In the backdrop of recent technology-driven disruptions that have changed dynamics of doing business, the discipline of Marketing is also undergoing massive transformation across the world. In addition to these global trends, the job of a marketer in India is further challenging due to the unique context of Indian markets where the rich and the poor, in metros and villages, use kirana shops, modern retail and e-commerce platforms to seek maximum value from products and services they consume. No doubt, B-school faculty are constantly looking for text books that can truly enable the teaching of art and science of Marketing in Indian context.
Well, help is at hand with the recently released 6th Edition of ‘Marketing Management’ authored by V. S. Ramaswamy and S. Namakumari. Published by SAGE, a leading global publisher of academic books and journals, this book is worth considering for teaching marketing management. Recently released, this book is different and unique among marketing texts as the book is India-centric, comprehensive, and suited for the current times.
Authored by Dr V. S. Ramaswamy, a PhD in Marketing Management and a visiting faculty at IIM Bangalore & IIIT Bangalore, and Ms S. Namakumari, who has experience of 20 years in Sales and Marketing, the sixth edition of Marketing Management takes the theme of Value-Creation as the central purpose of marketing and delves deep into it.
The voluminous book, that runs in 798 pages, is divided into nine parts. The first part discusses in detail the ‘Marketing in Indian Environment’. The second part elaborates on ‘Developing Marketing Strategy and Plans’, where the authors share how to formulate the Marketing Strategy and also analyse Industry & Competition. The third part analyses Consumers and Selecting Markets. Part 4 deals with Creating Customer Value: Managing the Product. The fifth part guides on Distribution aspect ‘Delivering Customer Value’. The sixth part focuses on ‘Communicating Customer Value’. The seventh part on ‘Capturing Customer Value’ is all about ‘Pricing’. Part eight of the book is on ‘Supporting and Controlling the Marketing Effort’.
The last and ninth part of the book focussed on unique Indian challenge and opportunity – Rural Marketing.
Author and publishers have made efforts to make this book both contextually rich and reader friendly. Almost every chapter has special elements like Marketing Insight Exhibits, Mini Cases, Charts that enrich the book.
Authors have added a new feature ‘Marketing Insight’ to the 6th edition of the book. It consists of exhibits, spread through all the chapters. These exhibits provide ‘Marketing Insight’ explaining how high-performing companies, Indian as well as Global, are excelling in various aspects of marketing. The design of this new feature makes teaching and learning more concrete and enjoyable.
The Mini Cases integrated in the chapters of the book help to gain insight into the performances of companies. For example, the Mini Case in Chapter 1 at page 7 on ‘Byju’s-The Learning App, Giving Value and Capturing Value’ throws light and analyses how a start-up, in two years has grown to a value at Rs.45 billion and why two of the world’s biggest investors like Zuckerberg and Tencent have put their money in it.
Another Mini Case in the same chapter on ‘Nexa: Maruti’s Innovative Value Creation’ is a good study as how the company that was failing in premium car segment has grown its market share from 38 percent to 52 percent just in five years with the innovative idea of launching ‘Nexa’.
The book has a long history. The 1st edition of the book was published 35 years ago. The previous five editions with forty odd reprints have established the title as a popular text on the subject for the MBA programmes of the universities and B-Schools in India and it has now entered its 6th Edition.
When asked, how is the latest edition different from the previous ones, Dr Ramaswamy said: “I would say “the emphasis on the Value-delivery theme”, is the prime distinctive feature of this edition. Of course, editions 4 and 5 had also laid emphasis on the “Value- theme”. But the present one makes a significant contribution to marketing-teaching by offering the “value concept of marketing”. It strengthens the foundation of marketing-teaching.”
In summary, Faculty members at B-schools who are looking for a text book on marketing management for the Indian context will do well to review this book for their courses. Keen students and working executives can also refer to this book to gain Indian perspectives on global marketing concepts like Positioning, Channel Management, Integrated Marketing Communication and many others.
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