Marketing, an Introduction 7th Edition

Marketing, an Introduction 7th Edition is a book written by two

brilliant gurus in marketing, Professor Philip Kotler and Professor Gary
Armstrong. The two authors blended their skills to come up with a practical,
approachable and enjoyable introductory marketing book.

Philip Kotler is the world leading authority who wrote several

successful books most widely used in graduate schools of business. He has
published over one hundred articles in leading journals, several of which
have received best-article awards.
Professor Kotler was the first recipient of the American Marketing
Association's (AMA) "Distinguished Marketing Educator Award." He was
chosen as the "Leader in Marketing Thought" by the Academic Members of
the AMA. His extensive travels throughout Europe, Asia and South America,
advising and lecturing to many companies continues to expand the scope
and depth of his programs, enhancing them with an accurate global
perspective.

Gary Armstrong is an award-winning teacher of undergraduate

business students. He works closely with business student groups and has
received several campus ‘wide and Business School teaching awards. He is
the only repeat recipient of school’s highly regarded Award for Excellence in
Undergraduate Teaching, which he has received three times. Professor
Armstrong received the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in
Teaching, the highest teaching honor bestowed by the sixteen-campus
University of North Carolina system.

The ultimate goal of the authors of the seventh edition of Marketing:

An Introduction is to create an even more effective text from which students
could learn and educators effectively teach marketing. They created this
book to strike a careful balance between depth of coverage and ease of
learning. They presented the latest marketing thinking which is built upon a
marketing framework which positions marketing simply as the art and
science of creating value for customers in order to capture value from
customers in return.

The book was divided into four parts. The first part started with basic
definition of marketing and understanding the customer needs or the
“Customer-relationship/customer-equity” framework. The second part
discussed the marketing environment, managing marketing information and
customer business buyer behavior. The third part presented the different
brand strategies for business success and managing the brand equity. The
last part of the book deal with modern technologies that have dramatic
impact on the marketers and buyers. It also included the trend in
globalization and social responsibilities and ethics.

For me their inclusion of a situation description that highlights

marketing ethics was really important. This would serve as reminders for
marketers and future marketers of the responsibilities to the people that
profit equates responsibility to the general public.

The authors have compiled stories from mostly well known and some
lesser known companies for the application of the marketing concepts. The
authors showed a positive model of successful marketing and how these
companies solved their challenges. The story of Nascar and how it created
loyal fans, Kmart’s pricing strategy, how MTV entered the global scene,
Microsoft’s passion for innovation and how Google boomed despite the
meltdown of dotcoms. These are the stories worth telling to students to
inspire them to become great in their endeavors. It is indeed a good deal of
business experience.

The book provided a complete picture of the basic marketing principles

and practices. To illustrate a clear view of the total marketing system is
somewhat challenging. The complexity of marketing was presented in a
straightforward manner that readers would like to go on reading. It is written
with a format and language that is very easy to follow and to understand,
and with the ideas presented extremely logically.

The authors had achieved its purpose on showing the framework of

marketing as the whole text was focused on creating value for customers. It
is about building profitable customer relationship. It likewise explains the
broad environment that directly and indirectly affected the creation of
customer value from different company’s departments to the outside
partners.

I, being a professor in advertising and public relations with business

foundation had looked for a reference that would make it easy for students
to grasp the topic which were not familiar to them. Prof. Glova recommended
a book of Philip Kotler. I browsed the latest edition that she has and I found it
very interesting. The latest edition has limited distribution and also printed in
newsprint material. I search for any Kotler’s marketing book that would give
me a great deal. Luckily I found one in paperback text in manageable 16
chapters in attractive layout with colorful visuals. Though it is not the latest
but still contain the topics that I needed.

I consider the appendixes really helpful especially a sample marketing

plan and different marketing arithmetic that would create a profitable
income to company.

I could say that this is indeed a fine marketing book that provided a
clear picture of what marketing is all about. It is a must for marketing
experts and students who are taking up business related courses. It is still
proven that the authors Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong are the authorities
and gurus in the marketing field.
If you want to learn marketing, you have to come to Kotler. He is both a pioneer of
modern marketing and the leading popularizer of the field. His Principles of
Marketing is ubiquitous in business schools throughout the world and he has two
other textbooks for advanced classes. Now he gives readers a new way to tap his
vast knowledge. The book covers the full range of marketing management and, of
course, addresses Internet marketing. Readers won't find the mathematical depth
or theoretical rigor that make Kotler's textbook an unpleasant surprise to students
expecting an easy course. In fact, this book assumes readers will have a good deal
of business experience. It's a terrific capsule of Kotler's marketing savvy. The most
significant drawback is that Kotler shows only positive models of successful
marketing. This is fine for illustrating general principles and techniques, but it
doesn't teach the judgment required to tell good applications from foolish ones. The
upshot is that uncritical readers may discover that a little learning is a dangerous
thing. Despite these qualifications, this is a fine book on marketing for a general
audience.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Philip Kotler

