The business of memes: memetic possibilities for marketing and management

Introduces the business community to the new science of memes. The roots of the meme concept from Richard Dawkins’ original work in the area of biology to the social (business) world are outlined, and the value of its study (memetics) proposed. One claim from memetics is that it can help provide an understanding of the human mind. This claim is explored within the context of advertising and management theory. The conclusion from this project to operationalise the meme concept for a business audience is, however, mixed. Whilst memetics has an intuitive appeal to it, much more is still needed before mankind’s mind may be understood, “filled” and manipulated at the discretion of advertisers and management thinkers using a memetic understanding.