Book Preface

 by Prof. Dr. Naeim H. Abougomaah ,Ph.D

Preface

Most universities and higher institutions in the Arab world offer business

administration programs in either English or along with programs offered in Arabic

which qualify students who fulfill the requirements to receive a bachelor’s degree

in the area of business administration.

The marketing principles course is required in such programs, aside from

major areas of specialization such as human resource, marketing, and finance.

Teaching this course as any other requires that a textbook be used by both

instructors and students. Therefore, Arab universities and institutions select

marketing principles textbooks published in such foreign countries as the United

States of America, United Kingdom or countries in which these textbooks are

published in English (e.g., India).

These textbooks are of high quality, their authors are famous and of high

caliber, the objectives for using them is highly achieved, and the benefits gained by

students who use them in foreign countries are numerous. However, there is a

number of constraints that might limit the benefits gained by whoever studies them

in the Arab world as well as the extent to which they fit the environments in such a

world. These constraints are basically conclusions reached by the author of this

book through teaching the marketing principles course in English at universities in

the Arab world such as the U.A.E. University in Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi and the Arab

Academy for Science and Technology in Egypt, and his post as former Chairman

of the Department of Business Administration (DBA) at U.A.E. University, his

present post as Chairman of DBA at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, as well as

comments made by his colleagues who have been using foreign textbooks in

teaching the course.

The following are the most important conclusions concerning the foreign

marketing principles textbooks :

1. Since marketing is culture-bound, the textbook is culturally-oriented to the

environment of the foreign country for which it is exclusively authored and

highly influenced by such an environment. This orientation might be in

conflict with the culture(s) which prevail in Arab countries.

2. These textbooks usually contain some photographs, graphics or real examples

and cases that are acceptable in foreign countries but unacceptable in Arab

countries as a result of the differences in the prevailing and dominant values

in both types of societies. This would cause some sort of embarrassment to

both the instructor and students, yet in some situations, the textbook is

disregarded and attempts are made to bring another foreign textbook. Of

course, there is no guarantee that the second textbook will be better than the

first one.

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3. These textbooks present marketing examples and real cases of companies and

organizations--whether successful or not--in foreign countries with which the

reader may not be familiar. This would lessen the benefits of presenting and

analyzing such cases and linking them with what is going on in the Arab

world where the reader lives and studies.

4. As a result of what is referred to in point (3) above, most of these foreign

textbooks do not contain any real marketing examples, cases or practices

from Arab countries despite the fact that these do exist in this part of the

world. This leads to a deficiency in the student’s knowledge concerning what

happens in such countries.

5. The foreign textbooks do not usually refer to any marketing textbooks,

reference books, or research studies published by Arab academics specialized

in marketing in the Arab world. Therefore, Arab students or other students

who study marketing through such foreign textbooks will not be aware of the

marketing literature in the Arab World, whereas their counterparts who study

marketing by using Arabic textbooks will be familiar with such literature in

addition to their familiarity with marketing literature in foreign countries.

This would be considered a serious deficiency in the marketing knowledge of

Arab students who study marketing in English compared to their counterparts

who study marketing in Arabic.

As a result of what was previously presented, the student’s degree of

comprehension and understanding of what is included in foreign marketing

textbooks might be limited. He/she might view what is included in these books as

being in conflict with or isolated from the real world in which he/she lives and

studies. It may also limit knowledge of the business world in which he/she works

after graduation. This student may be unable to link what takes place in the

surrounding environments with what he/she studies using these books.

Furthermore, the student may be unaware of marketing thought/literature

developed by marketing academicians in the Arab world. However, this conclusion

does not mean that what foreign marketing textbooks contain is not important; on

the contrary, they include basic marketing knowledge as well as examples and

cases which benefit the students. It rather means that such books do not fully

achieve the objective from studying in English the principles of marketing in Arab

countries.

Therefore, the author thought about writing a marketing textbook

exclusively for students who study marketing principles in English at educational

organizations such as universities and higher institutions in Arab countries as well

as people who are concerned about reading marketing books in English in this part

of the world.

This book aims at getting the reader acquainted with principles and basics

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of marketing and its management in different organizations, concentrating on

marketing in business/for profit organizations. This includes basic marketing

knowledge as well as related marketing practices in both foreign countries and

Arab countries. To maximize the benefit which can be gained by reading this book,

the topics presented are supported by examples and short cases from foreign

countries or Arab countries whenever possible.

The main dilemma faced by the author of this book was writing about basic

principles and concepts. This dilemma can be stated as follows : how to include

everything the reader should know about the area in question and simultaneously

avoid getting into too many details which might confuse the reader and make the

material a burden, especially since it is supposed to help the reader develop a

strong background to build marketing knowledge through reading and/or studying

advanced and/or specialized topics in this area of study such as strategic marketing,

buyer behavior, distribution channels, international marketing, marketing research,

promotion management.

Therefore, the author attempted to use his personal judgment which has

been developed during more than thirty six years of experience in teaching,

researching, training, and/or consulting in countries such as Egypt, the U.S.A,

Kuwait, and U.A.E. to determine what should be included in this book and

excluded for other texts to cover. However, the author has been guided by similar

principles of marketing textbooks authored and published in foreign countries and

in Arab countries. Although the author cannot consider this book fully conclusive

and comprehensive in marketing principles and basics, it is an attempt in this

direction.

