The Marketing Dilemma Michael J. Baker University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK Abstract Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore the ongoing and continuing debate regarding the role of marketing in an organisation – profit or not-for-profit, public or private – in a climate where the disciplines’ contribution is seen as decreasing in importance. Design/methodology/approach – An eclectic but well-informed summary of some of the key issues involved based on extensive experience as practitioner, consultant, and academic researcher. Findings – Too much emphasis is given to the “Tip of the Marketing Iceberg – advertising/ promotion/public relations – and what marketers ‘do’ to customers with insufficient consideration of its strategic role as the interface between an organisation and its customers that creates ‘mutually satisfying exchange relationships (Baker, 1976).’ ” In other words marketing is, or should be, a force for good and, because of its understanding of consumption and human behaviour, has the potential to make a major transformational contribution to achieving the goals of social business, including sustainability, environmental protection and enhanced human welfare. Originality/value – Too many marketers, academics and practitioners alike, are so closely involved with specific problems and issues that they cannot see the wood for the trees and reflect on the real challenges faced by the marketing profession as a whole. It is argued that we all need to move away from the prevailing marketing management school of thought and “promotional” marketing and concentrate instead on the fundamental issues of improving welfare through the adoption of transformational marketing and an emphasis on social business. Keywords Marketing, Behavioural change, Social business, Strategic role, Transformational marketing Paper type Conceptual Paper Currently, I have just finished preparing a new, fifth edition of my textbook Marketing Strategy and Management. The first edition was published in 1985, the last in 2007 so the content is a reflection of what were seen to be the major subjects deserving of attention at the time. Today, in 2013 it is clear that technological innovation and environmental change call for a fairly radical reappraisal of the nature and role of marketing, not only to the practice of business that is the focus of this journal, but also to policy formulation and strategic thinking. In this paper we seek to summarise what we perceive to be the challenges facing the marketing discipline not only in the EuroMed region but globally. In other words the subject of my paper is one that occurs frequently when teaching or working with marketing practitioners, namely a concern for the status and contribution of their discipline by comparison with other business disciplines. More specifically, there appear to be comparatively few marketers sitting on the main board of major corporations These seem to be dominated by accountants with some support from HR experts and the occasional scientist, engineer, technologist or designer responsible for the creation/production of the firm’s products and services. And, when this is the case, marketing is regarded as the function responsible for “selling what we can make”. Clearly, this is antithetical to the essence of the marketing concept and Peter Drucker’s view that a business has only two functions and these are innovation and marketing. Surely this is an issue of concern to anyone interested or involved with business anywhere? The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1450-2194.htm Received 5 July 2013 Revised 5 July 2013 Accepted 5 July 2013 EuroMed Journal of Business Vol. 8 No. 2, 2013 pp. 104-116 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1450-2194 DOI 10.1108/EMJB-07-2013-0037 104 EMJB 8,2