Product Description

This best-selling book is dedicated to the development of decision-making skills in marketing. It introduces concepts and tools useful in structuring and solving marketing problems, while extensive case studies provide an opportunity for those concepts and tools to be employed in practice.

Consisting of 10 chapters and 44 cases that feature contemporary marketing perspectives and practices, this book covers the topics of marketing management: its foundations; financial aspects; decision-making and case analysis; opportunity analysis, market segmentation, and market targeting; product and service strategy and brand management; integrated marketing communication strategy and management; pricing strategy and management; the control process; and comprehensive marketing programs.

For marketing executives and professionals.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #201106 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 736 pages

From the Publisher
Designed to help students develop decision-making skills in marketing, textual material introduces both concepts and tools useful in structuring and solving marketing problems while case studies provide an opportunity for those concepts and tools to be employed in practice.

From the Inside Flap
Preface

Decision making in marketing is first and foremost a skill. Like most skills, it requires tools and terminology. Like all skills, it is best learned through practice. This book is dedicated to the development of decision-making skills in marketing. Textual material introduces concepts and tools useful in structuring and solving marketing problems. Case studies describing actual marketing problems provide an opportunity for those concepts and tools to be employed in practice. In every case study, the decision maker must develop a strategy consistent with the underlying factors existing in the situation presented and must consider the implications of that strategy for the organization and its environment.

The ninth edition of Strategic Marketing Problems: Cases and Comments seeks a balance between marketing management content and process. The book consists of 11 chapters and 42 cases.

Chapter 1, "Foundations of Strategic Marketing Management," provides an overview of the strategic marketing management process. The principal emphasis is on defining an organization's business, mission, and goals, identifying and framing organizational opportunities, formulating product-market strategies, budgeting, and controlling the marketing effort. The Appendix to Chapter 1 contains a marketing plan for an actual company, Paradise Kitchens&3174;, Inc. The plan is annotated to focus attention on substantive elements of the plan as well as style and layout elements.

Chapter 2, "Financial Aspects of Marketing Management," reviews basic concepts from managerial accounting and managerial finance that are useful in marketing management. Primary emphasis is placed on such concepts as cost structure, relevant versus sunk costs, margins, contribution analysis, liquidity, discounted cash flow, operating leverage, and preparing pro forma income statements.

Chapter 3, "Marketing Decision Making and Case Analysis," introduces a systematic process for decision making and provides an overview of various aspects of case and decision analysis. A sample case and written student analysis are presented in the Appendix at the end of the book. The student analysis illustrates the nature and scope of a written case presentation, including the qualitative and quantitative analyses essential to a good presentation.

Chapter 4,"OpportunityAnalysis and Market Targeting," focuses on the identification and evaluation of marketing opportunities. Market segmentation, market targeting, and market potential and profitability issues are considered in some depth.

Chapter 5,"Product and Service Strategy and Brand Management," focuses on the management of the organization's offering. New-offering development, life-cycle management, product or service positioning, branding decisions, brand growth strategies, and brand valuation are emphasized.

Chapter 6, "Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy and Management," raises issues in the design, execution, and evaluation of an integrated communication mix. Decisions concerned with communications objectives, strategy, budgeting, programming, and effectiveness, as well as sales management, are addressed.

Chapter 7, "Marketing Channel Strategy and Management," introduces a variety of considerations affecting channel selection and modification as well as trade relations. Specific decision areas covered include direct versus indirect distribution, dual distribution, cost-benefit analysis of channel choice and management, and marketing channel conflict and coordination.

Chapter 8, "Pricing Strategy and Management," highlights concepts and applications in price determination and modification. Emphasis is placed on evaluating demand, cost, and competitive influences when selecting or modifying pricing strategies for products and services and product-line pricing.

Chapter 9, "Interactive Marketing and Electronic Commerce," introduces strategic marketing management issues encountered by companies engaged in electronic commerce. Attention is placed on marketing opportunity analysis, different Internet business models, formulating a customer value proposition, and strategic and operational challenges facing incumbent and new entrant companies in the new marketspace.

Chapter 10,"Marketing Strategy Reformulation: The Control Process," focuses on the appraisal of marketing actions for the purpose of developing reformulation and recovery strategies. Considerations and techniques applicable to strategic and operations control are introduced.

