Marketing as an evolving discipline: emerging paradigms and managerial implications

Since its beginnings, the marketing discipline has been evolving through different stages and is further developing given the industry challenges such as globalization and technological impacts of the 21st century. Analyzing the attached evolution of consumer behavior and consumption patterns, this paper aims to define how the upcoming years will shape the marketing discipline. After a review of literature, a trend pyramid is established in order to define the most relevant changes from macro environmental, social, emotional and spiritual perspectives. In a two-round Delphi study, seven experts have been interviewed about their personal opinion on marketing evolutions. Finally, the study merges the key insights into four main streams resulting in managerial recommendations for marketers.