Marketing planning for services

Book Reviews impressive; the chapters are written by such experts in the field as Andre Tordjman, Steve Burt, Keri Davies and Gary Davies. According to the editors, most of the chapters were initiated at a seminar in Manchester largely sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council. After presentation at the seminar, the contributions were edited by Peter McGoldrick, Littlewoods Professor of Retailing in the Manchester School of Management and the Manchester Business School, and Professor Gary Davies, Post Office Counter Professor of Retailing at Manchester Business School, and other readings were added to the collection. The stated purpose of the book is twofold: (1) to compile a collection of readings that facilitate the reader's understanding of international retailing and (2) to identify areas where future research is needed in the international retailing arena. In summary, the editors aim to enlighten their readers' thinking about the international retailing field, possibly in ways that they have not thought about this area in the past, and charge them with the responsibility of developing and creating theoretical frameworks upon which to study the field in the future. To emphasize this theme, Gary Davies, in the last chapter, reflects upon the readings and offers ideas for possible future research undertakings. The editors are quite successful in meeting their goals for this book. As the reader examines each of the chapters, his/her knowledge is heightened about various aspects of non-domestic retailing; and, upon reflection, gaps in the current state of research seem to be uncovered for the reader. Based upon its focus, the book is particularly useful for academics. For example, the book should prove to be an invaluable tool for teachers of undergraduate and graduate classes emphasizing retailing and international business/ retailing. In addition, researchers interested in pursuing enquiries into areas of global retailing/distribution will find the readings to be particularly helpful in their pursuits. End-of-chapter review questions and comprehensive reference lists are included to add to the book's utility in the classroom and/or in research projects. Also, a myriad of up-to-date tables and figures are presented in each of the chapters. The structure of the book is organized in three major topic areas. Section One discusses the trends in the internationalization of retailing. Section Two, Driving Forces in Internationalization, emphasizes 260

the motives behind retail internationalization, global sourcing and the impact of the legislative environment on retail decisions to enter particular countries or markets. Lastly, Section Three examines strategic issues related to global retailing including market appraisal and alliance formation. This section also contains an analysis of strategies used by successful international retailers such as Toys 'R' Us. The book's organization into three main sections helps the reader make sense of a complex and often confusing subject matter. This book possesses many positive qualities; however, this review will expound upon only a few of these attributes. First, International Retailing." Trends and Strategies encompasses topics in the field which normally are not presented in other books of its type. For example, international sourcing and legislative issues are rarely discussed in international retailing texts. Second, it must be noted that few books are available on the topic of global retailing/distribution. Therefore, this book is particularly crucial to its readers. Third, the few books offered in the marketplace at this time tend to be descriptive in nature, i.e. a country-bycountry description of the retailing market. In a departure from this practice, this book attempts to take a leap forward by offering a portion of readings containing a theoretical component. I believe that this 'leap' will advance the study of international retailing in the years to come. International Retailing: Trends and Strategies possesses a few shortcomings. One criticism of this text is its emphasis on European retailing. Although there are a few chapters concerning nonEuropean aspects of retailing, a major proportion of the readings are devoted solely to Europe. In fact, five of the 13 chapters focus entirely on the European marketplace. In most of the other chapters, discussion tends to center around European activities as well. Similarly, food retailing is a dominant theme in the book. Discussions relating to a broader array of retail formats (e.g. discounters, department stores, services) and countries (e.g. retailing studies in South America) may make this text more useful and interesting for academics and students concerned with retailing activities in non-European countries. In summary, International Retailing: Trends and Strategies is a book which should be read by academics and students interested in international retailing studies and research. Its organization and

content will most likely lay a solid foundation for greater understanding of the complex environment faced by retailers entering foreign marketplaces and provide many avenues for future, fruitful research in this growing field.

Sherry Lotz University of Arizona, Tucson

PII:50969-6989(97)OOOO9-X Marketing Planning for Services Malcolm McDonald and Adrian Payne Butterworth-Heinemann Oxford (1996) 364 pp £25 ISBN 0 7506 3022 1 Given the emphasis and keen interest in most Western economies towards the marketing of services, a book that links the concepts of marketing planning and the characteristics that differentiate services and goods marketing is most appropriate and very timely. Marketing Planning for Services is one of a trilogy of books published on behalf of The Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK on marketing planning in the Marketing Series (Professional Development). It brings together the extensive and acknowledged practical and academic backgrounds of two international experts in marketing planning and services marketing, Malcolm McDonald and Adrian Payne from the Cranfield School of Management. It provides a practical and step-by-step approach to the marketing planning process in a services marketing context and valuable insights into some of the implementation issues. The book follows the well-known tenstep planning format established by McDonald over many years, and breaking this down into the four-phase framework is helpful in understanding the highly interactive nature of the process of planning. This framework, outlined in Chapters 3~5, is the crux of the text. The other chapters are organised in such a way that the reader can choose to skip some parts, or pre-read depending on the level of knowledge he or she may have. Five actual examples of marketing plans in a variety of services settings are presented at the end of the book and replace the traditional end-ofchapter questions and case studies. Given the context of this book within the industry professional body, and its obvious predominant aim at practitioners, this structure is very appropriate and user friendly.