Chapter 11, "Comprehensive Marketing Programs," raises issues in developing integrated marketing strategies. Emphasis is placed on marketing program decisions for new and existing products and services, including issues related to marketing-mix interactions, marketing program implementation, and marketing organization.

The case selection in this book reflects a broad overview of contemporary marketing problems and applications. Seventy-six percent of the cases are dated since 1995; 40 percent are dated since 1998. Of the 42 cases included, 30 deal with consumer products and services and 12 have a business-to-business marketing orientation. Nine cases introduce marketing issues in the international arena. Marketing of services is addressed in four cases, and four cases deal with electronic commerce. Sixty-one percent of the cases are new, revised, or updated for this edition, and many have spreadsheet applications embedded in the case analysis. All text and case material has been classroom tested.

Computer-assisted programs and a student manual are available for use with 17 of the cases in the book. The manual contains all the material necessary to use spreadsheets. It includes a sample case demonstration, instructions for use with specific cases, and input and output forms. If this material is not available from your instructor or bookstore, please write to the publisher.

The efforts of many people are reflected here. First, we thank those institutions and individuals who have kindly granted us permission to include their cases in this edition. The cases contribute significantly to the overall quality of the book, and each individual is prominently acknowledged in the Contents and at the bottom of the page on which the case begins. We specifically wish to thank the Harvard Business School and The University of Western Ontario for granting permission to reproduce cases authored by their faculties. Second, we wish to thank our numerous collaborators, whose efforts made the difference between good cases and excellent cases. Third, we thank the adopters of the previous eight editions of the book for their many comments and suggestions for improvements. Finally, we wish to thank the numerous reviewers of this and previous editions for their conscientious reviews of our material: David Berkowitz, University of Alabama in Huntsville; Lynne Payne, Livingston University; Michael Laric, University of Baltimore; Charles Brooks, Quinnipiac College; Michael Messina, Gannon University; Avery Abernethy, Auburn University; Richard Kolbe, Kent State University; Dwight Scherban, Central Connecticut State University; David E. Griffith, University of Oklahoma; Tammy Pappas, Eastern Michigan University; Audrey Guskey, Duquesne University; and John Barnes, University of Texas at El Paso. Naturally, we bear full responsibility for any errors of omission and commission in the final product.

Roger A. Kerin
Robert A. Peterson

From the Back Cover

Photo Wars is a simulation that helps you learn how to make decisions in a complex, dynamic environment. PhotoWars is based on the DigiStrat framework. You will become the Chief Strategist of PhotoMax, a technology firm that is faced with a difficult transition from analog technologies to the digital age. You will be asked to guide your company to success in the face of change and uncertainty, and will develop the following skills:

• Improve your sensemaking ability in complex and dynamic digital arenas. Learn to detect patterns in a chaotic world and across a wide array of digital arenas.
• Improve your systems thinking ability by thinking holistically and dynamically about complex systems. Improve your ability to see connections across functional areas an over time.
• Discover "best practices" in strategy formulation: Unlike traditional simulation games such as MARKSTRAT, PhotoWars can be played many times over with different strategies. By controlled experimentation, you will gain insight into the behavior of the system and discover best practices.

Customer Reviews

A good book...
I'm a MBA student in marketing. This book is good, but just that... good. I'm absolutely certain that somewhere has to be a book about strategic marketing that has a little more information (that's the problem, little theory and plenty of numbers) and not so expensive. Teresa M. Rodríguez

Great and comprehensive
I am a MBA Candidate with a finance focus who had the pleasure to use this book. Never before had I imagined that marketing could have the amount of numerical focus that this book shows. There's a case for every type of industry and many world-famous companies in this book. What else is missing from an introduction to marketing text?!

Strategic Marketing Problems... Not Solutions
I was disappointed. The book does contain some interesting thoughts, but 90% of the content is a description of companies facing marketing problems (case studies with a lot of facts). The author doesn't offer the solutions and best practises that would help solve these problems. While reading this book, i felt i was eating a burger without meat. Something is missing...

This is a good book for teachers who want case studies for their students to work on. It's a classroom book. It's not a good book if you want want to read marketing theory and best practises (if you're already in the management world).