Marketing, a subject that I dearly love, needs to be reformulated in terms of its purpose and constraints. Otherwise, marketing will continue to work at cross-purposes with the growing societal need for achieving sustainability.
Marketing’s normal purpose is to help companies increase their sales. Coca Cola marketers work to convince customers to buy and consume more Coca Cola. Boeing marketers work to convince airlines to buy and fly more airplanes. These “growth marketers” will be judged and rewarded on how much sales growth they achieve.
The problem is that producing and selling more Coca Cola or more Boeing airplanes will…
Historically, companies benefitted by supporting the policies of the Republican Party. Republicans kept government small, favored fewer regulations on business, treated free markets as sacrosanct, said “no” to deficit spending, and protected the interests of the rich. These policies are still favored by most businesses.
Yet this business legacy produces company blind spots regarding which current legislative proposals would benefit businesses versus hurt them. Here is a brief copy of the proposals of the Biden administration:
“The American Jobs Plan is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure, and position the United…
On June 1, 2021, Paul Krugman wrote a column entitled “Can the Rich Pay for a Better America?” He pointed out that President Biden said that the $5 trillion in new spending on the next decade would be paid for by old and new revenue streams. Biden would rely on getting higher receipts from corporations and high-income individuals. Biden promised that he would not raise taxes on households making less than $400,000 a year. He would not raise taxes on the middle class.
The question is whether enough new receipts could come from corporations and individuals. Under former President Trump’s…
Philip Kotler
May 10, 2021
The CEOs of our major companies are exceptionally smart and able persons. Boards of Directors search hard for the best management leader whose decisions will affect thousands of lives of consumers, employees, suppliers, distributors and communities.
In this century, the Republican Party has been the party of business interests. CEOs have fully supported minimum size government, lowest taxes on corporations and individuals, and fewest regulations of corporate activities. CEOs want maximum power to pursue their shareholder interests without government interference. Their cry is for “free market Capitalism.” Corporations have benefitted from neoliberalism economics articulated from…
Philip Kotler
April 25, 2021
There is so much talk today about America’s standing in the world. For a long period, the U.S. was viewed as the most powerful nation in the world. The U.S. had the most wealth, the largest military, the highest standard of living, the best universities, the most democracy. Its historical Presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt (all shown on Mount Rushmore) were inspired men who practiced the highest constitutional and moral ideas. More foreign people are clamoring to immigrate and get into the U.S. than into any other country.
The U.S…
November 17, 2021
Philip Kotler
Recently, several state legislatures have been passing tighter voting laws, some of which might make it more difficult for certain American to vote. Georgia’s legislature made it harder to do absentee voting and gives the Georgia legislature more control over the voting process. President Joe Biden labeled Georgia’s legislative actions ”Jim Crow in the 21st century.” Two major companies headquartered in Atlanta — Delta Airlines and Coca Cola — viewed these new voter laws as too restrictive and anti-democratic. These companies publicly called the new laws “unacceptable.” …
March 30, 2021
Why The U.S. Must Press for Disarmament
Philip Kotler
The future of the world will be determined by three countries: United States, China and Russia. These three countries are actively engaged in arms buildup. The U.S. spends the largest annual budget on arms buildup, only second is China and then Russia. Each country justifies its arms buildup as a defense measure in response to the level of arms buildup by the other two.
If the three countries could reach an agreement to simultaneously lower their defense budgets, they could more quickly pursue their own national goals to…
Philip Kotler
American corporations are on a constant search for new business success models. The technological, economic, social and political worlds have been changing so fast that many companies are in danger of being left behind. They would prefer to carry on business as usual but they know that this would be courting suicide. Kodak ran a high profit film business for 50 years but failed to adjust fast enough to the new digital world and it went bankrupt. At the same time, Sears, K-Mart and other great businesses are now “has-beens.”
Companies are experiencing the disruptive forces caused by…
Philip Kotler
Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch company founded by William Lever in 1870. Lever defined the mission of Lever Brothers “to make cleanliness commonplace and lessen the load for women.” In trying to make life easier for women, Lever could be seen as an early feminist.
Today Unilever is 151 years old. Like any long surviving company, Unilever showed that it could ride through both good and bad times.
I have followed Unilever’s recent history during the brilliant leadership of CEO Paul Polman (2008–2018). Paul became CEO in 2008 with the aim of bringing Unilever into the 21st century. He…
Philip Kotler
February 20, 2021
Are American workers feeling satisfied in their jobs? Do they look forward to each working day? Do they feel adequately and fairly paid for their work?
Studies of American workers toward their jobs reveal a disturbing finding: Over half of U.S. workers are unhappy in their jobs.[1]
If they are unhappy, what are the main causes? Some workers find their jobs boring or mind destroying. They see these jobs as dead-ends. Some workers suffer from a bad boss or bad coworkers. The job involves a lot of stress without any breaks. The job presents safety…
