Journal of Macromarketing

The consumption or use of a number of goods and services can yield real benefits to nonusers. The consumption of goods yielding external benefits differs from several related phenomena—notably, meritorious behavior, the production and use of public goods, the reduction of negative externalities, and the possibility of consumption surprises. Many goods and services that yield external benefits constitute sets of differentiable substitutes. Furthermore, potential third-party beneficiaries may hold not only diverse preferences for external benefits but also diverse preferences for the alternative goods and services that create these benefits. Finally, markets, if restricted to simple bilateral exchange structures, can mistakenly appear to fail in the case of external benefits. These observations lead to the development of (1) an analytic framework addressing heterogeneous supply and demand and incorporating generalized exchange structures and (2) a typology of market situations for external benefits of consumption that suggests several alternatives to conventional public policies.

Both advertisers and auditors wrestled with the truth of their text during the Progressive Era (1880-1940). Although in North America, advertisers adopted “truth in advertising” as a theme, auditors rejected “true and fair” as a description of financial statements. Auditors instead adopted the weaker statement that financial statements were “consistent with accepted accounting principles.” It is paradoxical that auditors compared with advertisers made the greatest progress toward professionalization during this era. This article documents debates about the concept of “truth” in each profession during the Progressive Era and examines the professional and legal consequences of each profession’s engagement with truth.

This article examines an antediluvian justification for the regulation of marketing and other dimensions of commerce: the concept of the common calling. The authors trace the roots of the common calling to medieval times, outline its eventual evolution into the common carrier, and discuss how policy makers through the years have used it to grapple with the often contradictory interests of both private enterprise and the public welfare.

In this article, the authors argue that greater ecological enlightenment can be secured through capitalism by using the characteristics of commodity culture to further progress environmental goals. The authors reject both naive ecological romanticism and revolutionary idealism on the grounds that they fail to offer any pragmatic basis by which greater environmental responsibility can be achieved. Drawing on the now well-established theoretical tradition of post-Marxist cultural criticism, the authors offer a conceptual justification for the development and implementation of a green commodity discourse. For this to be achieved and implemented, prevailing paradigms regarding the structure, nature, and characteristics of capitalism must be revised. Marketing not only has the potential to contribute to the establishment of more sustainable forms of society but, as a principle agent in the operation and proliferation of commodity discourse, also has a considerable responsibility to do so.

After discussing the concepts of nation and image, this article considers (1) the extent to which the notion of a brand is applicable to a nation, (2) the mechanisms by which a nation’s image influences attitudes toward its products, (3) the choice processes in which country of origin is most likely to play a significant role, and (4) the extent to which the image of a nation can be manipulated. One conclusion is that the reputational capital of a nation with respect to a product category will influence choice more than a nation’s overall attractiveness, though fragments of a nation’s imagery may nonetheless be successfully exploited.

Shelby Hunt’s A General Theory of Competition: Resources, Competences, Productivity, Economic Growth is an extremely ambitious and challenging work. It attempts to construct a theory of competition, called resource-advantage theory, by collecting insights from diverse perspectives in economics and business administration. However, there is little reflection in the book with respect to how theories should be combined in the concrete, and resource-advantage theory does not seem to lead to results that are not contained in one or more of its constituent theories. Although Hunt’s work suffers from excessive eclecticism, it is an admirable starting point for further research.

In A General Theory of Competition: Resources, Competences, Productivity, Economic Growth, Shelby D. Hunt has made an important contribution to our understanding of the competitive process. Hunt rightly emphasizes that the equilibrium-based analysis of much of mainstream economics actually obliterates both the heterogeneity and dynamism that marks real-world industrial competition. Building on a wide variety of intellectual traditions in economics, Hunt lays the foundations of what he calls resource-advantage theory. It is argued here, however, that it is not yet a complete theory. It is over-general in its scope and fails to distinguish between different types of resources. Furthermore, some of the tests of the theory are not sufficiently convincing. Nevertheless, the work remains an important and worthwhile contribution.

Shelby Hunt has produced one of the most important books in marketing in decades. He basically challenges us to engage in the discussion of competition based on what develops as “resource-advantage.” The extensive essay is based on a comprehensive examination of the foundations of competition with the hopes of offering a synthetic theory. Although Hunt provides compelling arguments worthy of serious attention, the major shortcoming of the work is the absence of competitive theory drawn from the theory and practice of marketing, that lodged directly in the marketing discipline. Nevertheless, the integration of competition can more easily flow now that a basic framework has been provided.

The author thanks Professors Foss, Hodgson, and Savitt for their kind comments on A General Theory of Competition and replies to the questions they have concerning it.

This retrospective review of Schumpeter’s work focuses on the progress of capitalism. Marketers and other entrepreneurs introduce innovations that create economic expansions. Despite the inevitable recessions, these expansions result in successively higher levels of economic activity. However, the economic success of capitalism undermines the entrepreneur’s role and leads to the political failure of capitalism. The implications of Schumpeter’s theory of economic development for marketing theory have been neglected.

Fernand Braudel is probably the most important economic historian of the twentieth century. His contributions are found in the massive studies of economic history as well as in the development of widely encompassing historical methods. Both provide direction to marketing history. His focus was on the “progress of civilization” that was concerned with the events of everyday life, not simply the great events or people. Braudel broke with the historical narrative of the past by incorporating all of the social sciences in his work. His work challenges us to consider the long duree rather than concentrate on the short term. Concerns for the environment that shape economic progress are foremost in his writing, especially geography. Although never establishing a step-by-step methodology, Braudel provides direction for how to bring together the factors that affect change. His basic lesson is that we must cast our net wider if we are to make progress in understanding marketing events.