journal of the Operational Research Society (1995) 46, I033-1 037
© 1995 Operational Research Society Ltd. All rights reserved.0160-5682/95 $12.00
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Book Selection Edited by JOHN M. WILSON J. ELIASHBERG and G. L. LrLIEN (Editors): Marketing H. DYCKHOFF, U. DERIGS, M. SALOMON and H . C. TuMs (Editors): Operations Research Proceedings 1993. Papers of the 22nd Annual Meeting of DGOR in Cooperation with NSOR Vrc BARNEIT and ToBY LEwrs: Outliers in Statistical data (3rd Edition) A. BAUER, R. BowDEN, J. BRoWNE, J. DuGGAN and G. LYoNs: Shop Floor Control Systems: From Design to Implementation MAL OwEN: SPC and Business Improvements PETER HoRVATH with assistance of STEFAN NrEMAND and MARKUS WoLBOLD: Target Costing: A State-of-the-Art Review
1033 1034 1034 1035 1036 1037
Marketing J. EuASHBERG and G. L. LrLIEN (Editors) North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1993. xiv + 920 pp. Dfl.310.00 ISBN 0 444 88957 4 This book, volume 5 of the Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Science, presents a review of academic research and development in the marketing arena. The intended audience is the mathematically literate OR/MS practitioner or academic, rather than commercial marketing departments. The almost-900 pages are packed with 18 papers by leaders in the various sub-fields, mainly American, and, to be honest, make a rather daunting read! There are three main streams to the book: modelling behaviour and competition, market analysis tools and marketing-mix models. Each of the papers provides a fairly wide overview of the specific area under discussion, usually including the historical development of research up to the early 1990s, the behavioural foundations or key assumptions of the various models, and a mathematical treatment of the area. For example, considering the various effects of advertising (Chapter 9-Econometric Time Series Market Response Models) there is a review of advertising dynamics such as whether effects are essentially short-lived or cumulative, followed by a summary of the three main mathematical models in use. Incidentally the conclusion is that the 'most profitable advertising strategy is one of alternating pulsation, i.e. a pulse in every other period'. The practical application of this is slightly limited by the next sentence-'We do not know, though, what the best length of a pulsing period is.' The main target audience of the book is clearly MS/ OR professionals, particularly those with a marketing interest. For the general reader it serves a useful purpose of signposting several marketing areas where MS/OR approaches are making some impact on marketing decisions. I would have liked to see more case study material in the book. Also it seems strange that there is no specific treatment of Point Of Sale systems and the plethora of instantaneous marketing data that these are now providing. For these two reasons I personally found the recent marketing textbook 1 by Professor Alan· Mercer of Lancaster University to be more interesting and relevant to research in this country. Forward Trust
JASON LowTHER Reference
1. A.
M ERCER
(1991) Implementable Marketing Research . Prentice Hall, London .
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