Principles of Marketing

Reviewed by Saroja Subrahmanyan, Professor, St. Mary's College of California on 5/30/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book is quite comprehensive. It covers all aspects of what is (and should be) taught in a Core Marketing Class. It covers the relevant theories/ frameworks, provides suitable examples and cases (including video caselets) and offers and links to a variety of resources for students. It also has a good set of discussions questions and "check your knowledge" quizzes.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I skimmed through the book and went through a few chapters in details. The ones I did check in detail were error-free and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Book is relevant with relatively recent examples. That is important in a marketing class. I am sure updating any marketing text with recent examples would be laborious, but should be relatively straightforward. It would have helped to add something about marketing during a global pandemic.

Clarity rating: 4

I found the book easy to read and links to resources worked well. The glossary at the end of each chapter should help students with unfamiliar or marketing-specific terms. I would have some explanation for the flow of sub-sections in some chapters. For instance in Chapter 2 (Strategic Planning in Marketing), the strategy looks such as BCG, SWOT are abruptly introduced; it would help to provide some explanation for how marketers view this v someone in Strategy (Management); is it the same thing one is doing or does it have a different nuance? It would have also helped to have examples of Vision & Mission for the same company. Likewise, in chapter 12 (Pricing), I found the 5Cs of pricing too cursory for a useful analysis. The overall flow of this chapter could be better.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is organized around 3 units: Setting the Stage, Understanding the Marketplace, 4Ps (Product, Promotion, Price, and Place). The last chapter on the new paradigm doesn't really fit within the 4Ps. It may be helpful to have had a fourth unit on future directions or one on how the field is evolving. My personal preference is also to have the job related resources at the end as a separate chapter.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is organized as most mainstream marketing texts are and would be easy to adapt to specific courses where the sequence may be different.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Overall organization makes sense and is clear.

Interface rating: 4

It appears that links and images work. I will know better after I start using the book for a class!

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I didn't notice any- but as I said before, I didn't do a proofing of every single line.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not notice anything offensive. I liked the section on stereotyping v segmentation.

Comments

Overall, I liked the book and am inclined to adopt this book in the coming year.

Reviewed by Aidin Namin, Associate Professor, Loyola Marymount University on 2/28/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

As someone who has been teaching this course for ten years, I can say that I find this textbook to be highly comprehensive. I think the authors have done a very good job bringing together the topics that students need to learn in this important course. The indexing is also appropriate and easy-to-follow, which supports the comprehensiveness of the textbook.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Examples are not just relevant but also I think they are accurate. I also found a variety of examples in the book, which I think is a plus. From what I understand, the information provided is unbiased, accurate, and error-free.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

I found the content of the book to be up-to-date. While I can see the authors have done a nice job keeping their material "independent from time", Marketing is one of the fastest changing areas in business. Therefore, some material could naturally become obsolete after some time. I think this issue can be easily addressed by issuing a revision and/or a new edition of the book every few years.

Clarity rating: 5

I found the text to be well-written, very easy-to-read, and easy-to-follow. I think the authors maintained a nice balance between using and introducing terms specific to the field, yet not overwhelming the reader. I think this is a fine line and generally not east to do. I congratulate the authors for achieving this goal successfully.

Consistency rating: 5

I think the authors have done a very good job maintaining internally consistency. They use the terms specific to the Marketing field at the right place and coherently throughout the text.

Modularity rating: 5

I think the text is well-structured. It is easy to identify smaller reading sections in the text. I think this helps students with reading the text "in blocks" and it also helps them better learn and retain information.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

I think the text is very well-organized. It presents the material in a clear style. I think this is an important factor for students when they read a textbook and impacts how they "like" reading it.

Interface rating: 5

I found the distribution of pictures and charts to be well-done. From my past experience, I think the way the textbook interface is presented is helping students learn without making them get distracted by offering too many pictures and/or putting pictures at locations that may not be helping student learning process.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical issues in the text. From my understating, the text has been proof-read.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I think it is always a good idea to seek opinion from an individual who is an expert in the DEI domain about this question.

Comments

Please see my comments above.