Philip Kotler - Prefaces to Marketing Management - Subject Evolution

MBA Core Management Knowledge - One Year Revision Schedule





Kotler, who joined the Kellogg School faculty in 1962 and is now the  Distinguished Professor of International Marketing

Philip Kotler published his first edition in 1967. The present edition was published in 2011. In each edition, new concepts that became useful in marketing were identified and included in the book. In this note, an attempt will be made to record the new concepts that were introduced into the subject in each and edition and thus show the evolution of the subject as documented by Philip Kotler.

First Edition

Kotler's big idea in 1967 was that companies ought to be driven by customers and markets, rather than by the intuition of marketing executives. He went on to bring analytical thinking into the marketing field to add to the rich description of markets.

Kotler's stated that  marketing needed more logical processes for making decisions and he based his textbook on ideas synthesized from economics, behavioral science, management theory and mathematics.

Kotler had been trained as an economist at the University of Chicago and MIT. As a result, he introduced mathematical models to help companies allocate marketing resources, including setting the size and goals of the sales force. The companies need a process for making decisions about how many salespeople to hire, how much to spend on advertising, how much to spend on sale promotion which was not available. Kotler filled the gap.

Kotler's original goal was to write a textbook to use in his own classes but  he was delighted and surprised to see his become a big success.

9th Edition 1997

National economies are undergoing rapid and often wrenching transformation due to two main forces. One is globalization, the explosive growth of global trade and international competition. The other force is technological change. This decade has seen remarkable advances in the availability of information and the speed of communication, in new materials, in biogeneric advances and drug; in electronic marvels.

Companies operate in a Darwinian marketplace where the principles of natural selection lead to "survival of the fittest." Marketplace success goes to those companies best matches to the current environmental imperatives-those who can deliver what people are ready to buy. Individuals, businesses, cities, and even whole countries must discover how they can produce marketable value - namely, goods and services that others are willing to purchase.

Apart from globalization and technological change, giant retailers are emerging, private store brands are becoming acceptable, consumers are becoming more value and price sensitive, new retail formats are emerging, importance of mass marketing and advertising is diminishing and erosion of brand loyalty is taking place.

Marketing management developed in business and management theory  has to be clearly understood by marketing managers, persons from other departments, and company top management and entrepreneurs, public policy makers and consumers. Marketing is an orderly insightful process for thinking about and planning for markets. The process starts with researching the market place to understand its dynamics. The marketer uses research to identify opportunities - that is, to find individuals or groups of people with unmet needs  or a latent interest in some product or service. Then only, a target market is selected and a market mix is developed to optimize the long run performance way of the organization satisfying the needs of target segment customers. The marketing process is applicable to more than just goods and services. Anything can be marketed, including ideas, events, organizations, places, and personalities. Still, marketing starts with a search for opportunities. It is only when there is a need in the market, a solution can be created and marketed.

Current Emphases in Marketing Practice

1. A growing emphasis on quality, value and customer satisfaction.
2. A growing emphasis on relationship building and customer retention
3. A growing emphasis on managing business processes and integrating business functions.
A growing emphasis on:
4. Global thinking and local market planning.
5. Building strategic alliances and networks
6. Direct and Online marketing
7. Services marketing
8. High-tech industries
9. Ethical marketing behavior

9th Edition provides perspective on marketing solutions to the above emphases. But fundamental features of the book remain intact. They are:

1. A managerial orientation.
2. Analytical approach
3. A basic disciplines perspectives - Underlying Marketing Management are: Economics, Behavioral Sciences, Management Theory, and Mathematics.
4. Universal application of marketing thinking to products and services, consumer and business markets, profit and non-profit organizations, one country and multinational companies, end product or intermediate product companies, and low-tech and high-tech companies.
5. Comprehensive coverage: The book covers all the topics that an informed marketing manager needs to know. It covers the main issues in strategic, tactical and administrative marketing.

New to the Ninth Edition

1. A new chapter Chap 23. Managing Direct and Online Marketing added.
2. Expanded emphasis on the themes: Global marketing, marketing and technology, socially responsible/ethical marketing, and marketing's interaction with other departments.
3. New and expanded material on value marketing, brand building and equity, the war between national and store brands, geodemographics, database marketing, customer lifetime value, mass customization, integrated marketing communications, co-brading, major account management, marketing reengineering, category management, word-of-mouth marketing, market logistics, relationship marketing, loyalty marketing, competitive benchmarking, and imitation strategies.

14th Edition 2011

Thee new areas are emphasized in this new edition.
The rise of sustainability and green marketing, Increased development of computing power, internet and mobile and marketing during recessions.

Communications chapter was updated with emphasis on social media landscape and communication environment. New forms of communication have emerged: experiential, entertainment and viral marketing. Mass communication was earlier a privilege of companies and journalists. Now, customers report their experience to other customers through emails, blogs and podcasts. Company cannot control all the conversation about their products in mass media any more.

Companies are responding through new technologies to provide more customization, and more dialogue. Market is now company wide undertaking. Return on marketing investment is being emphasized. Even its effect of share holder is being examined.  Holistic marketing is the new concept to be practiced by marketing managers to succeed in this new age.

The book provides detailed description of marketing tasks and retains the core ideas of the first edition of the book.
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=VBKlBAAAQBAJ