The conceptual contributions of Shelby D. Hunt: Foundations for advancing the marketing discipline

Given that conceptual contributions are essential for enhancing marketing thought, scholars are increasingly lamenting the decline in conceptual advances in marketing. Remarkably, while the marketing discipline was experiencing a precipitous decline in conceptual advances, Professor Hunt, almost singularly, moved in the opposite direction through his significant conceptual contributions to several substantive areas in marketing. In this article, as a scholarly tribute, I evaluate some of his conceptual contributions to marketing theory, franchising, marketing ethics, marketing strategy, and competition. Specifically, this article (i) discusses the nature of conceptual contributions, (ii) evaluates Hunt’s conceptual contributions to five substantive areas in marketing using MacInnis’s typology for conceptual contributions, (iii) argues that Professor Hunt’s conceptual contributions are foundational for scholarly discourse on marketing theory, franchising, marketing ethics, marketing strategy, and competition, and (iv) urges marketing scholars to both develop conceptual contributions for substantive areas of marketing and to cumulatively build on the foundations of Professor Hunt’s conceptual contributions to specific research domains. Indeed, an appropriate tribute to a scholar’s intellectual contributions can only come from preserving the cumulativity of those contributions by building on their foundations.