Marketing

Throughout the 1980's Bill Pride and OC Ferrell's text led the way in the USA, with full colour design and cutting edge supplements for tutors. In the UK and Europe, tutors mainly used Kotler's or McCarthy's books. In 1991 Warwick-based Sally Dibb and Lyndon Simkin joined forces with Bill Pride and O.C. Ferrell to produce the first European edition of "Marketing: Concepts and Strategies". This trail-blazing Euro-text proved hugely popular with tutors and students, prompting rival publishers to sponsor a host of poor imitations.

Each new edition of "Marketing: Concepts and Strategies" is a full re-write, never a minor revision. The best and most popular features from the previous edition are retained, while peer suggestions coupled with Sally and Lyndon's experience at Warwick Business School lead to a topical and insightful set of addtions and improvements. In this way, existing tutors find there is convenient synergy between their course structures and the revised content, while students benefit from coverage of the leading-edge concepts and thinking in the discipline.

This edition is no different: each chapter has been fully updated with topical, theoretical and practitioner material, lively examples and even better graphics to aid students' understanding of marketing. Greater attention has been devoted to how students use such a text, their web-based learning needs, plus the cross-referencing and "signposting" required to help the uninitiated to navigate such a comprehensive text and to appreciate the linkages between the concepts.

A significant change for the 5th edition has been the incorporation of practitioners' views about the role of marketing, from leading exponents in Calor, Fujitsu, Tesco and Tilda, to name only some. In conjunction with the "marketing tools and techniques" boxes-which feature Sally and Lyndon's consultancy experiences of applying the marketing toolkit - this perspective aims to help students appreciate the nuances of applying for real the key concepts in the workplace. Just as truly effective marketing for practitioners require the word "strategic" placing in front of "marketing", this addition of "Marketing: Concepts and Strategies" has put greater emphasis on the process and associated concepts of strategic marketing. As a result, this edition is genuinely applicable to undergraduates, MBAs or college students studying for professional exams.