The marketing curriculum and educational aims: towards a professional education?

Purpose - The purpose of this conceptual paper is to address the current debate about the role of business and marketing education. Should marketing courses be pragmatic and professional, geared towards practical knowledge of necessary tools and techniques; or should they be academic and intellectual, aimed at creating scholars who happen to be marketers. Should marketers be trained or educated? Design/methodology/approach - The paper addresses these questions through the well-established distinction between intrinsic and instrumental aims of education. Findings - It is argued that ethics are good for business; and that an intrinsic education is necessary to produce the marketers who can work in this ethical dimension. Originality/value - The paper should be of interest to those involved in marketing education and business curricula design.