Chapter 17: Concluding Comments and Future Directions Post Covid-19

The purpose of this chapter is to reflect on the previous chapters that have captured new perspectives in marketing and the myriad of influencing agents that have inspired change – as well as to consider how new perspectives on marketing can be critically evaluated. Chapter 2 argued that the notion of change is inevitable; advances in technology and progress in equalities have impacted on societal structures: ways of making, producing and consuming, as well as the way in which information is exchanged. Over the last couple of centuries, change has accelerated and ‘new’ is moving more rapidly, supported by advances in technology. However, Chapter 2 also pointed out that accelerated production and consumption have impacted detrimentally on the environment, hence the increase of sustainable terminology and behaviours filtering throughout society. Even in the last few months of writing the chapter, we now face a ‘new normal’ and ‘new routines’ due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. While at the time of writing, we are still in lockdown here in Scotland, other countries are at various stages of recovery. Yet the interconnectedness of globalisation means that there are restrictions on travel to reduce a second wave, some countries are already experiencing new outbreaks of coronavirus, and there will be consequences for the global economy.