Abstract
Mainstream marketing’s view on markets builds on neoclassical economics. By integrating mainstream marketing thinking with the emergent marketing literature that acknowledges a set of shortcomings related to the neoclassical-based market conceptualization, this paper aims to provide a market conceptualization that captures complexity. Grounded on the etymology of the word market, we review literature and identify two market dimensions: market-as-noun and market-as-verb; and four distinct themes: market entities (referring to which actors are involved), market representation (regarding how markets are signified), market performing (referring to what actions are carried out), and market sense-making (concerning how markets emerge and evolve). Each theme has several elements. The proposed market conceptualization allows market complexity to be addressed by integrating conventional and new market forms. It also offers new avenues for research and invites managers to emancipate themselves from product-based market thinking, to create subjective market definitions and to think in terms of non-predictive strategies.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achrol, R. S., & Kotler, P. (2012). Frontiers of the marketing paradigm in the third millennium. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(1), 35–52.
Alderson, W. (1957). Marketing behavior and executive action. Homewood: Richard D. Irwin.
Alderson, W. (1965). Dynamic marketing behavior: a functionalist theory of marketing. Homewood: Richard D. Irwin.
Alderson, W., & Miles, W. M. (1965). Toward a formal theory of transactions and transvections. Journal of Marketing Research, 2(2), 117–127.
Araujo, L., & Kjellberg, H. (2009). Shaping exchanges, performing markets: the study of marketing practices. In P. Maclaran, M. Saren, B. Stern, & M. Tadajewski (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of marketing theory (pp. 195–218). London: Sage.
Araujo, L., Kjellberg, H., & Spencer, R. (2008). Market practices and forms: introduction to special issue. Marketing Theory, 8(1), 5–14.
Araujo, L., Finch, J., & Kjellberg, H. (2010). Reconnecting marketing to markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Arndt, J. (1979). Toward a concept of domesticated markets. Journal of Marketing, 43, 69–75.
Arthur, H. B. (1964). Market structures and functions in agricultural control programs. In R. Cox, W. Alderson, & S. J. Shapiro (Eds.), Theory in marketing. Homewood: American Marketing Association.
Aspers, P. (2009). How are markets made? (No. 09/2). MPIfG working paper.
Azimont, F., & Araujo, L. (2007). Category reviews as market-shaping events. Industrial Marketing Management, 36(7), 849–860.
Azimont, F., & Araujo, L. (2010). Governing firms, shaping markets: the role of calculative devices. In L. Araujo, J. Finch, & H. Kjellberg (Eds.), Reconnecting marketing to markets (pp. 78–96). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bagozzi, R. P. (1979). Buyer behavior: toward a theory of the middle range. Der Markt, 70, 177–182.
Bartels, R. (1976). The history of marketing thought. Grid Pub.
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1967). The social construction of reality. A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Baltimore: Penguin.
Bolton, R. N. (2005). Marketing renaissance: opportunities and imperatives for improving marketing thought, practice, and infrastructure. Journal of Marketing, 69(4), 1–25.
Boudreau, K. J., & Hagiu, A. (2009). Platforms rules: multi-sided platforms as regulators. In A. Gawer (Ed.), Platforms, markets and innovation. London: Edward Elgar.
Brownlie, D. (1994). Organizing for environmental scanning: orthodoxies and reformations. Journal of Marketing Management, 10(8), 703–723.
Burgess, S. M., & Steenkamp, J. B. E. M. (2006). Marketing renaissance: how research in emerging markets advances marketing science and practice. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 23(4), 337–356.
Burns, T., & Stalker, G. M. (1961). The management of innovation. London: Tavistock.
Buzzell, R. D. (1999). Market functions and market evolution. Journal of Marketing, 63(4), 61–63.
Callon, M. (1998). The laws of the market. Oxford: Blackwell.
Callon, M., & Muniesa, F. (2005). Economic markets as calculative collective devices. Organizations Studies, 26(8), 1229–1250.
Chaffee, E. E. (1985). Three models of strategy. Academy of Management Review, 10(1), 89–98.
Chandler, A. D. (1977). The visible hand: The managerial revolution in American business. Harvard University Press.
Chesbrough, H. W. (2011). Open services innovation: rethinking your business to grow and compete in a new era. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Chesbrough, H. W., & Appleyard, M. M. (2007). Open innovation and strategy. California Management Review, 50(1), 57–76.
