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Marketing in The Public sector : A Roadmap for improved performance
This is a review on Kotler and Lee?s book ?Marketing in the public sector: a roadmap for improved performance?, published by Pearson Education (as Wharton School Publishing) in 2007. The Spanish version of the book (?Marketing en el sector p?blico: todas las claves para su mejora?), with Josep Ch?as as collaborator (Prologue, adaptation and specific Chapter 14 on the situation of public marketing in Spain and Latin America) is also considered. As previously stated in a former paper in this publication, even when the marketing discipline was formerly linked to business ?only?, the real fact is that there has been and there is a public and social dimension associated to any kind of exchange process, no matter what extent of importance and/or consciousness it is about. From this initial statement, such a public and social dimension has evolved, just as the commercial discipline as a whole, especially during the last six/seven decades. To be precise, three nonprofit marketing branches were broadly recognized after a first ?fragmentation? in 1960s?1970s: macromarketing, social marketing and public marketing. Later, a proper scientific infrastructure has been consolidated and research activities in the nonprofit field are becoming more and more specific day to day, thus coming into concrete sub-branches: public sector marketing, institutional marketing, political marketing... What is more, it has been quite usual to intend ?new?, ?concrete?, and/or ?exclusive? tools especially designed for such specific research fields. In a paper published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing in 2003, Wilkie and Moore referred to this tendency as a ?strong? and perhaps ?irresistible? force. However, this could also derive into a clear risk of dispersion: in most times the ?key? is not so much getting an attractive theoretical development or an elegant proposal to talk about in the classroom, but an adequate application or a right adaptation of generally accepted marketing postulates according to the specificity of any concrete situation or context. This is clearly the underlying argument in Kotler and Lee?s book: ?some public sector administrators question the use of marketing, claiming that government operations are inherently different from business operations... [but] these differences [...] are often exaggerated and should not be used as an excuse for inefficiency, ineffectiveness or waste?. Once the use of marketing in public sector has been accepted, authors are not putting their effort on developing a concrete terminology, specific tools, etc., but they focus on ?how to use fundamental, proven marketing principles and techniques to accomplish [...] goals. The aim is to choose goals and actions that serve the Common Good, those that create the possible good for the greatest possible number of people?. The reader is not to find such things as a concrete definition on public marketing. Main theoretical contribution is likely that of considering good in the public sector as ?defined in terms of social good, economic good and environmental good?measures often referred to as the triple bottom line?. On the other hand, multiple case examples are shown, proving efficiency of marketing use in the public sector field. Even when public sector organizations are not expected to perform like business in the strict sense, they can be managed in quite a similar way, especially in case of public enterprises. All public bodies can improve their offer according to a previous understanding of ?marketing mindset? (part one), then developing attitudes and approaches reflected in successful case stories (part two) and valuable advice when facing different issues of marketing management and planning (part three). In summary, a lot of fresh ideas and a practical approach aiming a public sector performance more and more in benefit of individuals. Only one final consideration: even when case studies are not only related to USA experiences, they all are linked in some way to Anglo-Saxon culture and/or mentality. Additional examples in alternative contexts (e.g. South European or Latin American) are clearly missed. When having a look on the Spanish version on the book, one can feel that this was an intended goal. However, the ?added? nine-page chapter and the ?call for readers? cooperation? to online collection of such material in the prologue ad hoc is clearly not enough. Here there is still hard work to do...
Ketersediaan
| Call Number | Location | Available |
|---|---|---|
| MA 352.748 Kot m | PSB lt.dasar - Pascasarjana | 2 |
| Penerbit | Uper Saddle River Wharton School Publishing., 2007 |
|---|---|
| Edisi | - |
| Subjek | Management Public administration Citizen participation Government productivity Administration agencies |
| ISBN/ISSN | 9780131875159 |
| Klasifikasi | NONE |
| Deskripsi Fisik | xvi, 335 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. |
| Info Detail Spesifik | - |
| Other Version/Related | Tidak tersedia versi lain |
| Lampiran Berkas | Tidak Ada Data |