Drucker on Marketing: Lessons from the World's Most Influential Business Thinker

Chapter 11The Fundamental Marketing Decision

Early nineteenth century author Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It is not enough to be busy … the question is: What are we busy about?” Peter Drucker placed enormous emphasis on the answer to this question of what are we, or should we, be busy about. He framed this answer as determining the real business of an organization, “To think through and define the specific purpose and mission of the institution, whether business enterprise, hospital, or university.”¹

Drucker saw this as a basic responsibility of any manager of any business. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize that it is also the basic marketing decision. It was one of the first lessons I learned from Drucker, and I learned this lesson ...