Clark, T., Key, T. M., Hodis, M., & Rajaratnam, D. (2013). The intellectual ecology of mainstream marketing research: an inquiry into the place of marketing in the family business disciplines. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 1–19.
Coase, R. H. (1937). The nature of the firm. Blackwell Publishing, 4(16), 386–405.
Coase, R. H. (1998). The new institutional economics. American Economic Review, 88(2), 72–74.
Coase, R. H., & Wang, N. (2012). Saving economics from the economists. Harvard Business Review, 90(12), 36.
Cochoy, F. (2007). A sociology of market-things: on tending the garden of choices in mass retailing. The Sociological Review, 55(2), 109–129.
Colin, C., & George, L. (2004). Behavioral economics: Past, present, future. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Crittenden, V. L., Crittenden, W. F., Ferrell, L. K., Ferrell, O. C., & Pinney, C. (2011). Market-oriented sustainability: a conceptual framework and propositions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(1), 71–85.
Davies, A., & Fitchett, J. A. (2005). Beyond incommensurability? Empirical expansion on diversity in research. European Journal of Marketing, 39(3/4), 272–293.
Davis, J. B. (2006). Heterodox economics, the fragmentation of the mainstream and embedded individual analysis, in Future directions in heterodox economics. In: R. Garnett and J. Harvey (Eds.),. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Day, G. S., Schocker, A. O., & Srivastava, R. K. (1979). Consumer-oriented approaches to identifying product-markets. Journal of Marketing, 43, 8–19.
Dekimpe, M. G., & Hanssens, D. M. (1995). Empirical generalizations about market evolution and stationarity. Marketing Science, 14(3), G109–G121.
Di Maggio, P. J., & Powell, W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147–60.
Dopfer, K., Foster, J., & Potts, J. (2004). Micro-meso-macro. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 14(3), 263–279.
Ellis, N., Jack, G., Hopkinson, G., & O’Reilly, D. (2010). Boundary work and identity construction in market exchanges. Marketing Theory, 10(3), 227–236.
Evans, D. S. (2003). Some empirical aspects of multi-sided platforms. Review of Network Economics, 2(3), 1–19.
Ford, D., Gadde, L. E., Håkansson, H., & Snehota, I. (2011). Managing business relationships. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Ford, D., Gadde, L-E., Hakansson, H., & Snehota, I. (2011). Managing Business Relationships, Third Edition, Chichester: John Wiley.
Foskett, N. (2012). Marketisation and education marketing: the evolution of a discipline and a research field. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Gawer, A. (2011). What managers need to know about platforms. The European Business Review, 40–43.
Gibbert, M., Golfetto, F., & Zerbini, F. (2006). What do we mean by “marketing” resources and competencies? A comment on Hooley, Greenley, Cadogan, and Fahey (JBR 2005). Journal of Business Research, 59(1), 148–151.
Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge: Polity.
Gioia, D. A., & Pitre, E. (1990). Multiparadigm perspectives in theory building. Academy of Management Review, 15(4), 584–602.
Gradl, C., Sobhani, S., Bootsman, A., & Gasnier, A. (2008). Understanding the markets of the poor. Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at the Base of the Pyramid: Business, T, 1(84), 29–50.
Granovetter, M. (1992). Problems of explanation in economic sociology. In N. Nohria & R. Eccles (Eds.), Networks and organizations: structure, form and action (pp. 25–56). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Grönroos, C. (1990). Service management: a management focus for service competition. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 1(1), 6–14.
Grönroos, C. (2004). The relationship marketing process: communication, interaction, dialogue, value. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 19(2), 99–113.
Gummesson, E. (2002). Total relationship marketing (2nd ed.). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Gummesson, E. (2011). 2B or not 2B: that is the question. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(2), 190–192.
Gummesson, E., & Mele, C. (2010). Marketing as value co-creation through network interaction and resource integration. Journal of Business Market Management, 4(4), 181–198.
Hagiu, A. (2009). Two-sided platforms: product variety and pricing structures. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 18(4), 1011–1043.
Håkansson, H. (1982). An interaction approach. In H. Håkansson (Ed.), International marketing and purchasing of industrial goods: an interaction approach (pp. 10–27). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Håkansson, H., & Snehota, I. (1995). Developing relationships in business networks. London: Routledge.
