The fifth edition of the Marketing
First published in 1987 to coincide with the Editor’s appointment as the first academic National Chairman of the Institute of Marketing, the original concept was.
To produce an authoritative handbook setting out the scope and nature of the marketing function, its managerial applications and its contribution to corporate success.
To implement this concept, contributing authors were advised: ‘The Marketing Book should serve as first point of reference for experienced practitioners and managers from other functions, and as an introduction to those embarking on a career in marketing.
The fact that the book has been continuously in print for 15 years and is now in its fifth edition is clear evidence that there is a continuing need for such a publication.
While it is unlikely anyone other than the Editor and Publisher would wish to make an analysis of the content of successive editions, such a review would reveal that while some contributions have changed very little others have been extensively updated, a few topics have been dropped and a significant number of new ones added. In parallel, the list of contributing authors has also changed markedly over the years. However, the present roll of contributors shares a common feature with all the preceding editions – the authors are all leading experts in their fields. All have published widely on the topics for which they are responsible and many of them have written one or more definitive and widely used textbooks on the subject of their contribution. Another distinctive feature is that all the authors, both academics and practitioners are based in Britain, so that the current collection reflects a British view of what is important and relevant in the theory and practice of marketing. Obviously, this view recognizes and reflects international perspectives but, in a subject where so much published work is written from a purely American point of view, I consider it important that an alternative, albeit similar, interpretation be available.
The chapters that had to be left out from this new edition were ‘Environmental scanning’ by Douglas Brownie, ‘The evolution and use of communication and information technology’ by Keith Fletcher, ‘Developing marketing information capabilities’ by Nigel Percy and Martin Evans, ‘Organizational marketing’ by Dale Littler, ‘Marketing for non-profit organizations’ by Keith Blois, and ‘The Internet: the direct route to growth and development’ by Jim Hamlin and Sean Ennis. In every case the reason for omitting these chapters is that their content is covered by other entries.
A number of chapters remain much the same as they appeared in the fourth edition.
Chapter 1 ‘One more time – what is marketing?’ by Michael J. Baker
Chapter2 ‘The basics of marketing strategy’ by Robin Wesley
Chapter3 ‘Strategic marketing planning: theory and practice’ by Malcolm McDonald
Chapter 4‘Consumer decision making: process, level and style’ by Gordon R. Fox all
Chapter 5 ‘Marketing research’ by John Webb
Chapter 6 ‘New product development’ by Susan Hart
Chapter 7‘Pricing’ by Adamancies Diamantopoulos
Chapter 8 ‘Selling and sales management’ by Bill Donaldson
Chapter 9 ‘Sales promotion’ by Sue and Ken Pattie
Chapter 10 ‘Controlling marketing and the measurement of marketing effectiveness’ by Keith Ward
Chapter 11 ‘The marketing of services’ by Adrian Palmer
Chapter12 ‘International marketing – the issues’ by Stanley J. Palinode
Chapter 13 ‘Social marketing’ by Lynn Mac Fad yen, Martine Stead and Gerard Hastings
Chapter14 ‘Green marketing’ by Ken Pattie and Martin Charter
Chapter 15 ‘Marketing for small-to-medium enterprises’ by David Carson
Chapter 16 ‘Retailing’ by Peter J. Mc Goldie
All these chapters have been updated with some new material, some quite radically, and more recent references where appropriate. They all meet the criteria that they give a clear and authoritative overview of their subject matter.
It would be facile to try and summarize Stephen’s chapter. However, in my view it provides one of the clearest expositions of what postmodern marketing is or is perceived to be. (It is also written in his own distinctive and entertaining style.) Whether or not you are converted to this perspective of marketing, it is important that you are aware of its defining characteristics as with the more traditional views contained.
While there are many distinguished authors that might have been approached to contribute this chapter, the choice of Lisa O’Malley and Caroline Tinian was an obvious one. In 2001, I had the good fortune to act as an external examiner for Lisa’s doctoral thesis, supervised by Caroline. The other examiner, Christian Gringos, is recognized internationally as one of the founding fathers of relationship marketing. Both of us were very impressed with Lisa’s review of the RM literature and the new chapter is based on this.
Last word
In markets distinguished by Hypercom petition it is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain a competitive advantage through product differentiation. As a consequence, marketing commainactions have assumed an even more important role in enabling sellers to position themselves effectively against competitors. To meet this challenge more traditional approaches emphasizing a particular communication approach and techniques have given way to a more strategic method in which a variety of communication disciplines are coordinated into an integrated procedure. This is identified as integrated marketing communications (IMC) and is the subject of an entirely new Chapter 16 by Tony Yeti – an expert in the field.
