AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION

During the mid-1930s, the American Marketing Society (organized in 1931) and the National Association of Teachers of Marketing (founded in 1915) arrived at two realizations: both organizations held common interests in marketing, and many of their publications and memberships overlapped. Following such realizations, the idea of merging the groups became a reality in 1937 with the inception of the American Marketing Association (AMA).

The AMA is a professional, nonprofit organization for marketers with more than 500 North American professional chapters and worldwide membership (in ninety-two countries) in excess of 45,000. AMA also furthers students' professional development through approximately 400 collegiate chapters globally.

AMA was organized to advance marketing science and has always emphasized improving marketing management through marketing knowledge gained through researching, recording, and disseminating information. Today, AMA strives to encourage greater interest in and concern for education, to assist marketing professionals in their efforts toward personal and career development, and to promote integration of ethical considerations and general marketing practices.

In 1938, the AMA agreed to work with the U.S. Bureau of the Census to unify government agency marketing definitions. The AMA board debated appropriate definitions and, in 1985, approved definitions for marketing and marketing research. In August 2004, marketing was redefined as "… an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stake-holders." Marketing research also was redefined as "the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information—information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications" (MarketingPower, Inc., Marketing Definitions, 2005).

The AMA disseminates information through four scholarly journals, which provide forums for sharing marketing research efforts; three business magazines, which provide discussions on emerging marketing issues for senior-level marketing executives; and one newsletter, which addresses all aspects of marketing, including insights on ethics, new products, and more. Online versions of these publications are available at www.ama.org/pub. More information is available from the AMA at 311 South Wacker Dr., Suite 5800, Chicago, Illinois 60606; (312) 542-9000 or (800) AMA-1150; or online at http://www.marketingpower.com.

see also Marketing

bibliography

MarketingPower, Inc. (2005). "About AMA." Retrieved September 8, 2005, from http://www.marketingpower.com/content407.php.

MarketingPower, Inc. (2005). "Marketing Definitions." Retrieved September 8, 2005, from http://www.marketingpower.com/content4620.php.

MarketingPower, Inc. (2005). "Key Events in AMA History." Retrieved September 8, 2005, from http://www.marketingpower.com/content1591.php.

Val Hinton

Mary Jean Lush