Giving voice to marketing's intellectual heritage: Dixon's view of marketing as value creation

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate Donald F. Dixon's contribution to scholarship in clarifying two parallel streams of thought on marketing's role in value creation: value in use and value in exchange.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a literary analysis of some of Dixon's work that is often overlooked, and a discussion of its relevance to the services, channels and marketing strategy literature.

Findings

Dixon's distinction between the two streams of thought (“value in use” and “value in exchange”) clarifies an important aspect of marketing's intellectual heritage that has eluded the literature on services marketing, channels and marketing strategy. The consequences of this oversight are considerable.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on an aspect of Dixon's work that is underappreciated and not widely understood.

Citation

Pirog, S.F. and Smith, M.F. (2011), "Giving voice to marketing's intellectual heritage: Dixon's view of marketing as value creation", Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 67-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/17557501111102427