The author does his best to make the material presented in this book simple

and clear as well as attractive and interesting to the reader, in order to motivate the

reader to immense himself/herself in studying marketing.

This book consists of six parts, each of which contains a number of

chapters. These parts are arranged according to the logical sequence of the topics.

Part I deals with basic concepts, issues, as well as the marketing environment. It

includes three chapters : Chapter (1) presents basic marketing concepts, Chapter (2)

discusses marketing basic issues, and Chapter (3) highlights the marketing

environment. This part is considered the logical starting point when studying

principles of marketing, since the reader has to first get acquainted with marketing

basic concepts, learn about issues in marketing in order to reach certain answers,

and finally the reader has to be aware of the marketing environment and its effects

on marketing practices. As such, the reader is getting ready intellectually and

mentally to study marketing in more detail.

Since the customer is the focus of the marketing activities, Part II is

concerned with studying and analyzing customer behavior. It includes two chapters

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(Chapters 4 and 5): Chapter (4)deals with studying and analyzing consumer

behavior, and Chapter (5) is devoted to studying and analyzing organization’s

behavior, since customers are usually classified into consumers and organizations.

Marketing activities cannot be performed unless based on research and studies

which determine how to deal with the market as a whole or in segments. These two

topics are discussed in Part III, where marketing research is presented in Chapter

(6) of the book and market segmentation is discussed in Chapter (7).

After studying and analyzing customer behavior as well as discussing

marketing research and market segmentation, the next phase is to discuss how to

design the marketing mix to fit the market including all the components--especially

customers. Therefore, Part IV contains the marketing mix, where Chapters (8), (9)

and (10) are devoted to the product variable (in general, and specifically as a

service with reference to non-business organizations), Chapter (11) discusses price,

Chapters (12) and (13) discuss promotion, and Chapter (14) looks into the

distribution (place) variable.

When the reader reaches this point, he/she is supposed to have a reasonable

background about marketing basic principles which enables him/her to delve into

its management. Therefore, Part V deals with the marketing management, where

the planning function is discussed in Chapter (15), the organizing function is

presented in Chapter (16), and the control function is highlighted in Chapter (17). It

is important to note that the discussion of marketing management in this part does

not mean that this subject has not been dealt with in the chapters included in the

four parts which precede Part V. Presenting principles and basics of marketing

requires, in many places, linking them to the managerial functions of planning,

organizing, directing, and controlling as well as related decisions. Thus, Part V

focuses on management functions in the marketing area; in other words, it focuses

on implementing each of these functions in more detail with managerial-orientation

in the area of marketing.

In order for the reader’s marketing knowledge at that level of study to be

complete, two additional topics have to be presented. Therefore, Part VI presents

these two topics. International marketing is discussed in Chapter (18), whereas

Chapter (19) presents a number of contemporary trends in marketing.

Since this book might be used in different countries, more than one

currency is used (L.E., K.D., D.H., $, SR, etc) when writing a certain value in the

text.

The terms “firm,” “organization,” and “company” are used interchangeably

in many places of this textbook to refer to the same thing, despite the fact that the

terms “firm” and “organization” are more generic than the term "company." In

addition, the term “company” is usually used to refer to a firm or organization

which practices activities of an economic nature and seeks profit, whereas the

terms “firm” and "organization" are applicable to any entity aside from the nature

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of the activities it performs or the primary objective it seeks to achieve (profit or

another objective). However, when referring to a real company, the term

“company” is used along with the name (e.g., Coca Cola company) or the name

only (e.g., Coca Cola).

To make this book more beneficial to the reader/student, each chapter is

followed by a list of important terms included in it, review and discussion

questions, application questions, and a number of short cases, most of which are

real cases.

The end notes which belong to each chapter are included following the end

of the chapter and numbered according to its sequence. In addition, a list containing

a number of selected references is included at the end of the book. However, there

are numerous other references which are used in the notes and full details about

them are given to enable the reader to refer to them, if desired.

The author hopes that this book avoids some of the shortcomings in

marketing principles textbooks which are published in foreign countries. It may

create an opportunity for non-Arabs and non-Arabic speaking people who are

interested in marketing to get acquainted with the practice of marketing and its

problems in the Arab world. The book might also motivate marketing academicians

in the Arab world to think about writing textbooks and reference books in various

areas of marketing (advertising, personal selling, marketing research, etc.) with the

same pattern since several foreign textbooks and reference books are also used in

teaching these areas at universities and higher institutions in Arab countries. The

conclusions referred to earlier might also be applicable to the specific area in

question such as advertising, selling, etc.

Finally, I thank Almighty God for helping me to write this book. I also

thank everybody who has played a role in making the book appear as it does. For

the sake of improving this book or a second edition that may follow it, I would

appreciate any comments from my colleagues who might use this book and/or read it.

                                  The author

Prof. Dr. Naeim H. Abougomaah, Ph.D           

                                                  Professor and Chairman    

                  Department of Business Administration       

Faculty of Commerce, Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

                                                                      Cairo-2006