The editors of this introspective gathered the pioneers of services marketing, which 20 years ago was hardly considered a legitimate academic field of study, and asked them to offer their perspectives regarding the foundation, evolution, and destiny of services marketing. This volume will provide future generations with a personal and professional statement of the core assumptions behind services marketing - assumptions that are a constant subtext to scholarship, but are rarely articulated. A statement of these assumptions becomes more important as academia becomes more interdisciplinary and lines between academic areas become less distinct. This volume will be an authoritative answer to the inevitable question: What was services marketing?