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Human nature and the marketing concept

University of Otago, New Zealand, rlawson{at}business.otago.ac.nz

Ben Wooliscroft

University of Otago, New Zealand, bwooliscroft{at}business.otago.ac.nz

The marketing and sales orientations that are basic to our understanding of marketing history and also underlie distinctions about different company philosophies are considered in the light of the works of Hobbes and Rousseau. These philosophical treatises propose contrasting views of the essential nature of mankind that are similar to the implicit assumptions about buyer behaviour that underlie marketing and sales orientations. By extension, we propose that a case exists for the adoption of the marketing concept being considered as the equivalent to the Enlightenment for business practices. Renewed emphasis on the study of the mind in management theory adds weight to the need to make our assumptions about the nature of mankind explicit when we develop concepts and theories in marketing.

Key Words: enlightenment • human nature • marketing concept • marketing history

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