PREFACE
Throughgoodeconomictimesandbad,marketingremainsthepivotalfunctioninanybusi-
ness.Determiningandsatisfyingtheneedsofcustomersthroughproductsthathavevalue
andaccessibilityandwhosefeaturesareclearlycommunicatedis the generalpurposeof
anybusiness.It is alsoa fundamentaldefinitionofmarketing.Thistextintroducesstudents
tothemarketingstrategiesandtoolsthatpractitionersusetomarkettheirproducts.
BALANCEDCOVERAGE
Toemphasizehowvariousmarketii1gareasworktogethertocreatea cohesivestrategy,I
defineandexplainthevariousmarketingareasandtheircomparativestrengthsandweak-
nesses,aswellasstresshowtobest"mix" marketingtoolsina strategic,integratedplan.
Thebookbeginswitha discussionofthemarketingplanningprocess,continueswitha dis-
cussionofthepreliminarytasksofdevelopingtheplan,andconcludeswitbthetacticsavail-
abletothemarketingplanner. Thiscompletecoverageensuresthatstudentswilllearnhow
toplan, execute,andevaluatea marketingprogramthatis effectiveandefficientfromstart
tofinish.
INTERNATIONALANDTECHNOLOGYCOVERAGE
IntroducingMarketingrecognizesthe impactofthe globalcommunityonmarketingprac-
tices.InternationalimplicationsarediscussedinChapter6 andarealsointegratedintothe
textthroughrelevantexamples.
Technologyisalteringmanymarketingpractices.TheWorldWideWeb.databases,
trackingdevices,andmarketsimulationsareonlya fewexamplesofthewaystechnology
hasaffectedmarketingstrategies.Technologycoverageiswoventhroughoutthetext,fea-
tures,andend-of-chaptermaterialsofthisbook.(Notethatbecausetechnologyis chang-
ingsorapidly,itisvirtually impossiblefora textsuchasthistoremainabsolutelycurrent.)
CURRENTEXAMPLESFROMALL
TYPESANDSIZESOFBUSINESS
Thisbookdemonstrateshowcompaniesusemarketing.Specificexamplesappearnotonly
intextdiscussions,butalsointhechapteropeners,theIntegratedMarketingandNewsline
boxes,andtheendofchaptercases.Examplesandstoriesbringtheorytolife,demonstrating
therelevanceofthereaaing.Theexamplesubjectsarevivid,current,andvaried.Theyrange
fromFortune 500companies tosmaller,privatelyheldbusinesses.Thetextalsofocuseson
international companiesof allsizes.
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