Establishing a Value Mindset
The concept of value has been at the heart of the definition of marketing for more than a decade. Yet, while assessment models do exist for specific stakeholder or value actors (i.e. Woodruff, 1997; Kim & Park, 2002) or a combination of these such as the Triple Bottom Line (c.f. Elkinton, 1997), none of the existing aggregate models are complete in terms of assessing the value impact of all value actors identified within the current definition of marketing by the AMA, which includes customers, clients, partners and society. Additionally, most of the existing measurement tools use different criteria to measure value, making a combination of these in their current form extremely difficult if not impossible for any marketing practitioner. This has led to the current dilemma in the field of marketing, in that researchers and practitioners understand theoretically what marketing "is", but have not yet formulated a robust model or tool that enables them to effectively measure and capture the true value impact of any product or service today. The purpose of this presentation is to outline the definition of marketing value and outline a path forward towards the creation of an aggregate model for value measurement and management that can be easily applied by any business or government entity.