Every now and then it is worth looking back at how earlier generations thought of marketing. (Or anything else really). There can be a lot to learn — although you often have to cope with some old-fashioned ideas and terminology. An interesting early piece is by Edward C. Bursk which was about viewing customers as…
Sustainable Corporate Responsibility
Caroline Ditlev-Simonsen has a guide to Sustainable Corporate Responsibility. This covers much of what anyone could hope to read as a summary/introduction to the topic. The author covers the ethics of sustainability, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, stakeholder management, and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) reporting amongst other things. There is a lot of interesting…
The Impact Of Sustainable Business
One of the big problems in life is understanding achievements. We often find it fairly simple to look at the resources devoted to some activity. This isn’t always a terrible thing to look at because a pretty good correlation can exist between resource input and good things happening. Yet, this connection is far from perfect….
Time To Get Past Malthus
When reading pieces on sustainability you often see references to Thomas Malthus. He was an 18/19th century English economist and clergyman. Weirdly, it is often people who would class themselves as progressive who seem to cite him most. Why? It seems like a bad habit that people can’t quit despite the fact that it really…
The ROI Of Customer Engagement
One of the biggest challenges in marketing and associated fields is measuring the ROI (Return On Investment) of an activity. Trying to find a meaningful number for the ROI of customer engagement is a Herculean task. Maybe they’ll be a prize at the end but you’ll have to clear out a lot of shit before…
Management Accounting Ideas In Business
It is always interesting to see where ideas come from. Therefore, I was interested to read Johnson and Kaplan’s history of management accounting; Relevance Lost. This noted how a few important accounting ideas in business developed. Du Pont Return On Investment Model F. Donaldson Brown developed one of the most impressive views of business that…
The Responsible Company
Patagonia are well-known as a company with a mission. You have to admire that even if you don’t subscribe to the mission. Being known for something is vital to effective marketing. The founder, and his nephew, give their thoughts on what the responsible company means. What does it look like? How does it act? Responsible…
Customer Equity Statements And Financial Reporting
Think of a brilliant move in soccer. The player shows great vision, and excellent passing. There is some fantastic build up play where lots of people are involved. The movement shows amazing promise and then someone slips and blasts the ball miles away from the goal. To my mind that is where we are in…
Business Ideas Change
Reading history gives you an understanding that things change. (Often for the better, see here and here, but that isn’t the point of today’s post). Here I just want to note how business ideas change. This is important to remember. What we advocate now might be thought weird, quaint, or barbaric in the future. The…
Management Accounting For Marketers
Marketers often want to make the case that accounting does not treat marketing well. I have good news for marketers, there is a major group of accountants who (should) agree with you. There are accountants who feel that financial accounting standards have subverted their discipline. Managerial accountants, whose job it is to deal with internal…
