The purpose of this research is to apply the synthesized intelligence of five theorists with respect to successful marketing to the development of answer to six questions that together assess the success of General Motors' marketing of Cadillac automobiles in China. This paper begins with a synthesis of the five theorists before proceeding to the assessment of General Motors' marketing effort in China related to Cadillac automobiles.
Malcolm Gladwell (2002) postulated the tipping point theory as more than just a model for explaining political, social, and economic phenomena. According to Gladwell (2002), an understanding of the factors that lead to tipping points provides a basis for influencing (manipulating) phenomenological trends.
A tipping point is the stage in the progression of a phenomenon when a critical mass is attained. The concept of a critical mass in physical science (nuclear physics as an example), social science (economics as an example), public health (the HIV epidemic as an example), or any other unstable phenomenon when development reaches the point that the character of the phenomenon changes dramatically. When sufficient enriched plutonium is amassed in a sufficiently close proximity, the somewhat unstable atoms become highly unstable and create a massive explosion that in turn unleashes highly destructive blast effects, devastating thermal effects, and deadly radiation. By understanding the concept of the tipping point (critical mass), however, human beings are able to control the development of the outcomes of reaching the tipping point so that the effects can be either (a) beneficial or (b) targeted in their creation of mayhem.
Peppers and Rogers (1993) postulated an end to mass marketing. In the future in 1993, selling was to shift to a situation, where more goods are sold to fewer people more, as opposed to the mass marketing approach of selling a few things to a whole lot of people. The ne...