Wendell R. Smith - American Marketing Association

EADEIVS IIV JVIAIVKETIING
Wendell R. Smith
T? EW MEN on the marketing scene today possess
-'- the interesting and varied background of Wendell
R. Smith. Spanning a period of over 30 years,
his jobs have included marketing professor, marketing
consultant, and corporate executive. Now he
serves as President of the Marketing Science Institute
in Philadelphia.
His career activities were
preceded by another decade of
part-time and full-time emplojTnent
in retailing. During
high-school and college day.s
Wendell Smith learned retailing
at the grassroot.s level by
selling in the family shoe store
in Shenandoah, Iowa. Upon
graduation from the State
University of Iowa in 1932,
the 21-year-old Smith worked
in the family business for another
two years, except for a
brief interlude as a "trainee"
with the Florsheim Shoe Company
in Chicago.
A graduate assistantship at
his alma mater facilitated
Smith's return to the academic
world in 1934. Later he was
appointed an Instructor in the
College of Commerce and
worked toward his Ph.D. degree, which was conferred
in 1941. With time out for employment
with the Office of Price Administration during
World War II, Dr. Smith progressed through the
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 (October, 1966), pp. 64-6B.
WENDELL R. SMITH
64
By JOHN S. WRIGHT
Department of Marketing
University of Illinois
at Chicago Circle
academic ranks at Iowa: Assistant Professor, 1941-
1945; Associate Professor, 1954-1947; Professor,
1947-1954. From 1949 to 1954 he was Head of the
Marketing Department.
Just when it appeared likely that Professor Smith
would pursue a life-long career in the academic
world, Wroe Alderson entered his life. Smith was
invited to spend the summers
of 1952 and 1953 as a Visiting
Consultant with Alderson &
Sessions, well known at the
time as an innovative marketing-consulting
organization.
From these summer sojourns
came the decision to leave the
halls of academe, and in 1954
Dr. Smith left Iowa to become
the firm's Director of Research.
He later became a
partner and Vice President of
Alderson & Sessions' successor,
Alderson Associates, Inc.,
and remained in the marketing
consulting field through 1958.
This period was one of
many personal accomplishments.
Years of service to the
American Marketing Association
were culminated by the
election of Wendell Smith to
its Presidency for 1958-1959.
Years of sustained writing in such varied fields as
economic geography, public utility economics, and
marketing were capstoned by his article, "Product
Differentiation and Market Segmentation as Alternative
Marketing Strategies," in the July, 1958, is-

Leaders in Marketing
sue of the JOURNAL OF MARKETING. This article
vifon the Alpha Kappa Psi Foundation award as the
most significant marketing article of the year.
Another avenue of challenge opened for Wendell
Smith in January, 1959. He joined the Corporate
Staff of the Radio Corporation of America in New
York, serving first as Director of Marketing Research
and Development, then as Staff Vice President
for Marketing Development. He stayed with
RCA until April, 1962, when he was appointed President
of the Marketing Science Institute.
The brain-child of Thomas B. McCabe, Chairman
of the Scott Paper Company, the Marketing Science
Institute has these stated objectives: "(1) To contribute
to the emergence of a science of marketing,
and (2) to accelerate the application of science to
the defining and solving of marketing problems."
Fifty major business firms give financial support to
the Institute, and a variety of subjects have already
been probed by its staff.
Smith was a logical choice for the post. His background
makes for ease of communication with businessmen,
research personnel, and educators. He is
well-qualified to administer the work of a research
foundation. He sees his role at the Marketing
Science Institute as that of an objective observer of
the entire marketing world.
The Institute is exploring whether responsibility
for performance in international marketing should
be handled on the basis of similar socio-economic
patterns in various countries, or by the traditional
approach which calls for the welding together of
contiguous geographic areas. This particular suggestion
springs from one of two important considerations:
the Communication Explosion and the Information
Explosion.
With a strong international orientation in its
present operations, it is only natural that the Institute's
President travels to many parts of the world.
Moreover, he is a Director of the Council for International
Progress in Mana.Q:ement. and a member of
the Marketing Committee of the International Chamber
of Commerce. He served a.s a Visiting Professor
in 1963 and in 1964 at the Athens School of
Economics and Business Science.
Dr. Smith retains his title of Professor of Marketing
(on leave) at the Wharton School of Finance
and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania; and he
serves on the Advisory Board of its Management
Science Institute. Many awards have come to him,
including election to the Distribution Hall of Fame
in Distribution in 1962.
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