TITLE : BASIC MARKETING. 8TH ED

Twenty-four years ago, the first edition of Basic Marketing pioneered an innovative stucture-using the "4 Ps" with a managerial approach-for the intoductory marketing course Since then, the book has been continually improved and refined The response of both teachers and students has been gratifying Basic Marketing-and the supporting materials-have been more widely used than any other teaching materials for intoductory marketing The "4 Ps" has proved to be an organizing structure that has worked for millions of students and teachers.

Now, about 50 introductory marketing texts are available-and almost all of them have, in varying degrees, tried to copy the content, structure, and managerial emphasis of Basic Marketing Imitaton, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. But we have responded to this form of "flattery" with an effort and commitment to excellence that should set a new target for the imitators

We have tried to make the 8th edition of Basic Marketing the highest quality teaching resource ever available for the intoductory course. We have worked together closely to enhance the best and proven elements of the earlier editions of Basic Marketing-while blending in new perspectives from our teaching, research, and business expenences

The whole text has been critically revised, updated, and rewrritten Clear and interesting communication has been a priority-as in past editions. Careful explanations-coupled with a focus on the important "basics"-motivate learning Hundreds of new examples-carefully integrated with the text discussion-bring the concepts alive to heighten your interest Special attention was given to new teaching aids-graphs, figures, and photographs-that reinforce key points The contemporary design of the text accents the "state-of-the-art" theatment of topics Our publisher, too, shared in our commitment a five-color book offered exciting new possibilities for communicating important ideas.

The aim of all this revising, refining, editng, and iUustrating was to try to make sure that each student really does get a good feel for a market-directed system and how he or she can help it-and some company-run better. We believe marketing is important and interesting-and we want evew student who reads Basic Marketing to share our enthusism.

The emphasis of Basic Marketing is on marketing strategy planning. Twenty-four chapters introduce the important concepts in marketing management-and the student sees marketing through the eyes of the marketing manager. The organization of the chapters and topics was carefully planned. But we took special care in writing so that it is possible to rearrange and use the chapters in many ways-to fit various needs.

The First two chapters deal with the nature of marketing-focusing both on its macro role in society and its micro role in businesses-and other organizations. Next a chapter on marketing opportunnity analysis intnduces a stategic planning view of how managers can identify opponunities and segment markets. This strategic view alerts the student to the importance of understanding the external environments attectng marketing-which are discussed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 is a contemporary view of getting information-from marketing research and information systems-for marketing management planning. Chapter 6 introduces the demographic dimensions of the consumer market, and the next two chapters study the behavioral features of the consumer market and how intermediate customers-like manufacturers, channel members, and government purchasers-are similar to and different from final consumers. Chapter 9 dicusses market segmentation in more detail-and helps the student see how to forecast the size of a market segment

The next group of chapters-Chapters 10-20-is concerned with develop- ing a marketing mix-out of the four Ps Product, Place(involing channels of distribution and customer service levels), Promotion, and Price These chapter are concerned with developing the "right" Product and making it available at the "right" Place with the "right" Promotion and the "right" Price-to satisty target customers and still meet the objective of the business. These chapters are presented in an integrated, analytical way, so there is a logical development of a student's thinking about planning marketing strategies

Chapter 21 ties the 4 Ps into planning and implemeting whole marketing plans and programs Chapter 22 discusses controlling marketing plans and programs, using examples to emphasize important points Chapter 23 applies the principles of the text to international marketing. While there is a multinational emphasis throughout the text thk separate chapter is provided for those wishing special emphasis on international marketing.

The final chapter considers how eficient the marketing process is. Here we discuss many criticisms of marketing and evaluate the effectiveness of both micro and macro marketing-considering whether changes are needed. After this chapter, the student might want to look at Appendix C-about carrer opportunities in marketing.

Some textbooks treat "special" topics-like social marketing, consumerism, industrial marketing, services marketing, and marketing for nonprofit organizations-in separate chapters. We have not done this because we are convinced that treating such materials as separate topics leads to an unfortunate "compartmentalization" of ideas. We think they are too important to be isolated in that way. Instead, they are interwoven and illustrated throughout the text-to emphasize that marketing thinking is crucial in all aspects of our society and economy.

Really understanding marketing and how to plan marketing strategies can build self-confidence-and make a student more ready to take an active part in the business world. To move students in this direction, we deliberately include a variety of frameworks, models, classification systems, and "how-to-do-it" techniques which should speed the development of "marketing sense"-and enable the student to analyze marketing situations in a confident and meaningful way. Taken seriously, they are practical and they work. By making these materials more interesting and understandable, we hope to help students see marketing as the challenging and rewarding area it is.

Basic Marketing can be studied and used in many ways-because the Basic Marketing "text material" is only the central component of a Professional Learning Units System (our PLUS) for students and teachers. Many combinations of components are possible-depending on course objectives.

To help the student see what is coming in each Basic Marketing chapter, behavioral objectives are included on the first page of each chapter. And to speed student understanding, important new terms are shown in red and defined immediately. They are also listed in the separate Leaming Aid-with page numbers for convenient reference. Further, a glossary of these terms is presented at the end of the book. These aids help the student understand important concepts-and speed review before exams.

Understanding of the "text material" can be deepened by discussion of the cases suggested at the end of each chapter. In addition, end-of-chapter questions can be used to encourage students to investigate the marketing process and develop their own ways of thinking about it.

There are more components, too. A separate unit, Readings and Cases in Basic Marketing, provides carefully selected complementary materials. The readings are thought-provoking-and illustrate concepts from the text. End-of-reading questions can start the discussion. The longer cases in this book can be used for detailed student analysis-or for instructor presentation. Finally, a separate Leaming Aid contains several more components of the PLUS system-and offers further opportunities to obtain a deeper understanding of the material. This Learning Aid can be used by the student alone or with teacher direction. It includes a brief introduction to each chapter, alist of the important new terms (with page numbers), true-false questions (with answers and page numbers) which cover all the important terms and concepts, and multiple-choice questions (with answers) which illustrate the kinds of questions that may appear in the examinations. Finally, the Leaming Aid has cases, exercises, and problems-with instructions and blanks to fill in. They can be used as classwork or homework-to drill on certain topics-and to deepen understanding of others by torcing appUcaton and then discussion In fact reading Basic Marketing and working with the Learning Aid can be the basic activity of the course.

Finally, feedback-from both students and teachers-is encouraged. We want to prepare the best teaching materials available anywhere. Any suggestions for improving the learning process in the marketing area will be greatly appreciated.

E Jerome McCarthy William D. Perreault Jr