Biography - Wroe Alderson

This is another in a series of biographical guides that are largely bibliographic in nature and which are intended to introduce students of business and management to significant scholars in those fields. Generally we track down sources that are often widely scattered and aggregate them in one convenient spot. In the case of Wroe Alderson, the task has already been performed for us by Ben Wooliscroft, Robert D. Tamilia and Stanley J. Shapiro, who are the editors of A Twenty-First Century Guide to Aldersonian Marketing Thought.

It is their intention "to familiarize a new generation of marketing scholars with the life, the writings and the intellectual legacy of Wroe Alderson, unquestionably the pre-eminent marketing theorist of the mid-twentieth century." In addition, they "consider him as important to the marketing discipline as Keynes was to economics or Taylor to early management thought" [emphases ours].

To learn more about Alderson, simply pick up A Twenty-First Century Guide to Aldersonian Marketing Thought. It provides thorough biographical information and reproduces many articles written by Alderson. As well, there is a complete Alderson bibliography as well as a list of resources about Alderson.

What do we contribute? Apart from calling your attention to the book, we reproduce below a complete table of contents for it so you can see what it contains. Second, we provide a list of all of the books by Alderson in the collections of the Western Libraries. Third, we offer a list of articles that are available to members of the Westerrn/Ivey community electronically though the journals archived on ProQuest's ABI/INFORM. And last, we will alert you to the fact that some of the same articles and some others, as well as a few reviews by Alderson are also found electronically on JSTOR. For example see: "Statistical Training for Market Research" which is found in the American Statistician for 1953 and "A Systematics for the Problems of Action" that is in the 1951 volume of Philosophy of Science. For assistance with either database or for suggestions about other resources, consult with library staff.

A Twenty-first Century Guide to Aldersonian Marketing Thought,
edited by Ben Wolliscroft, Robert D. Tamlia & Stanley J. Shapiro.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Wroe Alderson: The Man
Part II: Alderson's Theory of Market Behavior - Selected Writings
2. Introduction to Part II - Ben Wooliscroft
3. Toward a Theory of Marketing , Wroe Alderson, Reavis Cox.
4. The Analytical Framework for Marketing, Wroe Alderson
5. Survival and Adjustment in Organized Behavior Systems, Wroe Alderson
6.Survival and Growth of Systems, Wroe Alderson
7. The Power Principle, Wroe Alderson
8. Marketing Efficiency and the Principle of Postponement, Wroe Alderson
9. Competition for Differential Advantage, Wroe Alderson
10. Matching and Sorting: The Logic of Exchange, Wroe Alderson
11. Introduction to Functionalism, Wroe Alderson
12. Functionalism: Descriptive and Normative, Wroe Alderson
13. The Heterogeneous Market and the Organized Behavior System, Wroe Alderson
14. Information Flows in Heterogeneous Markets, Wroe Alderson
15. Transactions and Transvections, Wroe Alderson
16. Cooperation and Conflict in Marketing Channels, Wroe Alderson
Part III: Wroe Alderson- Writings on Management Practice and Ethical Behavior
17. Introduction to Part III, Stanley J. Shapiro
18. Alderson, Sessions and the 1950's Manager, Robert F. Lusch
19. A Basic Guide to Market Planning, Wroe Alderson
20. Researcher Finds a Void in Freud...Advertisers Urged to Follow Path of Rational Problem Solving Rather than of Instinctive Drives, Wroe Alderson
21. Ethics, Ideologies and Sanctions, Wroe Alderson
22. The American Economy and Christian Ethics, Wroe Alderson
23. Planning and Problem Solving in Marketing: A Book Review, Arnold E. Amstutz
Part IV: Commentaries on Aldersonian Marketing
24. Introduction to Part IV, Robert D. Tamilia
25. Alderson and Chamberlin, E. T. Grether
26. Alderson's General Theory of Marketing: A Formalization, Shelby D. Hunt,
James A. Muncy, Nina M. Ray
27. Marketing Behavior and Entrepreneurship: A Syntehsis of Alderson and Austrian Economics, W. Duncan Reekie, Ronald Savitt
28. An Alternative Paradigm for Marketing Theory, D. F. Dixon, I. F. WIlkinson
29. Alderson's transvection and Porter's value system, Richard L. Priem, Abdul M. A. Rasheed, Shaharzad Amirani
Part V: Commentaries on Alderson the Marketer
30. Introduction to Part V, Stanley J. Shapiro
31. The Wroe Alderson I Knew, Micahel Halbert
32. Wroe ALderson as Academic EntrepreneurL The Wharton Years, Stanley J. Shapiro
33. Toward a General Theory of Marketing: Resource-Advantage Theory as an Extension of Alderson, Shelby D. Hunt, Dennis B. Arnett
34. Placing Alderson and His Contributions to Marketing in Historical Perspective, Robert D. Tamilia
35. Wroe Alderson's Vision Renewed and Rehabilitated: Social Structures and Marketing Theories, Alf H. Walle
36. To Teach or Not to Teach Alderson? There is No Question, Ian Wilkinson, Louise Young
37. List of Publications by Wroe Alderson, TRobert D. Tamilia, Ben Wooliscroft, Stanley J. Shapiro
38. Authors Who Have Commented on Aldersonian Marketing Thought, Robert D. Tamilia, Ben Wooliscroft, Stanley J. Shapiro
Index

Alderson, Wroe, and Miles W. Martin. "Toward a Formal Theory of Transactions and Transvections." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), May 1965, Vol 2, Iss 2, p.117.

"Biography on Charles Coolidge Parlin." Journal of Marketing, 1956. Vol. 21; p. 1

"A Formula for Measuring Productivity in Distribution." Journal of Marketing, Apr 1948. Vol. 12, Iss. 4; p. 442

"Marketing Classification of Families." Journal of Marketing, Oct 1941. Vol. 6, Iss. 2; p. 143

"A Marketing View of Competition." Journal of Marketing, Oct 1941. Vol. 6, Iss. 2; p. 143

"The Marketing Viewpoint in National Economic Planning." Journal of Marketing, Apr 1943. Vol. 7, Iss.4; p. 326

"Perspectives on the Planning Process." The Journal of the Academy of Management, Dec 1959. Vol. 2, Iss. 3; p. 181

"Psychology for Marketing and Economics." Journal of Marketing, Jul 1952-Apr 1953. Vol. 17, Iss. 1; p. 119

"Quantity Limits and the New Economic Policy." Journal of Marketing, Jul 1952-Apr 1953. Vol. 17, Iss. 1; p. 56

"Scope and Place of Wholesaling in the United States." Journal of Marketing, Sep 1949. Vol. 14, Iss. 2; p. 145

"The Study of Society: A Unified Approach." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), Feb 1964. Vol. 1, Iss.1; p. 72

"Towards a Theory of Marketing." Journal of Marketing, Feb 1964. Vol. 1, Iss.1; p. 72

"Commentary." Management Science, Oct 1965. Vol. 12, Iss. 2; p. B6

"Here's how Stores Will Face it." Nation's Business (pre-1986), Nov 1955. Vol. 43, Iss. 11; p. 85.

"Mass Audience Capable of Improvement in Taste." Business and Society, Autumn 1962. Vol. 3, Iss. 1; p. 25

"Review 11 -- no Title." Journal of Marketing, Jul 1950. Vol. 15, Iss. 1; p. 112.

"Review 4 -- no Title." Management Science, Apr 1962. Vol. 8, Iss. 3; p. 375.

For more biographical profiles see here.
For additional"pioneers of marketing thought" see here.