Reasonable as they might seem, the stakeholder arguments with respect to practitioneroriented research do not hold up under scrutiny. There is no self-evident relationship between lack of theory in a discipline and the ability to undertake research/consultancy for industry in marketing or elsewhere (Grey, 2001). There is mounting evidence, and there has been for some time, that marketing knowledge in its current form is not particularly valued by business. It has long been recognized that graduates of any discipline are recruited to marketing positions and the acquisition of professional examinations is not a prerequisite for a senior marketing appointment (Walker and Child, 1979). There is seemingly little relationship between marketing education and company performance (Hunt, 1995), and.
