Editorial

Citation

McAuley, A. (1998), "Editorial", Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmpams.1998.15504aaa.001

Editorial

Welcome to the first Journal of Marketing Practice: Applied Marketing Science of 1998. This issue very much represents the transition between Malcolm McDonald, Mark Jenkins and myself as the incoming Editor. I'm pleased to say that Malcolm and Mark will continue to be linked to the journal as Founding Editors. This will provide a measure of continuity during a period of change, as I try to make my own contribution towards the character of the journal. I think my first word to Mark when asked how I felt about taking over as Editor was "challenging". However, it is one I look forward to and although it could be a daunting prospect I am also grateful to Rebecca Needham, as the Managing Editor, for providing guidance and to Mark for taking the time to explain the nitty-gritty of the process.

One article within this issue which I particularly wish to bring to your attention is "Customer or profit focus: an alternative perspective" by Carson, Gilmore and Maclaran. I have included this as the Editor's Choice, first, because I feel it raises an important area of debate at the boundaries of theory and practice and, second, because it evokes very strong, but diametrically opposed, opinions in the reviewers. The latter, for me, only reinforces the need to have this debate and allow readers to make up their own minds.

As a regular attendee at the meetings of the Marketing and Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group of the Academy of Marketing, it seems that often we end up debating the apparent gap between classic textbook marketing and its practice, particularly in smaller enterprises. Often this discussion is based on anecdotal evidence and while many accept that marketing in the smaller firm is different, too many of us return to our institutions and teach the more traditional marketing mantra. Whether the gap between theory and practice is real or imagined in these firms, it requires attention. Indeed it may be that the gap is only perceived by practitioners in smaller firms and that practitioners in larger firms are not alienated from mainstream marketing theory.

Carson, Gilmore and Maclaran succeed in questioning the value of a dogmatic customer-oriented approach and provide some conceptual ideas for us to focus on. In addition, the use by the authors of real-life scenarios, which strike an authentic note, evokes not only questions about the range of interpretations which can be placed on text but conveys something important about theory in practice.

This method also contributes to another area of interest for me, namely, the language we use to communicate to our audiences. As one of the reviewers pointed out "it has something to say to both practitioners and academics - it offers lessons in how to write for both". The authors, in a sense, are bridging the gap between practice and writing about practice. This, for me, opens up a very important issue, especially for a journal concerned so explicitly with theory and practice, namely, how do we as academics write in a way which communicates more effectively with a wider audience?

I sincerely hope that the questions raised and ideas put forward in this paper will lead to some debate in the pages of this journal in the future.

Andrew McAuley