Version 1.0, October 2026. 98 constructs in 18 families across 7 eras, with 18 imported theories below. Selecting a cell reveals its family, era, block, tier, and anchor works, each anchoring reference linking to the publisher’s page. Explore the 18 Family Deep Dives for granular sub-tables, or visit Resources to use the four interactive analytical tools.
Each cell: number, influence pips, block code, then symbol, construct, and anchor works
open frontier position
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Detached series · Theories imported from adjacent fields, each set near the families it feeds
Series
T
Imported Theories
4FP
Mc
Marketing Concept
Family
4. Market Orientation (II · Resources and Orientation)
Era
Period 1: Foundations, to 1969
Block
FP · Formulation, process
Tier
Landmark
Cell card
Description
Drucker's claim that the purpose of a business is to create a customer and Levitt's warning that firms fail by defining themselves around products rather than customer needs together established the customer-focused philosophy that market orientation research later operationalized.
Managerial Implications
Define the business by the customer need it serves, not by the product it sells. Levitt's railroads lost because they thought they were in railroads rather than transportation. For managers, this means revisiting the mission whenever technology shifts, measuring success by customer outcomes rather than units shipped, and making the customer's problem, not the factory's output, the organizing idea of planning.
How to read. Down a column follows one research stream through time. Across a row shows what the field studied in an era. Color marks the strategy domain, after Morgan et al. (2019). Pips give an influence tier. Numbers run by era, then family. Placements, anchors, and tiers are editorial judgments, and anchors are entry points rather than a complete record of any stream. Anyone who uses or adapts this table is responsible for verifying its contents against the original works.
