Uni Reading List
Index / 001 EN
Marketing Management cover

Business

Business

Marketing Management

Philip Kotler; Kevin Lane Keller; Alexander Chernev

A broad framework for understanding customers, markets, positioning, brands, pricing, channels, and marketing strategy.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Graduate
marketingcustomer valuesegmentationbrandingpricingdistributionstrategy

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Kotler, P., Keller, K. L., & Chernev, A. (2021). Marketing Management (16th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The sixteenth edition, published in September 2021, adds Alexander Chernev of Northwestern University as a third author beside Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller. Its contents are grouped in seven parts, a more streamlined organisation than the thirteenth edition's eight parts and 22 chapters. The publisher says the book combines a managerial orientation, an analytical approach, a multidisciplinary perspective, universal applications and balanced coverage, and that this edition has streamlined organisation, updated material and new examples reflecting recent market developments.

Part 1: Fundamentals of Marketing Management

Two chapters: "Defining Marketing for the New Realities" and "Marketing Planning and Management". They set out what marketing means in current conditions and how marketing is planned and managed.

Part 2: Understanding the Market

Three chapters: "Analyzing Consumer Markets", "Analyzing Business Markets" and "Conducting Marketing Research". The part treats buyers in consumer and business markets and the research used to learn about them.

Part 3: Developing a Winning Marketing Strategy

Two chapters: "Identifying Market Segments and Target Customers" and "Crafting a Customer Value Proposition and Positioning". Strategy is built here from segmentation, targeting and positioning.

Part 4: Designing Value

Four chapters on the offering: "Designing and Managing Products", "Designing and Managing Services", "Building Strong Brands" and "Managing Pricing and Sales Promotions".

Part 5: Communicating Value

Three chapters: "Managing Marketing Communications", "Designing an Integrated Marketing Campaign in the Digital Age" and "Personal Selling and Direct Marketing". The middle chapter's title shows the digital emphasis.

Part 6: Delivering Value

Two chapters: "Designing and Managing Distribution Channels" and "Managing Retailing".

Part 7: Managing Growth

Five chapters: "Driving Growth in Competitive Markets", "Developing New Market Offerings", "Building Customer Loyalty", "Tapping into Global Markets" and "Socially Responsible Marketing". The part ends with responsibility to society.

Key Concepts

Parts 1–3

  • Marketing planning and management: the managerial framework for decisions.
  • Consumer and business markets: the two kinds of buyer the book analyses separately.
  • Segmentation, targeting and positioning: the basis of strategy, with the customer value proposition.

Parts 4–6

  • Product, service, brand and price decisions: the four chapters on designing value.
  • Integrated marketing campaign: coordinated communication in the digital age.
  • Distribution channels and retailing: how value reaches customers.

Part 7

  • New market offerings: the process of developing and launching new products and services.
  • Growth in competitive markets: the strategic problem of growing.
  • Customer loyalty: retaining customers over time.
  • Global markets and social responsibility: the two outward-facing topics that close the book.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • A manager's sequence. The seven parts run from understanding the market through strategy, the design, communication and delivery of value, to growth, which matches the order in which a marketing manager meets the decisions.
  • A stated analytical and managerial orientation. The publisher presents the book as combining analysis with practical management, and the contents include dedicated chapters on research, segmentation, positioning and pricing alongside planning.
  • Parts that work as modules. Each part is a coherent block, so a course can assign Part 2 for market analysis, Part 3 for segmentation and positioning, or Part 5 for communications without reading the whole book in order.
  • Digital in the structure. The campaign chapter is explicitly about the digital age, and the opening chapter is framed around "new realities".
  • Well-known author team. The text has long been authored by Kotler and Keller, with Chernev added, and Pearson offers it in print, eTextbook and online-course versions.

Limitations

  • Size. A comprehensive managerial text covering a full programme is more than a single introductory course can use, so selection is needed.
  • Managerial rather than theoretical. The orientation is managerial; readers who want the theoretical foundations of marketing as a discipline need a separate treatise.
  • Edition differences. The sixteenth edition has fewer parts than the thirteenth and different chapter groupings (for example, a chapter on socially responsible marketing and a digital campaign chapter), so chapter numbers and page references from older materials do not carry over.

Where It Fits in the Course

Marketing Management is the comprehensive managerial text of this course. Kotler and Armstrong's Principles of Marketing and the OpenStax Principles of Marketing are introductory texts that suit a first course. Jobber's Principles and Practice of Marketing is a UK and European textbook that covers the discipline from fundamental concepts to strategy. Marketing Strategy: Text and Cases combines concise chapters on planning with company cases, and Hunt's Marketing Theory is a treatise on the foundations of marketing as a discipline.

Read an introductory text first if marketing is new, then use Kotler, Keller and Chernev as the detailed manager's reference. Add the cases book for application practice, and Hunt for theory.

How to Use This Book

The book is for MBA and upper-level undergraduate students, and for practitioners who want a comprehensive framework for marketing decisions.

A practical plan:

  • Core: Parts 1 to 3 give the market-understanding and strategy foundation; read them in order.
  • Design and delivery: Part 4 on products, services, brands and pricing, then Parts 5 and 6 on communication and distribution.
  • Growth: Part 7, with the chapters on growth, new offerings, loyalty, global markets and social responsibility as needed for the course.
  • Practice: apply each chapter to a real company, writing a short positioning statement after Part 3 and a campaign outline after Part 5.
  • Short courses: for a one-term course, Parts 1 to 4 plus the communications chapters of Part 5 form a workable core, and Part 7 can be sampled for growth and loyalty.