Defining Macromarketing

[Ben Wooliscroft]

Welcome to the macromarketing email list.

As long as I've been involved in macromarketing we've talked about the
illusiveness of an easily communicated definition of macromarketing.
We've used Hunt (1981), Fisk and more recently Shultz (see
http://www.macromarketing.org/definitions.html). Do these definitions,
or a combination of them capture what macromarketing means to you? For
years we've known what macromarketing isn't - managerial and profit
driven, can we get closer to what it is?

Cheers

Ben

[Julie]

I'll help Ben along in provoking some discussion...

As someone who comes from an economics and, most importantly, a
sustainable and rural development background, I'm attracted to
macromarketing for the connections it draws between HUMANS and
markets. I would distinguish "humans" from "consumers", although the
former clearly includes the latter.

I think of it in much the same way as distinguishing between "partial
equilibrium" and "general equilibrium" analysis where the latter
recognizes the mutli-faceted domino effects of small changes (i.e.
price of gas goes up and eventually there are fewer kids in summer
camp and fewer donations to St. Jude's Children's Hospital) rather
than limiting interest in the obvious direct effects (i.e. consumption
of gas falls) as the former would.

In my way of thinking, regular ol' marketing is a partial equilibrium
view of individuals' relationships with markets, while macromarketing
captures the broader general equilibrium impacts that commerce-related
decisions have on humanity, and humans have on their market system.
In contrast to typical usage of the PE/GE distinction in economics, I
would be sure that the "general" side considers much more than purely
economic considerations (e.g. quality of life, sustainability of the
natural world, poverty alleviation, etc.)

This is still based on Hunt's definition which has worked for me in my
relatively short experience with Macromarketing. I've just translated
it a bit into economics terminology for my own use.

Trash politely... :-)

Julie

[Jason Healy]

Hi Ben and all

Being newer to the area than the majority of participants I am not so
sure how well my point will come across, but, I shall make it anyway

I find the definitions, you hyperlink to, excellent. But, my argument
would be that, maybe the reason the 'easily communicable definition'
is so elusive is that many definitions are by their very nature not
very 'easily communicable'. Certainly, the farther away
(metaphorically) the audience is from the issues described in the
definition, the harder it will be for that same audience to understand
it

So, as with any area in need of defining, sometimes a definition is a
start but is simply not enough to get the notion of what the entire
area is across. Being concise is great. Being verbose is sometimes
necessary, however, and in this instance, I feel it may be useful to
be a little less abstract with the 'definition', even though I prefer
'description' or 'outline' to 'definition', as definition implies
shortness

What would this 'description of Macromarketing' look like?

Of course, it would require abstract definitions such as those
included. These are essential and I hope nobody who reads this feels I
am lessening their importance. I just feel they could be added to, as
follows

My first suggestion would be to include the general areas covered. One
only needs to look at the proceedings of recent conferences to see
lists of relevant topics included within Macromarketing such as
'Ethics, Equity and Justice'; 'Environment Nature and Sustainability';
'Marketing and Development'; 'Globalization'; 'QOL'; 'Systems'.... etc
etc. If a reader can see the areas covered, it will show them the
different parts of the domain and these different parts are all quite
recognizable in my opinion. If they recognize most of these parts,
they should have a much greater understanding of the whole

My second would be to include some practical, maybe everyday examples
of how Macromarketing is relevant. Use an example relating to how
Macromarketing is relevant to the housing industry possibly or some
other area most people can identify with. What would the practical
example be? I will leave that up to you guys as you probably have a
few hundred you can list off if need be.

That's my two cents...nothing mind blowing I know, but it may be worth
a thought

It was great to meet so many of you in Clemson for the first time, and
equally good to see familiar faces again from last year

Cheers
Jason


On Jun 15, 2:49 am, Ben Wooliscroft

<bwooliscr...@business.otago.ac.nz> wrote:
> Welcome to the macromarketing email list.
>
> As long as I've been involved in macromarketing we've talked about the
> illusiveness of an easily communicated definition of macromarketing.

> We've used Hunt (1981), Fisk and more recently Shultz (seehttp://www.macromarketing.org/definitions.html). Do these definitions,