Philip Kotler

Early life

Both of Kotler's parents, Betty and Maurice, emigrated in 1917 from Ukraine and settled in Chicago, where Kotler was born on May 27, 1931. He studied at DePaul University for two years and was accepted without a bachelor's degree into the Master's program at the University of Chicago (1953) and his PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1956), earning both degrees in economics. He studied under three Nobel Laureates in Economic Science: Milton Friedman, Paul Samuelson, and Robert Solow. He did a year of postdoctoral work in mathematics at Harvard University and in behavioral science at the University of Chicago.

Views about marketing

Kotler started teaching marketing in 1962 at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He believed marketing was an essential part of economics and saw demand as influenced not only by price but also by advertising, sales promotions, sales forces, direct mail, and various middlemen (agents, retailers, wholesalers, etc.) operating as sales and distribution channels.

Philip Kotler holds that:

"the organization's marketing task is to determine the needs, wants and interests of target markets and to achieve the desired results more effectively and efficiently than competitors, in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer's or society's well-being."

He links the profit motive to the satisfaction of consumer wants and society's well-being. In order to market effectively, Kotler believes the marketing purpose of elevating consumer well-being has to be put at the heart of company strategy and be practiced by all managers.

In 2003, the Financial Times cited Kotler's three major contributions to marketing and to management:

First, he has done more than any other writer or scholar to promote the importance of marketing, transforming it from a peripheral activity, bolted on to the more "important" work of production. Second, he continued a trend started by Peter Drucker, shifting emphasis away from price and distribution to a greater focus on meeting customers' needs and on the benefits received from a product or service. Third, he has broadened the concept of marketing from mere selling to a more general process of communication and exchange, and has shown how marketing can be extended and applied to charities, arts organizations, political parties and many other non-commercial situations.

Kotler argued for broadening the field of marketing to cover not only commercial operations but also the operations of non-profit organizations and government agencies. He held that marketing can be applied not only to products, services, and experiences, but also to causes, ideas, persons, and places. Thus a museum needs the marketing skills of Product, Price, Place, and Promotion (the 4P's) if it is to be successful in attracting visitors, donors, staff members, and public support. Kotler and Gerald Zaltman created the field of social marketing, which applies marketing theory to influence behavior change that would benefit consumers, their peers, and society as a whole. Kotler and Sidney Levy developed the idea of demarketing, which organizations must employ to reduce overall or selective demand when demand is too high. Thus, when water is in short supply, the government needs to persuade various water consumers to reduce water usage so that enough water will be available for essential uses.

Writings and activities

In 1967, Kotler published Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, and Control, now in its 15th edition, and the world's most widely adopted textbook in graduate schools of business. Whereas previous marketing textbooks were highly descriptive, this text was the first to draw on economic science, organizational theory, psychology of behavior and choice, and analytics. It described theory and practice, and drew on findings from empirical studies and cases. On December 9, 1996, the Financial Times cited Marketing Management as one of the 50 greatest business books of all time.

Kotler is the author and co-author of over 150 published articles and 60 books, [1], [2]

Kotler has also written books on such subjects as corporate social responsibility, education, environment, government marketing, healthcare, hospitality, innovation, museums, performing arts, place marketing, poverty alleviation, professional services, religious institutions, tourism, capitalism, and democracy.

Kotler was invited to be the first Legend in Marketing. His published articles are presented, analyzed, and commented on in the nine-volume Legends in Marketing Series: Philip Kotler, edited by Professor Jagdish Sheth.

In 2014, he started a blog on fixcapitalism.com that featured many articles on making capitalism work better for more people.

In 2016, he became an advisor to The Marketing Journal, an online site dedicated to sharing insights and next practices in marketing.

Honorable distinctions

In 1975, Kotler was the first person to receive the "Leader in Marketing Thought" award voted on by the academic members of the American Marketing Association.

The Financial Times on November 18, 2005 surveyed 1,000 executives in 25 countries about the Most Influential Business Writers/Management Gurus, and Kotler ranked fourth after Peter Drucker, Bill Gates, and Jack Welch. Kotler's contributions are described in at least one chapter found in every book written about the "gurus" of business and management (see References below).

On February 16, 2013, he was the first recipient of the William L. Wilkie "Marketing for a Better World" award from the American Marketing Association to "honor marketers who have significantly contributed to the understanding and appreciation for marketing's potential to improve the world." Also, in 2013 he was the first recipient of the Sheth Foundation Medal for Exceptional Contribution to Marketing Scholarship and Practice.

On November 7, 2013, Kotler received the Badge of Honor of Officer of the Order of Academic Palms established in France in the 19th Century.

On November 19, 2013, Kotler was inducted into the Management Hall of Fame, along with 10 other management gurus(see www.thinkers50.com/hall-of-fame/.

On March 1, 2014, Kotler is number 16 in the list of the 30 World's Top Management Professionals and the only marketer.

on May 28, 2014, Kotler is inducted in the Marketing Hall of Fame in New York City.

On April 23, 2016, Kotler received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Leaders International at the 6th Global Leadership Awards.

Kotler is also the founder of the World Marketing Summit, whose annual international conferences are dedicated to finding ways to improve marketing, human conditions and the quality of life. He also co-established the world's first Museum of Marketing (3.0) in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia..

Kotler has received 20 honorary degrees from around the world, (at Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Athens School of Economics, BI Norwegian School of Management, Budapest School of Economic Science and Public Administration, Catholic University Santo Domingo, DePaul University, Cracow School of Economics, Groupe HEC, HHL Graduate School of Management, Iliria University, Mackenzin University, Mediterranean University, National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Nyenrode Business University, Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics, Universidad Americana, Universidad del Pacifico, University American College, University of Bucharest, University of Stockholm, and University of Zurich)

Family

Philip has two brothers, Milton and Neil. Philip met Nancy Kellum at Radcliffe (Harvard) and they married in 1955. They have three daughters, Amy, Melissa and Jessica and nine grandchildren.

Selected publications

"Guru" books that contain a complete chapter on Professor Kotler's contributions include such titles as: