Book Review
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Raising the Corporate Umbrella: Corporate Communications in the 21st Century Kitchen, Philip J., Schultz, Don E., Palgrave Publishers, 2001 ‘CEOs under fire; plunging share prices; loss of investor confidence; sacking senior executives; revolving boardroom doors; failing to tell or sell convincing stories...’ These are just a few of the frightening scenarios found in everyday corporate life. This European-flavoured guide to fighting back is full of smart talk and tools that can apply to many companies, particularly ones operating across cultures. Crisis response, for example, should not consist of the typical ‘duck-and-cover’ technique but of a seven-step procedure: candour, explanation, declaration, contrition, consultation, commitment, and restitution. The practical ideas outlined in the book emphasise proactivity in everything from strategic communications in the electronic age, to corporate branding, and coping with mergers. Inside Information: Making Sense of Marketing Data Smith, D.V.L., Fletcher, J.H., Wiley, 2001 Think marketing data is hopelessly confusing? So do the authors, both experienced businessmen who run a research agency in England. Inside Information is a handy primer on how to sort through qualitative evidence and cut through miles of survey data. If you don’t want to do it yourself, the book describes how to hire a company to do that for you. Inside Information also gets to the heart of the marketer’s dilemma: How do you know the best way to measure what you need to find out? Basic checklists and snapshot overviews of the market research ‘toolbag’ help to simplify matters. Strategic Marketing Problems: Cases and Comments Kerin, Roger A., Peterson, Robert A., Prentice Hall, 2001 The ninth edition of this guide provides a valuable reference for even the most experienced marketing executive. One of the maddening aspects of reading a case study when you are out of the classroom setting is the lack of opportunity to debate it with colleagues. This book solves that problem in large part by describing the inherent marketing factors in 42 case studies on everything from food to furniture to biotechnology products. The editors, professors at Southern Methodist University and the University of Texas, lay out the essentials of strategic marketing and include a glossary of terms as well as tips for writing a winning marketing plan. Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand D’Alessandro, David F., Owens Michele, McGraw-Hill, 2001 This gutsy page-turner gets to the heart of brand power with 10 easy-to-follow rules. Among them: ‘When it comes to sponsorships, there’s a sucker born every 30 seconds’ (Rule 5) and ‘Do not allow scandal to destroy in 30 days a brand that took 100 years to build’ (Rule 7). D’Alessandro, the CEO of John Hancock Financial Services, and Owens, a professional writer, cover brand territory from banking to popcorn to sports. Their sharp advice is likely to resonate with managers who don’t go anywhere near those particular specialties. Choice has created a whole new breed of consumers, the authors declare. ‘In the process, it raises the bar for anyone trying to sell them anything from a political idea to shampoo.’ Counterintuitive Marketing: Achieve Great Results Using Uncommon Sense Clancy, Kevin J., Krieg, Peter C, The Free Press, 2000 Snap judgments based on gut feelings do not impress the authors of Counterintuitive Marketing. In fact, as Clancy and Krieg explain in this lively and mildly self-promotional book, marketing decisions typically guided by intuition alone usually amount to nothing more than ‘the manly way’ to do it. As founders of Copernicus, a Massachusetts-based marketing consulting and research group, Clancy and Krieg share plenty of examples from their own forays into the marketing wilderness to outline how any company’s marketing moves can operate with more hard-headed logic and streamlined sophistication. One handy helper is the book’s ‘Marketing in a Nutshell’ appendix, listing 100 questions every CEO needs to answer, such as ‘What are the key “climactic” changes taking place in our business?’ and ‘Are the objectives all specific, realistic, and measurable?’ Kellogg on Marketing, Iacobucci Dawn, John Wiley & Sons, 2000 The marketing faculty of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University has come out in force for this compilation of 16 essays on the most pressing marketing issues today. Their topics-brand positioning, market-driving strategies, understanding consumers, and the like-are covered in smart yet accessible language, using real-world examples. A further bonus is the preface by Philip Kotler, a professor at Kellogg and one of the foremost innovators in modern marketing. (Kotler also teamed up with colleague Mohanbir Sawhney for the last essay here, ‘Marketing in the Age of Information Democracy.’) Brand.New, Pavitt Jane, Princeton University Press, 2000 Marketing professionals will get both information and inspiration from this coffee-table size tome, published to accompany a major exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. This gorgeously-illustrated book covers every facet of the art and science of shopping and selling. It is arranged into five chapters on topics such as ‘In Goods We Trust’ and ‘All the World’s a Store: The Spaces of Shopping’. A rich array of ideas and impressions is presented in 18 essays from contributors representing fields as diverse as photography and design, marketing and media, and the academic study of business administration. .’