The Marketing Revolution: A Radical Manifesto for Dominating the Marketplace. - book reviews

Business Horizons, Nov-Dec, 1992 by Dan Rutledge

The reviewer, Dan Rutledge, is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Michigan, Dearborn.

The promise made to the reader in The Marketing Revolution is to open "a radical manifesto for dominating the marketplace" in the coming decade. Authors Clancy and Shulman develop from their own marketing consulting experiences the proposition that unconventional wisdom is needed for surviving and thriving in the 1990s. But the promise of a marketing revolution falls somewhat short. Rather than eye-opening insights of stimulating fervor, an interesting but ordinary critique of present-day marketing practice and research methods is discussed in the book's 300 pages. It is not that the authors' critiques are without merit, just that their ideas are more evolutionary than revolutionary.

The authors aim the book at CEOs, claiming that more leaders need to become active participants in their firms' marketing programs to bring off this revolution. They make the observation that many of today's strategies contain "death wish" marketing, assumptions that are obsolete or short-sighted because of inadequate marketing research. No doubt this point is valid--many decisions are based on judgment or circuitous reasoning. And this tendency is so prevalent, the authors claim, that many marketing strategies are bound to fail. The reason for this high failure rate is the lack of considering enough feasible alternatives and therefore not being able to choose the optimal strategy. Meanwhile, support provided for this devastating state of failure is left as an assertion; it is "self-evident" (p. 1).

The coming "marketing revolution" will change failure into success. The revolution is based on in-depth research applied to every facet of marketing, from environmental scanning to buyer behavior to composing the marketing strategy and on to auditing the marketing program. The center-piece of this process is the use of "expert systems," a research method that employs "automated intelligence" to do the thinking that "will lead to expert marketing managers" (p. 293). Such systems can evaluate the myriad of data gathered while conducting research, and combine it with available data bases to provide analyses heretofore unknown.

But "expert systems" are able to go much further. They can evaluate millions of possible alternatives with computer-aided technology to arrive at the optimal strategy. So what is needed for actuating this marketing revolution in the 1990s? To start with, CEOs who understand marketing and are willing to ask the hard questions about their marketing programs are needed. These CEOs should also be willing to spend the time and money necessary for market research studies that sample upwards of "400 to 500 people--1,000 is more than enough . . . face to face, door to door, from coast to coast" (p. 271). Thus, if this revolution is to come about, it will be financed largely by in-depth market research assignments.

The book is structured into 14 chapters, informally divided into three sections. Some chapters are well written, presenting new approaches for marketing (Chapters 5 and 13); others add little new insight, simply repeating what is already known (Chapters 3 and 7).

The first part (Chapters 1 and 2) makes the case that marketing has failed in the 1980s because of what the authors describe as "death wish" marketing, which embraces numerous myths that lead to mistake-plagued strategies. Examples of faulty research, commonly held myths, and lack of knowledge about marketing practice (based on a survey of 1,000 executives in U.S. companies) are cited as causes for bringing about the conditions for this revolution.

The next section (Chapters 3-12) dwells on various functions and elements of marketing practice. Emphasis is placed on the application of computer-based marketing research, and the discussion presents both well-performed and poorly executed studies. Each chapter can be examined individually, but a more complete understanding is gained by covering all ten.

In the last section, Chapter 13 starts by looking at the new state of computer technology for collecting and processing the vast amount of marketing data being generated. The chapter is worth the time and effort to examine as it explains how expert systems function in analyzing data and generating strategy alternatives. Chapter 14 presents a summary of the book, essentially making a final sales pitch for computer-based market research.

The book makes several contributions that should be useful for individuals with a limited background in the field. The most important idea, "zero-based" market planning, entails challenging existing assumptions about markets and marketing practices before formulating strategies. The authors also foster the application of computer-based research, criticizing current methods as inadequate. The emphasis on new technologies makes the point that the computer marketing information age has arrived, and that using these advancements will enhance marketing strategies and reduce the risk of becoming noncompetitive in the marketplaces of the future.