Principles of Marketing, 2nd edition

The original (1996) text has become a popular foundation stone for specialists and non‐specialists alike, and it receives an update with this, the second European edition. Although the book is too much of a Leviathan to be considered a subject primer, it manages to encompass great swathes of business behaviour and process and encourages readers to view them in a marketing context. As such, like its predecessor, it is aimed squarely at students and teachers rather than practitioners, although the public relations specialist will not be surprised to see how the subject of public relations has been given the full reductionist treatment. A century of theoretical and empirical knowledge has been subsumed within the mass communication chapter, along with advertising and sales production. Thus the expert corporate communicator will view the pages as traditional customer relations rather than public relations which by definition includes other stakeholders, corporate image and reputation studies etc. Aspects of corporate communication processes and strategy are touched on in buyer behaviour, personal selling and management.

The book layout seems to draw some inspiration from periodicals; illustrations are plentiful, text is crisp and straightforward, while coloured panels draw attention to key points, further questions (graded in order of perceived difficulty) and case studies. Chapters align with current teaching needs by delineating learning outcomes at the start and key terms are highlighted and summarised within chapters, reprised at the end of them. It is itself a nicely‐marketed package, backed by a range of supplements both on‐line and off that seem primed to reinforce the position of this text among pedagogues by offering as package that is as near complete as possible.

Technologically, little is made of electronic communication and its impact on communication processes. Nevertheless, even if the discourse on developing areas is slightly uneven, the format is approachable. The book offers insight into the way marketing specialists are beginning to utilise the principles, tools and techniques of corporate communication and strategic public relations theory and practice in identifying, monitoring and evaluating customer or consumer relations from their organisational perspectives.