Teaching an Elevated View of Marketing: Marketing with Customers

Abstract

Marketing in contemporary society is undergoing a shift in its foundational beliefs, including those concerning how the discipline treats customers. In this article, we present marketing educators with new ways of thinking about customers and challenge core marketing concepts by leveraging an elevated marketing perspective. We provide a roadmap to teaching marketing that frames customers as one among many active partners who define their own value-in-use, rather than as passive buyers who are cherished for their economic contribution. We identify four areas where traditional core marketing views are challenged. For each, we suggest alternative educational perspectives and classroom activities.

Notes

1. Of the 30 syllabi examined, 28 were from courses taught during or after 2015, and 10 were from 2017. Two syllabi did not include course dates.

2. See http://www.ama.org/AboutAMA.

3. This exercise was designed by, and is co-taught with, economics faculty to MBA students at Babson College.