“Why is marketing important? Because if no one knows you exist; You don’t really exist.” (Unknown)

The heart of any business lies in marketing. Most aspects of business depend on successful marketing. Marketing is all about identifying, understanding and satisfying the needs of the current as well as the potential customers profitably. The overall marketing umbrella covers marketing research, product, production, branding, distribution, promotion, sales and skills. Thus, understanding of the market and marketing function offers a basis to formulate the strategies related to all the aspects of any business. In modern management education, it is therefore very critical for all student managers in the making to understand the overall business of the organization and role of marketing in order to be effective and successful.

This book offers an easy-to-use reference supported by a range of examples. In my experience of teaching, all types of students enjoy applying principles to real-life marketing problems. This is natural, as marketing does not exist in a vacuum; it is through application that students gain a richer understanding of marketing.

Becoming a successful marketing practitioner requires an understanding of the principles of marketing together in conjunction with real-life examples of implementing marketing ideas, processes and techniques in the marketplace. This book, therefore, strives to provide a framework for understanding important marketing dimensions such as understanding the customer, market segmentation and targeting, brand building, pricing, innovation and marketing implementation, which form the backbone of marketing practice.

Asking questions and getting answers is always helpful to develop a better understanding about the subject. Hence, the attempt is to cover the fundamentals of marketing management in the form of questions and answers. The questions covered in the book are logically arranged as per the commonly prevalent curriculum. The answers in general are structured in a standard format, which includes the introduction, main body of the answer, examples for better understanding and the conclusion.

The reasonable length and the flexible question and answer format makes this book an ideal text for use in undergraduate and MBA classes.

Contents -

1. Elements of Marketing Management
2. Current Marketing Environment in India
3. Integrated Marketing Communication
4. Services Marketing
5. Rural Marketing
6. Consumer Behavior and Buying Decision Process
7. Product and Pricing Decision
8. Logistics and Supply Chain Management
9. e-Marketing
10. References
11. Bibliography