Giving voice to marketing's intellectual heritage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate Donald F. Dixon's contribution to scholarship in clarifying two parallel streams of thought on marketing's role in value creation: value in use and value in exchange.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a literary analysis of some of Dixon's work that is often overlooked, and a discussion of its relevance to the services, channels and marketing strategy literature.Findings – Dixon's distinction between the two streams of thought (“value in use” and “value in exchange”) clarifies an important aspect of marketing's intellectual heritage that has eluded the literature on services marketing, channels and marketing strategy. The consequences of this oversight are considerable.Originality/value – The paper focuses on an aspect of Dixon's work that is underappreciated and not widely understood.