Given the fast paced nature of marketing in today’s world, a blog seemed like both a natural extension of the Marketing Management 2e textbook’s content and a great way of providing students of marketing (both in and out of school) with real world examples of how marketing management is done in today’s successful organizations.
On a weekly basis new content is posted to the blog that examines the different types of marketing strategies and tactics being utilized by leading organizations through the use of real world examples. Occasionally, weekly posts will also look at some of the broader topics and trends shaping the current and future landscape of marketing. Each post is categorized based on the relevance of its content to concepts within different chapters of the textbook. In each post tags are also included, which offer readers the opportunity to drill down deeper into a topic and look at specific posts that fit within that given topic of interest.
At the end of each post we’ve provided a set of questions with the goal of providing readers with further opportunities to think about the impact and applications of the strategies and tactics that are described in the post. In many cases, these questions ask the reader to put him/herself in the shoes of a marketing leader within the organization in focus.
WHY WE WROTE THIS BOOK
Given the dramatic changes in the field of marketing, it is a sure bet that the job of leading and managing marketing’s contributions to the organization and its customers, clients, partners, and society at large has changed at a concurrent level.
Yet, no marketing management book on the market today fully and effectively captures and communicates to students how marketing management is really practiced in the 21st century world of business. Clearly, it is time for an updated approach to teaching and learning within the field. This book is designed to fulfill this need.
We hear it from colleagues all the time—the complaint that the book they are using in their marketing management course “doesn’t say what I believe the students need to hear” or that it “doesn’t match what my MBAs actually do on the job” or that it “reads like an encyclopedia of marketing” or that it “has too much about everything and not enough focus on anything.” During the development process for this book we heard comments like these and others from hundreds of colleagues in focus groups, in written reviewer comments, and in numerous casual conversations about the course. As a result, we became convinced that such comments truly are pervasive among instructors who teach marketing management, whether as the introductory MBA course, capstone undergraduate course, or first focal course after the undergraduate marketing principles course. Many marketing management instructors are looking for a book that is:
• Written for today’s students in an up-to-date, user-friendly, yet professional and thorough, style.
• Able to strike an effective balance between presenting the new world order of marketing at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.
• A step up from the previous norm in terms of support materials for the classroom.
Marshall/Johnston’s Marketing Management, 2e has taken great effort to represent marketing management the way it is actually practiced in successful organizations today. In our view, leading and managing the aspects of marketing to improve individual, unit, and organizational performance— marketing management— is a core business activity. Its relevance is not limited to just marketing departments or marketing majors. And business students of all backgrounds should appreciate the impact of effective marketing management on their own professional careers as well on as the overall success of their organizations. Bottom line, the ability to do great marketing management is relevant to everyone in a firm.
The content of the book reflects the major trends in the managerial practice of marketing, and the pedagogy is crafted around learning and teaching preferences in today’s classroom. Above all, it is written in a style that is appealing for both students and instructors so that students will actually enjoy reading the material and instructors will be proud to teach from it and confident about presenting its up-to date, professional, and thorough approach to their courses.
Marketing Management 