Book Review

Kotler, P., Hayes, T., and Bloom, P (2002) Marketing Professional Services: Forward thinking strategies for boosting your business, your image, and your profits (2ed), Prentice Hall Press . 416 pages.

There is little doubt that Philip Kotler is one of the leading experts of modern marketing, having written numerous books and hundreds of papers. It was therefore disappointing to read his second edition of Marketing Professional Services written with 2 co authors. Whilst conceptually sound and well written, it does seem to be a re-hash of many existing works by Kotler that really offers little new, particularly from the perspective of the professional services marketer.

The book consists of 15 chapters covering most aspects of services marketing, and there are undoubtedly some interesting sections. However, certain parts of the book seem to be written more as primer than as an analytical look at professional services marketing.

Of note, the chapter on strategic planning and organization seems especially ill conceived. The use of the Boston Consulting Groups growth/share matrix for planning decisions is simplistic if not outdated. Overall, if you are looking for a solid primer of marketing concepts then this book is fine, for the more advanced practitioner, you may find it somewhat lacking in depth.