Leigh’s webinar focused on the question “Does marketing matter?” Responses to this question range from a strong conviction that marketing drives firm growth to strong conviction that marketing does little more than create brochures for the sales organization. This all depends on the firm. In some firms marketing is central; in others it is peripheral. Leigh explained this variability by considering the firm’s source of competitive advantage and by the role assigned to the marketing function. Differentiating firms for which marketing is a line in function grow faster and are more valuable than other firms. Further, CEOs of such firms have broader visions for growth, are more satisfied with firm performance and see more promise for future performance. Cost leader firms in which marketing is a staff function are the slowest growing and least valuable. Watch here!

Leigh McAlister is the Ed and Molly Smith Chair in Business Administration at the McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin. She received her PhD from Stanford University and she served on the faculties of University of Washington and MIT before joining The University of Texas at Austin. She has won many teaching awards and research awards including JMR’s O’Dell Award, JR’s Davidson Award.  In 2014, she received the Mahajan Award for Lifetime Achievements in Strategy Research, was named the AMA/Irwin/McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator and was a member of the Inaugural Class of Fellows of the American Marketing Association. In 2018, she was named a Fellow of INFORMS Marketing Science. Long associated with the Marketing Science Institute, she served there as Executive Director from 2003-2005. Currently her research focuses on determinants of firm value and implications of web communications. She serves as Area Editor at Journal of Marketing and Journal of Consumer Research.