On a Theory of Markets and Marketing: From Positively Normative to Normatively Positive

Abstract

Marketing science is built on a foundation of economic science, which in turn is founded on Adam Smith's normative notions of how to create national wealth in the context of industrialization, rather than on a positive theory of economic exchange. This paper explores the formation of economic theory, discuss its role as a foundation for marketing theory, suggest the need for a positive theory of the market that is relatively independent of economic theory, and point towards a possible path for its development.