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In the marketing literature it is often argued that corporations should pay attention to the needs and wants not only of their own customers, but also to those of their customers' customers. This is often referred to as “the marketing concept”. The objective is to revitalize the marketing concept beyond the traditional levels of manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, customers and consumers in marketing channels.

Conceptual discussion and approach are undertaken.

The term “spherical marketing concept” is coined. This term connects the distinct upstream and downstream levels of marketing channels, as well as reconnecting their indistinct subsequent and preceding levels.

The dilemma with the common use of the marketing concept in the literature is that it fails to acknowledge the simultaneous connection of the components and interfaces between the upstream and downstream distinct levels from the start to the end of the marketing channels with the reconnection of the components and interfaces from the subsequent and preceding indistinct levels of the marketing channels. Further research efforts should be dedicated to bridge the start and end of distinct levels of marketing channels by way of the indistinct preceding and subsequent ones. Economic, social and ecological factors should be included.

It is not enough simply to match the supply and demand between the start and the end of marketing channels – a revitalization of the boundaries of the marketing concept towards a total circulation approach is necessary. Best practice tends to be more and more aware and skilful in this respect.

The spherical marketing concept contributes to pin‐point the importance of the seamlessness, sustainability and total circulation of components and interfaces in marketing channels. It also contributes to place current theories and practices in perspective for the future.

The perceptions of 497 consumers of the various philosophies involved in the evolution of marketing thought — product, selling, marketing and societal marketing concepts are examined. Results show that the sample fails to delineate the subtle distinctions between the product, marketing and societal marketing concepts, and support is lent to the view that if the marketing concept is to be more broadly implemented, product and social dimensions found within the definitional domain of the product and societal marketing concepts should be encompassed to establish a wider marketing‐oriented philosophy.

The contemporary relevance of the traditional marketing concept is a source of continuing debate as marketers question its universal application across all situations. In the past, the emergence of the societal marketing concept and the marketing warfare metaphor represent challenges to the veracity of the marketing concept. It is argued that the continuing relevance of the marketing concept and the emergence of alternative paradigms can be linked to changes in the operating environments of firms or industries. The traditional marketing concept finds application in relatively placid, benign environments which characterised post‐war economies and markets. The emergence of the “societal marketing concept” can be linked to the emergence of turbulent environments which found expression in the consumerist and ecological movements in the 1970s. More recently, a new emphasis has emerged with the growing recognition of the importance of competitive forces in imperfectly competitive markets and the inadequacy of the marketing concept in such environments. These changing operating environments are examined, arguing that the traditional marketing concept is applicable in “placid clustered” environments, as described by Emery and Trist. Finally, the examples of three contemporary Australian industries are discussed to illustrate the relevance of the argument.

In marketing literature often it is argued that the marketer should pay attention to the customers’ needs and wants in order to achieve and maintain successful business relationships. This fundamental approach is often referred to as the “marketing concept” and is one of the most important and famous concepts ever developed in marketing literature. The article describes a proposed generic deficiency in the usage of the marketing concept in marketing literature. It is also proposed that there is a necessity to extend the marketing concept towards the perspective of a holistic marketing channel context. Therefore, it is argued that the point of departure, in any marketing process of theory building, modeling, and development of conceptual frameworks in marketing, must be from the customer’s perspective and eventually from the ultimate consumer’s perspective.

The generic concept of marketing was first articulated some twenty years ago. It has since become the dominant paradigm in the marketing discipline. The concept has been supported in the literature by extensive reference to case studies. However, no systematic attempt to test the concept as a whole has been reported.