Philip Kotler is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at
the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
Kellogg was voted the "Best Business School" for six years in Business Week's survey of U.S.
business schools. It is also rated as the "Best Business School for the Teaching of Marketing."
Professor Kotler has significantly contributed to Kellog's success through his many years of
research and teaching there.
He received his Master's Degree at the University of Chicago and his Doctorate at MIT, both in
economics. Professor Kotler did post-doctoral work in mathematics at Harvard University and in
behavioral science at the University of Chicago.

Professor Kotler is the author of Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation

and Control, the most widely used marketing book in graduate business schools worldwide. He is
author or co-author of numerous other books including: Principles of Marketing; Marketing
Models; Strategic Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations; The New Competition; High
Visibility; Social Marketing; Marketing Places; Marketing for Congregations; Marketing for
Hospitality and Tourism; and The Marketing of Nations. He has published over one hundred
articles in leading journals, several of which have received best-article awards.

In 1985 Professor Kotler was the first recipient of the American Marketing Association's (AMA)
"Distinguished Marketing Educator Award." He was chosen as the "Leader in Marketing
Thought" by the Academic Members of the AMA in a 1975 survey and also received the 1978
AMA "Paul Converse Award," honoring his original contribution to marketing. The European
Association of Marketing Consultants and Sales Trainers awarded Kotler their prize for
"Marketing Excellence." In 1995, the Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI)
named him "Marketer of the Year."

IBM, General Electric, AT&T, Honeywell, Bank of America, and Merck are amongst the
companies Professor Kotler has consulted for in the areas of marketing strategy and planning,
marketing organization and international marketing.

He has been Chairman of the College of Marketing of the Institute of Management Sciences, a
Director of the American Marketing Association, a Trustee of the Marketing Science Institute, a
Director of the MAC Group, a former member of the Yankelovich Advisory Board, and a
member of the Copernicus Advisory Board. Currently he is also a Member of the Board of
Governors of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received honorary doctoral degrees
from the University of Zurich, Athens University of Economics and Business, DePaul
University, and the Catholic University of Santo Domingo.
Professor Kotler's extensive travels throughout Europe, Asia and South America, advising and
lecturing to many companies continues to expand the scope and depth of his programs,
enhancing them with an accurate global perspective.

Marketing: An Introduction, 7e, helps students master modern marketing principles

and practices. Written by today's best-selling marketing author team, this
paperback text has a manageable 16 chapter organization and builds on the
unprecedented success of its sixth edition by placing customer value in the driver's
seat. An organizing customer value framework introduced in the first chapter sets
the stage. All new video cases, new presentation resources, a new Driver's Manual
student study guide, and OneKey all-in-one website for students and instructors are
just a few reasons why this is the most contemporary marketing textbook.

Just when I thought it highly unlikely to ever give a book a 10/10 rating – The Marketing Gurus
land on our shelves. This is maybe not so surprising though as it is a compilation of the best parts
of the best books by some of the world’s best marketing writers. (Whew!)

Since 1978, Soundview Executive Book Summaries has offered its subscribers condensed
versions of the top business books published each year. With this project, they took 17 marketing
classics and summarised them in this book which “delivers at your fingertips just about
everything you ever wanted to know about marketing”. (From the inside cover flap.)

Summaries include:
- Differentiate or die (with some insights into your USP);
- The Loyalty Ladder;
- Don’t think pink (about marketing to women);
- Unleashing the ‘killer app’;
- Relationship marketing;
- Viral marketing;
- The power of one (marketing to a market segment of one); and others.

While this book is an absolute must for marketing experts and students of marketing, it is also
geared towards the business owner (particularly of the medium-sized business) wanting to know
more about the basic core of the body of theorectical knowledge currently in use in the marketing
fraternity.

While having said that this book is geared towards the larger business, this is a book that has
something to say to ALL business owners. There is a lot of information and concepts given so
you are not likely to capture everything with a casual read. However, it is written with a format
and language that is very easy to follow and to understand, and with the ideas presented
extremely logically.
Altogether, consuming this book is like having a really good meal at an expensive restuarant and
should be enjoyed, savoured and eaten slowly with attention to the taste. After all, this is
probably as good as it gets.

Rating: 10 out of 10

© Ann Williams