With the celebration of the market and marketing as the neoliberalist panacea for solving all ills, something has gone wrong with the philosophy and practice of management. A few examples and a call for action.
Around the world, four billion people live in poverty. And western companies are struggling to turn them into customers.
– The Wall Street Journal (26 October 2009).
The aggressive zeal in this quotation portrays a “fine” possibility that poverty throws up for the corporate sector and the innovations that are required for the purpose. Wonderful numbers and fascinating possibilities attract the managers but they hide the p redicament faced by the poor the w orld over. Managerial literature and practitioners are euphoric about the p ossibilities, but the marketing decisions for the poor are made by the managers who do not have a holistic understanding of the reality of poverty and the consequential e ffects on the poor consumers remain ever u ncalculated.
