Marketing as a profession: on closing stakeholder gaps

Abstract

Historically, “closing the gap” or “bridging the divide” between marketing academe and marketing practice has been one of the most hotly debated issues in marketing. This article, based on the professional discipline view of marketing, maintains that the “gap” debate would be more informed by the identification of the multiple stakeholders of marketing academe, the explication of the duties and responsibilities of marketing academe to each group of stakeholders, and the evaluation of the extent to which marketing academe is fulfilling its duties and responsibilities.