From Marx to Marketing
Professor Adrian Palmer Inaugural Lecture
Tuesday 14 February 2017 | 18.15-19.15 | Westminster Theatre, Chancellor's Building
A forthcoming lecture by Professor Adrian Palmer will critically explore the role of free markets in our society.
Professor Palmer’s inaugural lecture will examine whether marketing will successfully adapt to the challenges it is facing, not only from recent unexpected poll results, but also from big issues such as climate change and the depletion of natural resources.
We all love markets – or do we?
The British love the idea of free markets - or is our sentiment changing? A whole generation brought up in Britain since the 1980s probably knows nothing other than the mantra that the market is best and have welcomed opportunities to shop around and get the right product at the right price. Market forces have helped to bring down prices of many consumer goods and services compared to similar items in many other countries throughout continental Europe. And Britain has played a big role as a member of that great marketplace which is the European Union’s single market.
But are we beginning to turn our backs on markets and the principles of marketing? Of course, markets have always had dark sides, with rogue traders seeking to exploit weaknesses and vulnerabilities in a market. But taking a bigger picture, many people might think that the presence of a global market, and the EU single market, have unintended harmful consequences. Some see a “race to the bottom" as cheap imports and migrant labour force people out of jobs that have been the mainstay of local industry. Markets have been accused of making the rich richer and the poor poorer, thereby increasing divisions in society - after all one of the basic principles of a market is to reward the successful.
Do recent events such as the votes for Brexit and for Trump signal an underlying unhappiness with the principles and practices of market based economies? Or are we too strongly wedded to the benefits which marketing provides, with no appetite for going back to systems of allocating resources between people, which rely on central planning by “big government” rather than the “invisible hand" of free markets?
We are living through what could be a high point in our obsession with ideologies of markets and marketing. Taking a historical perspective, the methods by which societies exchange resources have varied from centrally determined allocation, through to devolved, individually driven acquisition and distribution of resources. Market based systems have been presented as a panacea for improving the lives of individuals, organisations and whole nations, however, in doing so, we often confuse value with values. Legitimization of markets has selectively referenced the principles of classical theoreticians, such Adam Smith, while frequently overlooking issues of morality and social value.
Marketing may deliver economic value to some groups in society, but if it becomes dissociated from the values of the communities that it serves, the pendulum of mainstream political and economic thought may swing away from current obsession with markets and marketing. Are the principles and practices of marketing, especially of listening to markets and responding to their needs, sufficiently adaptable to a changing world, allowing marketing to adapt and survive? Or in a postmodern, technology driven world, are the challenges to markets too great, calling for a new paradigm for organising our consumption?
This lecture is open to all, and admission is free. To book, visit the Inaugural Lectures website
About the Inaugural Lecture series
Keele's programme of Inaugural Lectures is delivered by newly established professors within the University and aims to give an illuminating account of the speaker's own subject specialism. The lectures, which start at 6.15pm in the Westminster Theatre, are chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Trevor McMillian.
This series of lectures is open to all and admission is free.
No ticket is required, however we ask those wishing to attend to kindly confirm their attendance via email to events@keele.ac.uk
Professor Adrian Palmer’s research focuses on buyer behaviour within service sector industries and in particular the importance to companies of developing customer loyalty and ongoing relationships. Professor Palmer is Associate Editor of Journal of Marketing Management and a member of the Editorial Review Boards of several Marketing journals. His book on Services Marketing, now in its 7th edition has been translated and published around the world.