Hammond, A. L., Kramer, W. J., Katz, R. S., Tran, J. T., & Walker, C. (2007). The next 4 billion—market size and business strategy at the base of the pyramid. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.
Hernes, T., & Paulsen, N. (2003). Introduction: boundaries and organization. In N. Paulsen & T. Hernes (Eds.), Managing boundaries in organizations: multiple perspectives (pp. 1–15). Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Hunt, S. D. (1983). General theories and the fundamental explananda of marketing. Journal of Marketing, 47, 9–17.
Hunt, S. D. (1991). Positivism and paradigm dominance in consumer research: toward critical pluralism and rapprochement. Journal of Consumer Research, 18(1), 32–44.
Hunt, S. D. (1994). On rethinking marketing: our discipline, our practice, our methods. European Journal of Marketing, 28(3), 13–25.
Hunt, S. D. (2002). Foundations of marketing theory: toward a general theory of marketing. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe.
Hunt, S. D. (2010). Marketing theory: foundations, controversy, strategy, resource-advantage theory. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe.
Jaworski, B. J., Kohli, A. K., & Sahay, A. (2000). Market-driven versus driving markets. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 45–54.
Johanson, J., & Vahlne, J. (2011). Markets as networks: implications for strategy-making. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(4), 484–491.
Johnson, G., Melin, L., & Whittington, R. (2003). Micro-strategy and strategising: towards an activity-based view. Journal of Management Studies, 40(1), 3–22.
Karnani, A. (2011). The bottom of the pyramid strategy for reducing poverty: a failed promise. In Sundaram & C. Anis (Eds.), Poor poverty: the impoverishment of analysis, measurement and policies (pp. 149–164). New York: Bloomsbury.
Kjellberg, H., & Helgesson, C. (2006). Multiple versions of markets: multiplicity and performativity in market practice. Industrial Marketing Management, 35(7), 839–855.
Kjellberg, H., & Helgesson, C. (2007). On the nature of markets and their practices. Marketing Theory, 7(2), 137–162.
Kjellberg, H., Storbacka, K., Akaka, M., Chandler, J., Finch, J., Lindeman, S., Löbler, H., Mason, K., McColl-Kennedy, J., & Nenonen, S. (2012). Market futures/future markets: commentary on future research directions in the study of markets. Marketing Theory, 12(2), 219–223.
Kotler, P. (1972). A generic concept of marketing. Journal of Marketing, 33, 10–15.
Kozinets, R. V., Hemetsberger, A., & Schau, H. (2008). The wisdom of consumer crowds: collective innovation in the age of networked marketing. Journal of Macromarketing, 28, 339–354.
Kumar, N., Scheer, L., & Kotler, P. (2000). From market driven to market driving. European Management Journal, 18(2), 129–142.
Lafley, A. G., & Charan, R. (2008). The game-changer: how you can drive revenue and profit growth with innovation. Random House LLC.
Lawrence, P., & Lorsch, J. W. (1967). Organization and environment. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Levitt, T. (1960). Marketing myopia. Harvard Business Review, 38(4), 45–56.
Levitt, T. (1965). Exploit the product life cycle. Harvard Business Review, 43, 81–94.
Lewis, M. W., & Grimes, A. J. (1999). Metatriangulation: building theory from multiple paradigms. The Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 672–890.
Lien, M. E. (1997). Marketing and modernity. Oxford: Berg.
MacInnis, D. J. (2011). A framework for conceptual contributions in marketing. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 136–154.
March, J. G., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
McInnes, W. (1964). A conceptual approach to marketing. In R. Cox & W. Alderson (Eds.), Theory in marketing (2nd ed., pp. 51–57). Homewood: Richard D. Irwin.
Miller, D. (1986). Configurations of strategy and structure: towards a synthesis. Strategic Management Journal, 7(3), 233–249.
Mintzberg, H., & Waters, J. A. (1985). Of strategies, deliberate and emergent. Strategic Management Journal, 6(3), 257–272.
Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B. W., & Lampel, J. (1998). Strategy safari: a guided tour through the wilds of strategic management. New York: Free Press.
Morgan, M., & Hunt, S. D. (1994). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 58(3), 20–38.
