
4.1.2 Predictions as Potential Explanations 108
4.1.3 Are Explanations and Predictions Potential Retrodictions? 109
4.2 Causal Explanations 110
4.2.1 The Notion of Causality 110
4.2.2 Evidence for Causation 113
CONTENTS ix
4.3 Explanatory Incompleteness, Explanation Chains, and Infinite Regress 116
4.3.1 Marketing Explanation Chains 116
4.4 Other Forms of Explanatory Incompleteness 117
4.4.1 Enthymemes 118
4.4.2 Partial Explanations 118
4.4.3 Explanation Sketches 118
4.5 The Fundamental Explananda of Marketing 118
4.6 A Product Life Cycle Explanation 120
4.7 A Consumer Behavior Explanation 121
4.7.1 A Reconstruction of the Explanation 122
4.7.2 Structural Analysis of the Explanation 123
4.8 A Price Discrimination Explanation 124
4.9 A Wheel of Retailing Explanation 125
4.9.1 The Wheel of Retailing and Competition for
Differential Advantage 126
4.10 Summary and Conclusions 127
Questions for Analysis and Discussion 128
Notes 129
5 On the Morphology of Scientific Laws 130
5.1 Role of Laws in Marketing Research 131
5.2 The First Criterion: Generalized Conditionals 132
5.3 The Second Criterion: Empirical Content 134
5.4 The Third Criterion: Nomic Necessity 136
5.5 The Fourth Criterion: Systematic Integration 138
5.5.1 Role of Empirical Generalizations 142
5.6 Summary 143
Questions for Analysis and Discussion 144
Notes 146
6 Scientific Laws: Issues and Aspects 147
6.1 The Time Issue 147
6.1.1 Equilibrium Laws 148
6.1.2 Laws of Atemporal Coexistence 151
6.1.3 Laws of Succession 152
6.1.4 Process Laws 154
6.2 Axioms, Fundamental Laws, and Derivative Laws 154
6.2.1 Bridge Laws 156
6.3 Extension and Universality 158
6.3.1 Singular Statements 159
6.3.2 Existential Statements 160
6.3.3 Statistical Laws 161
6.3.4 Universal Laws 163