Is Marketing Academia Losing Its Way? – a Commentary from a German Perspective

Abstract

With respect to the question raised whether marketing academia is losing its way, the author provides answers from a German perspective. It is argued that the assessment differs whether one looks from a business-to-business (B2B) or a business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing point of view. Contrary to its practical relevance B2C marketing is dominating in academia. Thus, a huge part of the current marketing research focuses on topics which have no or only a restricted relevance for greater areas in practice with the effect that many of the problems mentioned by Reibstein, Day and Wind are also relevant in Europe. But in contrast to their statement with regard to the U.S., the domain of academic marketing in Europe and especially in Germany has been steadily increasing. And due to the fact that the academic systems in Europe and especially in Germany have just recently shifted more or less towards the usages that are common in the US, the implementation problems are more or less the same.