Nicolini, D., Gherardi, S., & Yanow, D. (2003). Introduction toward a practice-based view of knowing and learning in organizations. In D. Nicolini, S. Gherardi, & D. Yanow (Eds.), Knowing in organizations: a practice-based approach (pp. 3–31). Armonk: M. E. Sharpe.
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Driscoll, A. (2008). Exploring paradox in marketing: managing ambiguity towards synthesis. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 23(2), 95–104.
Oxford English Dictionary (2014). Oxford University Press.
Parasuraman, A., & Grewal, D. (2000). Serving customers and consumers effectively in the twenty-first century: a conceptual framework and overview. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28(1), 9–16.
Parker, G., & Van Alstyne, M. (2005). Two-sided network effects: a theory of information product design. Management Science, 51(10), 1494–1504.
Parvatiyar, A., & Sheth, J. N. (2000). Handbook of relationship marketing. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Pels, J., & Saren, M. (2005). The 4Ps of relational marketing, perspectives, perceptions, paradoxes and paradigms: learning from organizational theory and the strategy literature. Journal of Relationship Marketing, 3(1), 59–84.
Penrose, E. T. (1959). The theory of the growth of the firm. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The external control of organizations. A resource dependence perspective. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Philips, N., & Hardy, C. (2002). Discourse analysis: investigating processes of social construction (Qualitative Research Methods, vol. 50). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Prahalad, C. K. (2010). The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits. Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing.
Read, S., Dew, N., Sarasvathy, S. D., Song, M., & Wiltbank, R. (2009). Marketing under uncertainty: the logic of an effectual approach. Journal of Marketing, 73(3), 1–18.
Reichertz, J. (2004). Abduction, deduction, and induction in qualitative research. In U. Flick, E. von Kardoff, & I. Steinke (Eds.), A companion to qualitative research (pp. 150–164). London: Sage.
Rinallo, D., & Golfetto, F. (2006). Representing markets: the shaping of fashion trends by French and Italian fabric companies. Industrial Marketing Management, 35(7), 856–869.
Rosa, J. A., Porac, J. R., Runser-Spanjol, J., & Saxon, M. S. (1999). Sociocognitive dynamics in a product market. Journal of Marketing, 63, 64–77.
Samli, A. C., & Bahn, K. (1992). The market phenomenon: an alternative theory and some metatheoretical research considerations. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20(2), 143–153.
Sarasvathy, S. D. (2008). Effectuation: elements of entrepreneurial expertise. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Sarasvathy, S. D., & Dew, N. (2005). New market creation through transformation. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 15(5), 533–565.
Schatzki, T. R., Knorr-Cetina, K., & von Savigny, E. (2001). The practice turn in contemporary theory. London: Routledge.
Schultz, M., & Hatch, M. J. (1996). Living with multiple paradigms: the case of paradigm interplay in organizational culture studies. Academy of Management Review, 21(2), 529–557.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1934). The theory of economic development: an inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest, and the business cycle. New Brunswick: Transaction Books.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1947). The creative response in economic history. The Journal of Economic History, 7(02), 149–159.
Shaw, E. H., & Tamilia, R. D. (2001). Robert Bartels and the history of marketing thought. Journal of Macromarketing, 21(2), 156–163.
Sheth, J. N. (2011). Impact of emerging markets on marketing: rethinking existing perspectives and practices. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 166–182.
Sheth, J. N., & Parvatiyar, A. (1995a). The evolution of relationship marketing. International Business Review, 4(4), 393–418.
Sheth, J. N., & Parvatiyar, A. (1995b). Relationship marketing in consumer markets: antecedents and consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23(4), 255–271.
Sheth, J. N., & Uslay, C. (2007). Implications of the revised definition of marketing: from exchange to value creation. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 26(2), 302–307.
Sheth, J. N., Gardner, D. M., & Garrett, D. E. (1988). Marketing theory: evolution and evaluation. New York: Wiley.
Simanis, E., & Hart, S. (2008). The base of the pyramid protocol: toward next generation BoP strategy. Ithaca: Cornell University.
Snehota, I. (2003). Market-as-network. So what? Proceedings of the 19th IMP Conference, University of Lugano, September 4–6.
Spender, J. (1989). Industry recipes: an inquiry into the nature and sources of managerial judgment. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Stern, L. W., & Reve, T. (1980). Distribution channels as political economies: a framework for comparative analysis. Journal of Marketing, 44, 52–64.
