Product Description

Marketing: Principles and Perspectives, 4e is a cutting edge text. In the first edition, we demonstrated this leading coverage with our strong integration of Integrated Marketing Communication and Direct Marketing. In the second edition we continued our modern coverage by integrating cross-functional teams, customer loyalty, and the Internet / technology. The third edition includes an Internet Marketing chapter and continues to fully integrate the Internet throughout. The authors not only talk about what marketing is, but prepare the students to be marketers by involving them in interactive exercises which strengthen decision making skills. Marketing, 4e offers the latest coverage, quality professor supplements, and an interactive student web tool and still it is approximately $20 less than most principles of marketing competitors. The perspectives approach is present in the fourth edition, however, the over-riding theme concentrates on building customer equity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #905150 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

About the Author
Bill Bearden (Ph.D., University of South Carolina) is the NationsBank Professor of Business Administration at the University of South Carolina. Bill has won numerous teaching awards and is on the Editorial Review Boards of numerous journals. His research interests include marketing research and consumer behavior.

Tom Ingram (Ph.D., Georgia State) is Department Chair and Professor of Marketing at Colorado State University. Tom’s previous affiliations include the University of Memphis and the University of Kentucky. Tom has won numerous teaching and research awards, and has been published extensively in professional journals. His research interests include selling and sales management.

Buddy LaForge (DBA, University of Tennessee) is the Brown-Forman Professor of Marketing at the University of Louisville. He is the founding editor of the Marketing Education Review. His work has also been extensively published in journals, and he serves on many boards and advisory councils. His research interests include marketing education and sales management.

Customer Reviews

easy to read but disappointing
I picked up this book as a preparation for the CLEP marketing exam. While it is easy to read, the layout is cluttered and distracting. The authors give a rah-rah treatment to e-commerce, presenting multiple .com case studies throughout the book (each chapter begins with an internet site and description).

It is clear that the authors were infatuated with the so-called "new economy," and the book suffers a lot as a result. Using it as a primer is tiring, as you have to separate the essentials of marketing from the e-commerce cheerleading.

The publisher's website does have quizzes to test on the material, which I like, but overall, I was still somewhat disappointed.

Easy to read, but a little disappointing
I purchased this book as a primer on Marketing, as a preparatory resource for the CLEP Principles of Marketing exam (3 semester hours). The book effectively presents the basic terms and ideas in an airy, easy to read manner. Also, the book's website contains quizzes that help reinforce the information, which is greatly appreciated.

However, I was somewhat disenchanted with the content which reaches for a "futuristic" flavor and misses something in the process. In my opinion, the book concentrates too heavily on .com companies (some of which are now bankrupt and defunct) and gives an overall rah-rah treatment towards e-commerce. Anecdotes abound and are used as filler in the main text, instead of informational sidebars. Every chapter is introduced with another website URL emblazoned across the top of the page in a putrid yellow color.

Thankfully, the authors did include a paragraph or two dissuading the reader from using SPAM (unsolicited email marketing), but it was a footnote in an otherwise verbose volume. I was somewhat offended that from the context of those paragraphs, and an anecdote about one company's 12% response rate (versus 1% for direct mail) which is misleading and would probably leave marketing students thinking that spam was effective.

For what I purchased the book for, it accomplishes the goals, albeit in a verbose manner.

Great Introduction to the future of marketing!
I used this book as an introduction to marketing at the School of Management at Syracuse University. I found the to be thought out well, layed out in a logical format and it was current with all information. It was more interesting than most text books.