Marketing and 21^st Century Technological Challenges: The Need for Curricula Review

Abstract

Marketing had over the years served the dominant function of bridging the gap between production and consumption through a conceptualized, well structured programme of academic instructions. The dominant logic has been a model of exchange, but today new perspectives have emerged with a revised logic focused on the exchange but through technical and conceptual blending of marketing skills. The authors believed that the new perspectives are converging to present a challenge to marketing scholars, practitioners and marketing educators in fostering scholarly enquiry into the academic programme of universities and indeed determine its ability to meet the 21^st century challenges in the global marketplace. It is our fervent hope that this will help our universities particularly of the developing and third world economies in the updating of their marketing curricula so that marketing graduates will be better prepared for many of the jobs available in this 21^st century; and approach them with sophistication. This in a way is to catch up with global best practices. Therefore, moving to a technology orientation which this paper recommends clearly implies significant shift in focus and integration of syllabi.

Keywords: Marketing, technology, curricula, integration