Abstract The origins of “modern” marketing are connected to increase in real wages, the choices generated by disposable incomes, transport and communication systems, the building of national markets, and urbanization. If the economic and social opportunities were to be fulfilled, businesses needed to innovate products and systems, and they succeeded with the manufacturing and distribution of standardized goods. The assumption of the marketing orientation, which started with the wishes of consumers, was a response by many leading enterprises to the greater individual spending power of the consumer. In several important cases, it brought the increasing segmentation of formerly homogenous markets. Market research assisted the process of product development, and the use of psychological analysis challenged the simplicities of “narrow” economics.