Marketing as an emergent discipline: Commentary on Shelby Hunt’s final contribution to our field

In this commentary, the authors take a thoughtful look at Shelby Hunt’s final submission to AMS Review. Building on Hunt, Madhavaram, and Hatifield’s (2022, in this issue) suggestions of how Marketing’s Era V can be re-centered on more viable and long-lasting ground as a discipline, the present authors propose that the field of marketing is, and always has been, an emergent discipline that is better served by the “invisible hand” of self-organization rather than an attempt at holistic acceptance and adoption of a central focus. Moreover, the paper drills down into one of Hunt’s recurring critiques of marketing, its doctoral programs, and makes suggestions of how this is a significant point of focus to heal our ailing discipline.