Marketing Management: A Strategic Decision-Making Approach

by John W. Mullins

Marketing A Strategic Decision-Making Approach 6th Edition concentrates on strategic decision making. This approach sets Mullins apart from other texts which place greater emphasis on description of marketing phenomena rather than on the strategic and tactical marketing decisions that managers and entrepreneurs must make each and every day. This 6th Edition continues to be the most current and internet-savvy book available, injecting the latest developments in internet-based communication and distribution technology into every chapter. Also, an entire chapter (Chapter 15) is devoted to the development of marketing strategies for the new economy. The author team’s rich entrepreneurial, marketing management, and consulting experience spans a broad variety of manufacturing, service, software, and distribution industries provides an abundance of real-world, global perspectives.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Reference, Management

560 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2001

About the author

John Mullins is an Associate Professor of Management Practice in Entrepreneurship and Marketing at the London Business School. He earned his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. An award-winning teacher, John brings to his teaching and research 20 years of executive experience in high-growth retailing firms including two ventures he founded and one he took public.

Since becoming a business school professor in 1992, John has published four books, numerous cases and more than 40 articles in a variety of outlets, including Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, and tJohn Mullinshe Journal of Product Innovation Management. His research has won national and international awards from the Marketing Science Institute, the American Marketing Association, and the Richard D. Irwin Foundation. He is a frequent speaker to audiences in entrepreneurship and venture capital.

John’s now legendary first trade book, now in its fifth edition, The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Investors Should Do Before Writing a Business Plan, is the definitive work on the assessment and shaping of market opportunities. His book, Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model, co-authored with Randy Komisar, a partner at the esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in California, was named to “Best Books of 2009” lists by BusinessWeek and INC Magazine. John's book, The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance, or Grow Your Company with Your Customers' Cash, has been called "mandatory reading for every entrepreneur before even thinking about seeking angel or venture capital funding"; in it John offers the most sure-footed path to starting, financing, or growing your venture.

John has consulted with and done executive education on four continents for a variety of organizations both large and small, including Merck-Serono, Time Warner Communications, the European and African Venture Capital Associations, Pumpkin Ltd., the Young Presidents Organization, and the International Finance Corporation of The World Bank, among numerous others. He has served on the boards of fast-growing entrepreneurial companies in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.

Reviews

[Sourabh Gharde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent as a supporting text but not very exciting. I mostly used it to cross‑check topics and solve doubts when Kotler felt too brief. Good for reference, not something I'd pick up for fun.

[Mark Oppenlander · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the kind of textbook that gives the whole genre a bad name. Although the basic information here is good, the presentation is as dry as a mouthful of chalk dust.

The book smacks of multiple editions and updates. Some of the marketing examples used are clearly new (digital technologies, emerging markets, etc.) whereas some of them are quite dated. Thus, the book winds up feeling like a room that has been too-often re-painted and is now beginning to creak and crack with the wearing through of the various layers.

At the end of the day, the language and approach is simply too sterile. I know this is written for graduate students, but don't you think that MBA's might still enjoy a book that is written in an entertaining and fresh way?

In the end, this is not terrible, but it's not good either. I am relatively confident that there are better ways to learn about the four P's and the four C's of marketing.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to provide a review for a textbook assigned as part of earning a Masters in Business Administration. It is not exactly a voluntary, recreational read. However, the textbook provides comprehensive steps to create individualized plans to support whichever industry your firm may compete within.