Preface to the Analysis of the Book "Fundamentals of Marketing"

Preface

by

Charles Lamson

This book entitled Fundamentals of Marketing aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the subject of marketing. While it covers most of the topics found in other texts it also provides a solid theoretical background which can act as a springboard to discuss contemporary issues and controversies within marketing theory and practice.

The text is focused on the mainstream functionalist account based on psychological theory, rather than alternative sociological and anthropological texts that are offered as psychology. This book acts as the bedrock of most explanations of consumer behavior. A range of psychological theories have been examined with limited discussion of the associated controversies. In this respect Freudian theory behaviorism and cognitive learning theory are detailed in an early chapter. This preliminary exposition informs the subsequent coverage of involvement and brand loyalty, where different theoretical explanations, such as cognitive and behaviorist theories are discussed along side synthetic accounts. The overall aim is to disabuse students of the belief that there is only one way of understanding marketing activities and to enable them to compare and contrast different accounts.

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While the text is written from a European perspective, reflecting the point of origin of its contributors, it is intended for use by students from any country or background

The text has been developed and written by Marilyn Stone, Hariet-Wat and John Desmond. Once the draft chapters were prepared, the authors read each other's contribution to link the chapters of the text. Examples have been drawn from a range of countries and  situations, which it is hoped will help students relate to the issues being discussed. Marilyn Stone undertook the overall editing of the text.

*SOURCE:FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING, PDF, 2007, MARILYN STONE, HARIET-WAT, JOHN DESMOND, IAN MCCALL, PG. 18*

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