Book Reviews

I chose not to skip Chapter 1 as suggested, given a reasonable knowledge of the services marketing literature, so that I could gain an understanding of the foundation that was to be laid about marketing as it relates to services. Needless to say, the chapter presents a most useful summation of a wide range of issues about the marketing of services, in a very succinct way. After the initial explanation of the growing importance af the service sector and the nature of :~ervices, there are a series of matrices based on the work of Lovelock (1983). These provide strategic insights into ,different service situations that share ,zommon characteristics, such as the nature of the service act, the level of relationship :he service organisation has with its customer, the degree of customisation possible and empowerment of employees, demand management and service delivery. A final overview of the services marketing mix, relationship marketing and other issues completes this very comprehensive chapter. So comprehensive, I wonder whether any reader should be discouraged from reading it. Marketing planning (what it is and the process), according to McDonald, is, as you would expect, beautifully overviewed in Chapter 2, with a range of barriers outlined which prevent change in relation to planning. This is a very practical discussion and useful in terms of organisalions being able to think outside the square when it comes to planning generally. The next four chapters (3~) are, as previously stated, the crux of the book and examine each of the four phases of the process and problems in developing r~la~keting plans. They are very comprehensive in terms of planning concepts, strategy development, competitive positioning and analytical techniques in an overall sense. It is within this area, l:owever, that the link to some important aspects of services and their implications cn marketing planning is, in some places, limited. The importance of people in the design and delivery of services is acknowledged and discussed to some extent. The notion that marketing, human resource management and operations need, by necessity, to be very closely linked has been explored by other texts including those by Palmer (1994) in the UK and Lovelock (1992) in the USA. In a planning context, it seems that this area needed more consideration both here and ii~ the implementation chapter. In the various marketing mix elements there is a sound discussion of the

principles overall, but the relativity to the differences between services and goods and planning for specific strategies needed to be explained (for example, the concept of intangibility of a service and its effect on communication strategy in relation to the importance of sales promotion versus advertising, stressing tangible clues, etc., and the management of physical evidence generally). Chapter 7 looks at some implementation issues in a more comprehensive way than many other planning texts. Aspects such as marketing intelligence, marketing research, the structure of the service organisation at different stages of evolution and raising the level of marketing orientation are well covered and related to the service situation. Again here, the notion of the interface within organisation structures between marketing, human resource management and operations is not extensively discussed. The final chapter (Chapter 8) summarises the content of the book by a very practical step-by-step planning system for services. It is based on McDonald's Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to use them (1995), effectively adapted for service

situations complete with proformas, exercises and suggested formats for completing a marketing plan. Several warnings are given here by the authors: first, not to be strait-jacketed by this step-by-step process and to remain creative; second, not to be tempted to just follow this final chapter without examining the detailed discussion of each of the key phases; and, for those interested in attempting to initiate marketing planning or improving the quality of their marketing planning, to study the whole book. I consider that all readers would benefit greatly from reading and thoroughly understanding the whole book. The overall style of the book is excellent in that it is easy to read, practical and contains many highlighted explanations and continual questions within the text that effectively reinforce the concepts being presented. The orientation is classically towards 'pure' services and, even though the continuum of tangible/intangible possibilities is presented in the first chapter, there is not a lot of reference to the service delivery aspect of goods marketing and its application to the concepts discussed. The collection of marketing plans at the end of the book from firms in a variety of service situations (airline, legal, computer consultancy, project management and desiga and purchasing) exemplify the processes and ideas presented in the book and provide a 'real world' view of

the outcome of marketing planning. This is a refreshing change and very appropriate. In my experience, the most common question from students of marketing planning, be they practitioners or otherwise, is 'can we have a look at a real plan?'. This is a well-written, practical and unique book that is a significant addition to marketing practice and academia from two of the most prominent authors in the fields of planning and services marketing at a time when these aspects of business are so important to management. Phillip Morgan University o f Newcastle, Australia

References Lovelock, C H (1983) 'Classifying services to gain strategic marketing insights' Journal of Marketing 47 (summer) 9-20 Lovelock, C H (1992) Managing Services-Marketing, Operationsand Human Resources

Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ McDonald, M (1995) Marketing Plans. How toprepare them; how to use them 3rd Edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford Palmer, A (1994) Principlesof Services Marketing McGraw-Hill, Maidenhead, UK

PII:50969-6989(97)00010-6 Managing Retail Productivity and Profitability D Walters and D Laffy Macmillan London (1996) 290 pp £45 I S B N 0 333 64418 2 The authors

David Walters is an Associate Professor in the School of Economic and Financial Studies at Macquarie University, Australia. His experience includes teaching at the Cranfield University School of Management, Templeton College, Oxford, and European Business School, London. He has written other textbooks and has published a number of papers in academic journals. He has extensive consulting experience with large European retailing companies such as Asda, Sainsbury, Harrods and Laura Ashley, among others. Dominic Laffy is Subject Leader in Information Systems at the European Business School, London. He has had a number of years experience in training and consultancy for a range of companies in both private and public sector. Overview

Issues of retail productivity are of continuing interest to managers, academic 261