Stern, B. B. (2006). What doesbrand mean? historical-analysis method and construct definition. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(2), 216–223.
Stigler, G., & Sherwin, R. A. (1985). The extent of the market. Journal of Law and Economics, 28(3), 555–585.
Storbacka, K., & Nenonen, S. (2011a). Markets as configurations. European Journal of Marketing, 45(1/2), 241–258.
Storbacka, K., & Nenonen, S. (2011b). Scripting markets: from value propositions to market propositions. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(2), 255–266.
Swedberg, R. (1994). Markets as social structure. In N. Smelser & R. Swedberg (Eds.), Handbook of economic sociology (pp. 255–282). New York: Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press.
Sweeney, D. J. (1972). Marketing: management technology or social process. Journal of Marketing, 36, 3–10.
Thorelli, H. B. (1986). Networks: between markets and hierarchies. Strategic Management Journal, 7(1), 37–51.
Vachani, S., & Smith, N. C. (2008). Socially responsible distribution: distribution strategies for reaching the bottom of the pyramid. California Management Review, 50(2), 52–84.
Varadarajan, R. (2010). Strategic marketing and marketing strategy: domain, definition, fundamental issues and foundational premises. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(2), 119–140.
Varadarajan, R., & Yadav, M. S. (2002). Marketing strategy and the internet: an organizing framework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30(4), 296–312.
Varadarajan, R., Yadav, M. S., & Shankar, V. (2008). First-mover advantage in an internet-enabled market environment: conceptual framework and propositions. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(3), 293–308.
Vargo, S. L. (2007). On a theory of markets and marketing: from positively normative to normatively positive. Australasian Marketing Journal, 15(1), 53–60.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1–17.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2008). Service-dominant logic: continuing the evolution. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), 1–10.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2011). It’s all B2B and beyond: toward a systems perspective of the market. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(2), 181–187.
Venkatesh, A., & Peñaloza, L. (2006). From marketing to markets: a call for paradigm shift. In J. N. Sheth & R. S. Sisodia (Eds.), Does marketing need reform? Fresh perspectives on the future (pp. 134–150). Armonk: M. E. Sharpe.
Venkatesh, A., Peñaloza, L., & Firat, F. (2006). The market as a sign system and the logic of the market. In R. F. Lusch & S. L. Vargo (Eds.), The service-dominant logic of marketing: dialog, debate, and directions (pp. 251–266). Armonk: M. E. Sharpe.
Webster, F. E., Jr. (1992). The changing role of marketing in the corporation. Journal of Marketing, 56(4), 1–17.
Webster, F. E., Jr. (2002). The role of marketing and the firm. In B. Weitz & R. Wensley (Eds.), Handbook of marketing (pp. 66–84). London: Sage Publications.
Webster, F. E., Jr., & Lusch, R. F. (2013). Elevating marketing: marketing is dead! Long live marketing! Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41, 389–399.
Weick, K. E. (1969). The social psychology of organizing. Reading: Addison-Wesley Pub.
Weidner, K. L., Rosa, J. A., & Viswanathan, M. (2010). Marketing to subsistence consumers: lessons from practice. Journal of Business Research, 63(6), 559–569.
Whittington, R. (2006). Completing the practice turn in strategy research. Organization Studies, 27(5), 613–634.
Wilk, R. R. (2001). The impossibility and necessity of re-inquiry: finding middle ground in social science. Journal of Consumer Research, 28(2), 308–312.
Williamson, O. E. (1975). Markets and hierarchies, analysis and antitrust implications: a study in the economics of internal organization. New York: Free Press.
Wiltbank, R., Dew, N., Read, S., & Sarasvathy, S. D. (2006). What to do next? The case for non-predictive strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 27(10), 981–998.
Yadav, M. (2010). The decline of conceptual articles and implications for knowledge development. Journal of Marketing, 74(1), 1–19.
Zeithaml, C. P., & Zeithaml, V. A. (1984). Environmental management: revising the marketing perspective. Journal of Marketing, 48, 46–53.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Lisa Abendroth, Rod Brodie, Tomas Kidd, Suvi Nenonen, Thomas Hult and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mele, C., Pels, J. & Storbacka, K. A holistic market conceptualization. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 43, 100–114 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0383-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0383-8