Page 15 - MYM 2016

everything and Walmart is moving in the same direction. We will still want to browse and touch merchandise and our stores may operate as show- rooms more than as sales sites. Online merchants urge their customers to order online and just return the goods if they are not satis ed.
We will still have restaurants, and we will still need to go to a dentist or hospital. But the real estate value of commercial property will probably decline.
One other factor will make a di erence to our future rate of economic growth. We need to curb
“the excessive growth of income and wealth concen- tration. Growth is not being held up by no interest in buying new cars, furniture, and homes; it is
being held up by too much money going into the pockets to too few people. Capitalism is in danger of committing suicide or facing pitchforks. We need to raise minimum wages and tax the rich more heavily. Today’s consumers can only buy things by borrowing money. eir indebtedness is already very high. We must put more money into the
hands of more people if we want more economic growth.
My short-term outlook is good but not rosy. My long-term outlook is much better. I expect brand new products and services to appear that we must buy. I also expect that we will nd ways to put more money in the hands of more people. Both of these will propel more growth in the long run. ■
Professor Philip Kotler is the Founder of World Marketing Summit. He is also the S. C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA.
We need to curb the
excessive growth of income and wealth
concentration. growth is being held up by too much money going into the pockets of too few people.
MarketiNg for social chaNge
Overcoming the problem of wealth disparity (exempli ed here by the stark contrast between modern skyscrapers and stilt houses in Belem, Brazil) will help propel economic growth.
OCTOBEr 2016 MINd YOUr MarkETING | 15