An Introduction to Marketing, by William Perreault (or Bill
as he told his class to call him), is the most interesting text book I have
read about marketing. And, since I have a Masters of Business Administration in
Marketing, I have obviously taken many, many courses in marketing. This text
was the easiest to read – it has many anecdotes, many original examples, and
hundreds of real world cases about companies that you are aware of and may care
about. Most interestingly for students in his class, at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business Administration, he
included cases about companies that had been founded for former students. Some
of these companies had even failed and others were contacted with ideas that were
brainstormed in classes. However, probably the best part of this text book, is
the fact that every single individual chapter has a section about the ethics
that relate to the chapter’s topic. This may seem like a standard in the
industry, but it is definitely NOT. I once had a professor of Business to
Business and Services Marketing in an unnamed European country (as to not
promote any stereotypes), who told the entire class that there was no such
things as business ethics. He claimed that it was just a myth invented to keep
clients happy and that up in hotel rooms after business conferences, all rules
were broken (including anti-trust laws). Needless to say, a marketing professor
and author who respects actual business ethics was not only a breath of fresh
air, but also became a turning point in my business career.
So, as every piece of writing should have, I give you
a summary: the book is interesting, the topics are necessary, and it does not
ignore the huge, essential area of business ethics.