The Marketing Theories of my Organization and Consumer Choice

It is not surprising that the marketing theories I choose as my preference, both personal and in the workplace are those of the Interactive-Noneconomic school of thought, as Jagdish Sheth, David Gardner, and Dennis Garrett discuss in their book Marketing Theory: Evolution and Evaluation (1988, p.20). Since I have no experience in the field of economics, and as my personal impetus in business is driven by social relationships, the Systems School of thought and the Social Exchange School of Thought seem very natural to me.
In my organization The International College of Integrative Medicine our marketing strategy is based on a complex web of systems. We maneuver our outreach as part of the constantly changing systems of political change, public perception of heath care, and personal networks of colleagues and companies who support the learning of integrative medicine as a legitimate alternative to conventional medical practice.
To measure the accuracy of the school of thought I identified, I used Sheth Gardner and Garrett’s quote of Kazt and Kahn’s characteristics of Systems from their book The Social Psychology of Organizations (Marketing Theory, 1988, p.163). In ICIM we depend on the importation of energy from the wider environment, which comes in the form of ideological passion and commitment from both the public and doctors whom we serve. We transform that energy into conferences it can be organized into formal learning and scientific information, conferences which are our product. We experience cycles of events, both in terms of our conference planning and advertising, as well as cycles of our industry emphasis and interest. We fight constantly against negative entropy, and depend on feedback and new information, using extensive coding. Our organization works for stability as it endures attacks and disruptions from forces outside our system. We have a great need for differentiation between our work and other similar institutions, and we spend time and energy discussing our unique specialization. Finally we do take a variety of paths to achieve our ends, both in external marketing and in internal management.
In my personal life as a consumer, I am most easily influenced by the Social Exchange School of Thought, also categorized by Sheth, Gardner and Garrett as an Interactive-Noneconomic school (Marketing Theory, 1988, p.20). Though this way of thinking is controversial (p. 28), I hope it is the way of the future of business, as our culture evolves to a more local, small scale mode of economic exchange, responding to world-wide crisis of energy sources and political chaos.
As I choose what products to buy, I have a strong regional perspective, but the focus on the distance between the maker and the buyer is not based on marketing ease, but on that social contract in the relationship in the context of culture and society. I would consistently prefer to buy products from people I know than from any other source.
Interestingly, I had to admit after reading about the Social Exchange School of Thought, that this preference extends not just to makers that I know, but also to companies that I perceive that I know or have a social relationship with. For example, I have a brand loyalty to Celestial Seasonings Tea. I can trace this to the fact that I have toured the factory, read about the history of the founder, and consider myself socially invested in the company. As the authors point out, I exhibit several of the determinants of exchange relationships with Celestial Seasonings (Sheth, Gardner and Garrett, Marketing Theory 1988, p.175). I have the social actor variable of being attracted and identifying with the art in the packaging, my visit to the factory provides a social influence variable, and I enjoy a situational variable of having the tea readily available, unique and psychologically comforting.
Though I certainly perceive threads of influence from the Regional, Managerial, Activist and Macromarketing Schools of Thought, Systems and Social Exchange are the key concepts for me to understand the role of marketing in my work and personal life. I am glad to have stayed awake long enough to learn about them!