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The purpose of this paper is to present an alternative view of marketing that Donald F. Dixon spent much of his distinguished career developing – a paradigm that we refer to as the Dixonian systems perspective of marketing. It is a paradigm that presents marketing as a phenomenon that reaches far beyond the micro/managerial marketing mix paradigm.

Analysis and interpretation of Donald F. Dixon's and colleagues' scholarly work to distill the essence of Dixon's view of marketing, which we refer to as the Dixonian systems perspective of marketing.

The Dixon's systems perspective of marketing offers a framework for the analysis of macromarketing issues that is not provided by the conventional marketing mix micro/managerial paradigm.

The paper provides a concise overview of the macro/systems ideas and concepts of marketing contained in Donald F. Dixon's and his colleagues' extensive writings that to date has not been available from any other source.

The purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise some of the main contributions of Donald F. Dixon to marketing theory and the history of marketing thought.

Personal experience, as well as a review of the major papers and the book Dixon co‐authored are used to highlight the development of his thought and contributions.

Dixon championed a broad hierarchical systems approach to understanding marketing and was able to identify the origins of concepts and ideas in history in a way that showed his depth of scholarship, the deep intellectual history of marketing thought and the misrepresenting of earlier theories that are present in some modern writings.

Dixon's contributions are of major importance but not well known in marketing. It brings together some of his major contributions and indicates their value.

The paper seeks to review recent developments in theory and research regarding the nature and role of relations and networks in business markets and to argue for a more dynamic, interactive and evolutionary view.

Complexity theory, as well as theories of distributed cognition and control, is used to show that business markets, relations and networks are complex adaptive systems of interacting people, firms, activities, resources and ideas in which no one player is in control.

The theoretical perspective described has profound implications for management practice, policymaking and research. In particular it leads to the concept of soft assembled strategies in which management and firms utilize the inherent response properties of the relations and networks in which they operate to extend what they can do, sense, know and think.

Relevant research methodologies for addressing the academic, management and policy issues arising from this perspective are described.

The paper shows the relevance of developments in the complexity sciences and distributed cognition to business marketing and management.

The purpose of this paper is to comment on the meaning and significance of the article by Don Dixon on the change in teaching of marketing theory at Wharton in 1955‐1957.

The paper presents a personal reflection and consideration of the history of marketing research since 1957.

Dixon has throughout his career championed a broad systems framework for understanding marketing. His comments show the beginning of a major shift in marketing theory towards a narrow one sided marketing management focus that limited research and neglected areas that ended up being taken up by other disciplines such as strategic purchasing, supply chains and networks.

Highlights a tipping point in the development of marketing theory that restricted the development of marketing theory.

Industry standards affect the diffusion and adoption of new technology and the competitiveness of individual players but their development is not under the direct control of individual actors. Examines the role and importance of personal networks in the development of industry standards on the basis of a case study of Ericsson’s involvement in the development of standards for 3G mobile telephony. Notes how relations among parties and many types of forums stemming from previous development and marketing involvement affect the complex set of interactions shape the bottom‐up self‐organizing way in which standards emerge. The case study has implications for our understanding of the way standards develop and for managers attempting to influence the outcomes.

Business innovation comes from combining, recombining and modifying existing ideas, knowledge and know‐how in new ways. The purpose of this paper is to describe an approach to accelerating the business innovation process by priming the combining and recombining process, called the Business Genome Project (BGP).

Business innovation and evolution is compared to cultural and biological evolution and the Human Genome Project (HGP) is used as a template for developing the business genome concept, which involves identifying and mapping the building blocks of extant businesses.

The paper describes a way of priming the innovation pump by aiding the identification and sharing of key business ideas, knowledge and know‐how across firms, organisations, industries, technologies and nations. Recent developments in internet‐based technologies, like Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia of Life, suggest the project is feasible.

The BGP can provide a fundamental, new understanding of the commercial world: its businesses, their know‐how, their context and their cultures. It also provides a basis for on‐going collaboration, communication, research and development, amongst businesses (and their stakeholders), which would accelerate the innovation process.

The BGP is an original idea inspired by the HGP that promises to have a similar impact on business practice, policy and research.

There exists at present a gap in channel theory on the role of co‐operation and trust in the functioning of interfirm relationships. These variables have not featured as major factors in the explanations of how channels co‐ordinate their activities, survive and grow. This article introduces trust as an important determinant of channel behaviour, indicates the importance of trust in co‐operative behaviour and presents the results of an introductory study on trust in marketing channels.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review essay of the scholarly work of Donald Dixon, focusing on six of his major contributions to marketing thought and theory.

The research relied heavily on previously published articles, personal interviews and databank searches.

A more complete timeline of the history of marketing thought is presented. The historical work done by Dixon shows us that marketing is not a recent field of human behavior but dates back millennia. His contributions have enriched the marketing discipline and have positioned marketing in its rightful place as a social science studying one aspect of human behavior, which is buying and selling.

Knowing more about the history of marketing is useful both to academics and to practitioners. One learn more about the practitioners and intellectual thinkers of the past who have laid the foundation of marketing as a social science.

The essay ofers but a succinct summary of Dixonian marketing thought with his many contributions to marketing scholarship and macromarketing thought over the past 50 years.

The purpose of this paper is to present memories of Don Dixon in Australia and of his outstanding contribution.

The paper is based on recollections and personal diaries.

Don Dixon made a significant contribution to the development of marketing as social discipline in Australia and to the evolution of the concept of a marketing system.

The paper contributes to a reassessment of the role of Don Dixon as an outstanding scholar in the discipline of marketing.