Professor Kotler, recognized as one of the world’s leading marketing thinkers, has been called The Father of Modern Marketing.

When in 1967 Professor Kotler published his groundbreaking book Marketing Management, now in its 16th edition, he changed the perception of marketing forever. He elevated the field of marketing, adding flesh and blood to what economists started, and turned it into a serious discipline. Ninety books later, Professor Kotler continues to impress and educate. Anyone who has studied marketing has read him, and some very lucky few have been able to attend his classes at the Kellogg School of Management.

In our conversation with this Marketing Legend, Professor Kotler explained his view that business exists primarily to serve. Making money is only a secondary factor. He also explores the evolution of the 4 P’s into the 7 P’s, which he will be publishing soon. In our stimulating conversation, he told us that it was his early exploration of equity and wealth distribution that led him to the field of marketing. We also discovered his mentors, including Peter Drucker, his hero. Take a listen to Kotler’s definition of the “Wicked Seven” problems that face us today, and hear why he believes there are “many rooms in the Mansion of Marketing.”

Philip Kotler is known around the world as the “father of modern marketing.” For over 50 years he has taught at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Kotler’s book Marketing Management is the most widely used textbook in marketing around the world. This is his story – How a Ph.D. economist from M.I.T. became the world’s leading marketing authority, the Father of Modern Marketing.

Philip Kotler is the S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the J. L. Kellogg School of Management. He has been honored as one of the world’s leading marketing thinkers. He received his M.A. degree in economics (1953) from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. degree in economics (1956) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), and has received honorary degrees from 22 universities including Stockholm University, the University of Zurich, Athens University of Economics and Business, Budapest School of Economics and Administrative Science, the Kracow School of Business and Economics, and DePaul University.

He is author of over one hundred and fifty articles and 90 books, including Principles of Marketing, Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations, Social Marketing, Marketing Places, The Marketing of Nations, Confronting Capitalism, Democracy in Decline, and Advancing the Common Good. His research covers strategic marketing, consumer marketing, business marketing, professional services marketing, and e-marketing. He has been a consultant to IBM, General Electric, AT&T, Bank of America, Merck, Motorola, Ford, and others. He has lectured several times in Italy, Sweden, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and many other countries.

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