The Hindu Business Line : The Messiah of marketing

When the topic of discussion is marketing, there is only one name that springs immediately to mind. This person has, over the past four decades, established a reputation for himself as the "Father of Marketing".

As the first person to define marketing as a field, he has achieved iconic status in countries all over the world including Indonesia, where his invaluable contributions have led to a postage stamp being brought out in his honour. His book Marketing Management: Application, Planning, Implementation and Control (1967), now in its twelfth edition, is widely considered to be the `bible' of marketing. As his colleague at Kellogg, I have had the privilege of working with this "living legend" of marketing.

Transition into marketing

Now, it is my turn to welcome him to Indian shores... Philip Kotler says he has had "a 38-year-old romance with marketing." Although his name is now inseparable from marketing, Kotler started off his career as an economist. Working with such doyens of economics as Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman, he trained at the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Feeling that the role of price, distribution, advertising and promotion were oversimplified by economists, Kotler made the transition into marketing. His belief that marketing was not a peripheral activity, but rather a central activity that is very much integrated with the manufacturing of products and services was the central tenet of his initial research.

Philip Kotler then went on to innovate in this field, and the rest as they say is history. Kotler not only stuck to marketing products and services for profit-oriented organisations, but also helped design strategies to market individuals, non-profit organizations, political parties and even nations. Kotler is someone I would term as the `eternal student'. His insatiable desire to learn new things is infectious, and this combined with a keen eye for spotting talent has taken him places. Kotler's passion for sharing is as big as his passion for learning. I would compare him to an escalator. He thrives on sharing knowledge and at the same time, gains a lot from people's thoughts and experiences.

Total Quality management

Kotler advocates "Social Learning" as much as he advocates "Social Marketing". Being an `operations' man, I can't help but relate Philip Kotler's marketing thought to TQM. Total Quality Management advocates that `quality' must be at the heart of an organisation and that every person in the organisation must work with `quality' in mind. In a similar manner, Kotler prescribes that marketing must be the philosophy of every person in the organisation. In his life, Philip Kotler's role models are the late Dr Peter Drucker and Dr Don Jacobs. Drucker is widely considered to be the father of modern management, and Kotler draws his inspiration from Drucker to constantly innovate and come up with new ideas. When people call Kotler the father of marketing, he once quipped "Peter Drucker is the Father of Management. For many of us, he is our role model, continually generating new ideas and refining old ones. I regard it as a compliment when some people call me the Father of Marketing. I tell them that if this is the case, then Peter Drucker is the Grandfather of marketing".

India association

The other person whom Philip Kotler always looked up to was Dr Don Jacobs, a former dean of Kellogg Graduate School of Business. Don provided the impetus to Kotler's cause, providing him with all the support he needed to kick off his research. In my view, it is these two people who are behind the success of the man they call `the greatest marketer of all time'.

Kotler's association with India goes back to the 1960s, when as a young agricultural economist, he came to India to do research. Staying here for close to three months, Kotler fell in love with the country and its people. He recognises the talent of this country and has either directly or indirectly helped a plethora of graduates of Indian origin in their doctoral work.

This week, Kotler would be visiting India at the request of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai. Kotler is also on the advisory board of Great Lakes and takes keen interest in the running of the school. During his visit, he would be addressing the students of Great Lakes and also work on his research on the success of the IT industry in India, a venture jointly undertaken with the Great Lakers. A Kotler-Srinivasan chair for marketing is also to be set up at the institute. Dr "Seenu" Srinivasan is the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The chair aims to use Dr Kotler's expertise and Dr Srinivasan's skill in `creating marketing'.

In all, his contribution to the world of marketing has been immense, and it is only right that those who benefited from this man's great vision memorialise his contribution to the field. On August 12, a huge `Roast and Toast' event is to happen in the US for Philip Kotler. The event will also include an announcement that money has been raised for the building of a `Kotler Research Centre' at Kellogg. This would be an edifice to memorialise his contribution to marketing. I believe that this is a great opportunity for the Indian Diaspora to interact with the guru of Marketing.

"Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. It is the art of creating genuine customer value." — Philip Kotler

(The writer is Founder and Honorary Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management, and J.L. Kellogg Distinguished Professor in Accounting, Information and Management.)