Quo Vadis Romanian Marketing: The Future and Contribution of the Romanian Community

Marketing research in Romania faces a crucial question: where to turn its investigations and in what proportion it should turn to fundamental studies, in the field of meta-theory, respectively, to stimulate the applied researches, directly required by the business environment. The response to this dilemma requires a change of mentality among the decision-makers in the economy, in general, and among marketers, in particular. Civil society, through its requirements, including the field of marketing communication, can also play a significant role in solving this problem. After a brief overview of the beginnings of Romanian marketing, which it compares with its current status of development, the study marks the main orientation directions in the fundamental research, and in the applied marketing research. The study also presents, in the framework of fundamental research, the holistic approach of processes and market actors as well as the study of the surprise mechanisms and consumer behavior anticipation. The main directions in the applicative research focus on the essential characteristics of the contemporary marketer and its partnership orientation, to promote a vision, where the marketing is to be viewed as an investment rather than a cost, to explore ways to achieve excellence in the field.