Summary

Marketing Theory: A Student Text is a collection of original contributions on the subject of marketing theory from area specialists. It provides a number of concise, authoritative and clear summaries of aspects of marketing theory, which form the foundations on which the discipline and practice of marketing is based. Marketing Theory: A Student Text begins with an exposition and justification of the proposition that marketing is a universal discipline. Michael Saren addresses the key issue with which the book as a whole is concerned - the need for theory in marketing. Brian Jones' contribution 'Historical Research in Marketing' completes the general overview attempted in the two preceding chapters. As the author explains, an historical perspective involves the description, analysis or explanation of events through time. The remaining chapters fall into two categories - those which review the contributions of other disciplines to marketing and those which represent original theoretical constructs from the marketing discipline itself. The Editor's view is that marketing is a synthetic discipline in the sense that it draws together and integrates ideas and concepts from other long-established and recognised social sciences such as economics, psychology and sociology but differs from them in its holistic approach to understanding the nature and satisfaction of human needs. As a result of this synthesis and integration marketing has developed distinctive theories and practices of its own in areas such as consumer behaviour, segmentation, targeting and positioning, the concept of the marketing mix, etc.