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

Chapter 19Drucker’s Five Deadly Marketing Sins

From 1975 to 1995 Drucker wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal. On October 21, 1993, his column was titled “The Five Deadly Business Sins.”¹ It was important enough that he incorporated it into his book Managing in a Time of Great Change,² and the Wall Street Journal published the article again in 2005. It could have been called “The Five Deadly Marketing Sins” because four of his five deadly “business” sins had to do with marketing directly and the last was an issue that marketers can hardly ignore. Here they are. Judge for yourself:

1. Seeking high profit margins and premium pricing

2. Charging what the market will bear

3. Using cost-driven pricing

4. Focusing on past winners

5. Giving problems ...