Several of the greatest minds in management are from a marketing background, or have chosen to concentrate on marketing in their academic careers. Kotler, for example, chose to teach marketing rather than economics when invited to join the Northwestern University Management Faculty; he is now the Distinguished Professor of International Marketing.
Levitt was Kotler's predecessor as the doyen of marketing. He developed marketing into its modern form, becoming resident professor at Harvard. His paper Marketing Myopia (1960) gave essential directions to managers in meaningful soundbites.
Watson and Drucker were other great management thinkers who recognised the value of good marketing.