The road back to relevance : How to put marketing (and marketing scholars) back on the Top Managements' agendas

Purpose - Based upon primary research, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the three main sources of frustration about the marketing scholars' community current status quo. It delivers feasible solutions and describes, using the example of the Special Issue, how to overcome these challenges and provide the research environment all desire. Design/methodology/approach - Editorial paper summarizing the Special Issue's contributions and observations from the marketing scholar community Findings - The three main sources of frustration for marketing scholars about the current system are, first, review and publishing processes, second, the dominant epistemological and methodological approach in academe, encouraging an increasing specialization and reliance on generating more and more quantitatively driven knowledge and finally the lack of acceptance (and outright disdain) for research with a managerial, applied emphasis. Practical implications - But it surely is not mission impossible to build the research environment that is wanted. To build the research environment the community desires and to be "back where we belong," to be relevant means the need to do more than just engaging in lip service. Rather than complying with the system causing frustration, the paper asks all to take an active part in the change process. The paper strongly encourages all, as editors, reviewers, colleagues, mentors and supervisors to do so and take some chances. Engage in and support brave research. Social implications - The authors hope that the paper will stimulate research widely accessible to both managers, and a broader audience. This will eventually lead to a better reputation and public opinion toward marketing scholars and research. Originality/value - Rather than simply stating the main frustrations of the marketing scholar community, and calling for changes, the authors demonstrate how these challenges can be overcome, and deliver platforms to communicate and lead both the conv