Refers to the argument that examining political and electoral processes from a marketing perspective offers new insights into the behaviour of political parties. However, research into the marketing activities of political parties is still growing at this stage, and very few papers address the marketing orientation of political parties, while none address the marketing concept. Presents the findings of an exploratory research project carried out in Queensland. The results indicate that key political marketing decision makers within the party examined often have a limited understanding of the marketing concept. The researcher’s redefinition of the marketing concept into political terms received a high level of acceptance from certain groups of respondents within the study. Shows that the marketing concept with its customer centred orientation created a major concern from the perspective of the state executive decision‐making category interviewed in this study. This was so primarily because this key decision‐making category indicated the role and significance of the voter (customer) in developing the political product is negligible.

There is limited understanding of how businesses, particularly in a global context, activate the marketing concept in order to become market‐driven. A study was conducted to delineate the activation process in an international setting, and some of the facilitating and impeding factors. In‐depth interviews were conducted with executives of 22 subsidiaries of a multinational firm. Activation appeared to consist of interpreting, adopting and implementing the marketing concept. Implementation is itself a sequence of market intelligence activities. Greater adoption and implementation, as well as higher quality intelligence work, are tied to stronger organizational performance. Facilitators (e.g. top management commitment) and inhibitors (e.g. over‐emphasis on profits) were identified. Other dimensions also surfaced including the slow, top‐down path of adoption, national culture, and market competitiveness. Recommendations were made on enhancing activation success.

Service employees are reported to influence negatively the development of a market orientation hindering thus the service company's effort to become more customer centric. A way to overcome this barrier is the implementation of internal marketing (IM) programs. However, the extant literature reports that the number of companies practicing marketing internally is disproportionate small compared to the number of companies trying to adopt the market orientation concept. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to offer a preliminary insight regarding the antecedents of practicing marketing internally.

To do this, data were collected from 583 first‐line personnel from 29 five and four stars hotels in Greece through personal interviews in order to investigate the impact of company culture and internal‐market orientation (IMO) as antecedents of IM and investigate the effect that the company's culture, IMO and IM have on employee's job satisfaction at the individual's level.

The analysis involved multilevel SEM and demonstrates that the company's culture influences the adoption of the IMO concept, which in turn is an important antecedent to the implementation of IM programs. Moreover, employee's job satisfaction level is directly conditioned by the degree to which the company has adopted the IMO concept and practices IM, although the effect of the former is significantly stronger than the latter.

Various directions for future research open from this study, which address the limitations of this study while facilitating further understanding of how the adoption of the IMO concept can complement the company's espousal of marketing philosophy. For instance, although assessing the impact of the IMO concept adoption and IM practice on the adoption of a market orientation and on customer satisfaction is beyond the scope of the present study, future research towards this direction through an integrated conceptual framework would be particularly helpful and welcome.

The practical implication from this paper is that IM programs, in order to be effective, require that the company is willing to invest in adjusting its culture and also in adopting the IMO concept, which translates to investing in understanding what the employee's value, developing bidirectional communication channels and becoming responsive to the needs of its employees.

This is the first study addressing the role of company culture and IMO adoption as antecedents of IM programs. Hence, it makes a contribution for both scholars and practitioners alike since the former derive a more comprehensive framework of studying further the practice of marketing internally while the latter obtain a more pragmatic picture of the actions required prior to launching an IM program.

Introduction The terms “marketing concept” and “consumer sovereignty” have definite elements in common, but after a certain point they veer in separate directions. The focus of both concepts—the satisfaction of the consumer wants—is the same. The difference between the concepts arises mainly in the means (tools) used for the satisfaction of these wants. Even the origins of the concepts are not without significant meaning. While an academician, Adam Smith, is credited with the origination of the doctrine of consumer sovereignty, a business practitioner, Ralph Cordiner, is usually credited with the origination of the marketing concept. While businessmen have invariably, in their minds, adopted the doctrine of consumer sovereignty, they have moved beyond mere adoption in the case of the marketing concept and have been rationalising the necessity of implementing it in their day‐to‐day operations.

The proliferation of various interpretations of the marketing concept suggests a lack of unanimity as to its meaning. This article outlines five definitional “schools” of the marketing concept.