Preface
This latest edition recognizes the growing importance of the service sector in most economies and of significant differences between product and service marketing.
The world of services marketing has changed dramatically during the past decade. The easy, high-growth markets have been replaced by mature, low-growth demand patterns that have forced suppliers to question their erstwhile successful business models, such as, for example, those that consisted largely of making ‘products’ and selling them to intermediaries, who magically got rid of them somehow to an unsophisticated general public who were in awe (or ignorance) of complicated products such as pensions.
Today, however, there is in most developed countries a situation of government regulation, oversupply, and more importantly a more sophisticated consumer who has been empowered by the Internet. This has forced service providers to pay greater attention to the needs of the consumers of their services. This means that they have been forced to pay greater attention to marketing.
The three authors work with many of the world’s leading service organizations in their role as professors of marketing at three of the world’s leading business schools. We have sought to combine the acknowledged leadership of Cranfield University in the domain of marketing planning (Malcolm McDonald) with the experience of two experts in the field of services marketing (Pennie Frow and Adrian Payne) to produce a unique text for those who are ...
