‘Rethinking Marketing’ by Roland Rust, Christine Moorman and Gaurav Bhalia, Harvard Business Review, January 2010

Considering the number of articles produced by the HBR and the difficulty of creating something that is genuinely new in management thinking, it is perhaps inevitable that some articles come across as less than original. We hope this shows that, at MTP, we are already reflecting the latest thinking in our coverage of management topics and maybe we should see this as a kind of reassurance.

Whatever the interpretation, this is an article that confirms some important points about the way that marketing is changing but it seems to offer little that is new to those who are in touch with modern marketing trends. The main thrust of the article is that because of new uses of technology, businesses can be more sophisticated in their approach to marketing and can tailor their communications and their offerings to the needs of specific customers and segments. Thus there is a need to move away from traditional product centred approaches to marketing, to one that cultivates customers and looks for ‘customer lifetime value’.

There are a number of examples to make the point, both in consumer and business to business (B2B) markets. An example of the latter is IBM who ‘use key account managers and global account directors to focus on meeting customers’ evolving needs rather than selling specific products’. The inevitable reaction from experienced marketers is that this is what any B2B company that has heard of segmentation will have been doing for many years. We also had the same reaction to the suggestion that financial people need to think about customer as well as product profitability, a trend that we have seen developing in a range of top companies during the last 10 years.

More convincing is the example of Tesco whose Loyalty Card is less about rewarding customers and more about collecting data on buying patterns and, through advanced IT capability, targeting their marketing effort to individuals and groups. This is a powerful example of the main thrust of the argument but is rather let down by the statement that Tesco have only recently been using this approach when in fact it has been their practice for about 15 years.

The article then moves on to consider the organisational implications, in particular that these new developments justify the appointment of a ‘Chief Customer Officer’. This is less convincing than the other arguments in the article and there are no examples of this having been done or of the benefits that can accrue. In particular there does not seem to be a discussion of how this would impact sales and marketing directors; our belief is that this would turn out to be either a mere change of title or the start of a new battle for influence and territory.

This article could be a useful update for those who are not involved in current trends in marketing but generally comes across as behind the times and not something you would expect from one of the world’s top business schools.

To read this article go to:

http://hbr.org/2010/01/rethinking-marketing/ar/1