From price theory to marketing management: Danish contributions 1930‐1960

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to show how a particular marketing paradigm developed in Denmark from the 1920s through to the 1960s. It peaked in the mid‐1950s and faded out with one major publication in the early 1970s. This article aims to provide a relatively detailed study of the initial phases of the school and its key ideas. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on primary sources, i.e. the writings of the scholars who shaped and developed the school. A significant number of the sources are available in Danish only. Findings – While the study of marketing in America developed from the inductive, descriptive approach of the German Historical School, an essential precondition for the Copenhagen approach was the second wave of microeconomic theory of the 1930s. The article argues that it was a marketing management school, and that it offered early contributions to the development of marketing theory. Originality/value – Relatively little has been written about Danish and Scandinavian history of marketing thought. The authors believe that a detailed review of the Copenhagen School of Marketing may be of some interest to marketing historians around the world.