Market-Based Management (6th Edition)

Book Preface

On the basis of positive feedback from students, professors, and those working in the field of marketing, I was encouraged to continue to build on the philosophy of learning through the application of knowledge with this sixth edition of Market-Based Management. The book’s strength lies in its focus on processes and tools for building marketing strategies that deliver superior levels of customer satisfaction, value, and profitability. The main differentiating feature of the book is its emphasis on marketing performance and on the role that marketing strategies play in building the profits of a business. The central theme is that the best way to improve profitability is with market-driven strategies that attract, satisfy, and retain target customers with a value that is superior to that of competing products or services.

Changes in the sixth edition underscore this theme in several ways. Special efforts were made to include meaningful coverage of marketing profitability, branding strategies, product line strategies, customer value, value pricing, social media marketing, and the influence of technology on market potential. This edition’s discussions of marketing communications and customer response have also been extensively revised, mostly in response to developments in digital media. Other changes include new strategic marketing examples, a new 3-year Stericycle Sample Marketing Plan, and a revised presentation on how to get started using marketing metrics. The online Marketing Performance Tools and Application Exercises continue to be an important part of the book. They give students and others a degree of practical experience by engaging them in performance-based marketing simulations.

Market-based management is seemingly difficult but intuitively easy. The reason marketing students and marketing professionals like this book is because it is readable and it presents the tools and processes needed to actually build a market-driven strategy.

The concepts, by themselves, are important and are the backbone of market-based management. However, they are of limited value if they cannot be applied in a way that delivers superior customer value and profitability. Those in marketing need to take a greater level of responsibility for managing profits and the external performance metrics of a business. It is my hope that this new edition of Market-Based Management will help achieve that goal, and I hope that it will also help you in your understanding of, commitment to, and practice of market-based management.