Handbook of Marketing Decision Models

Wierenga, Berend, ed. 2008. Handbook of Marketing Decision Models. Springer, New York. 625 pp. $169.00.

Marketing science and the marketing decisions that it supports forma discipline to which a number of toptier journals dedicate their articles and report methodological and conceptual advances. However, of late we have seen relatively few review articles that synthesize our progress. This is in contrast with the early days of the profession when we saw wonderful reviews of areas as diverse as conjoint analysis (e.g., Green and Srinivasan 1978, 1990) and diffusion models (e.g., Mahajan and Muller 1979, Mahajan et al. 1990). These papers played an important role not only in integrating what we had learned from a variety of sources but, more importantly, in spelling out what we had yet to discover. Of course, the question arises as to whether this lack comes from a change in taste or simply because we are learning at a slower marginal rate than we previously did.

Be that as it may, the relative dearth of review papers in marketing science gives the current volume the opportunity to fill an important gap. This gap is made more salient because the standard research texts in this area (Lilien et al. 1993, and Eliashberg and Lilien 1993) are beginning to show their age.

How well does this book fulfill its potential? My view is, by and large, very well. The chapters provide a well-balanced and succinct overview of their respective topics, as I briefly describe below. The editor's foreword gives a nice longitudinal view of the evolution of marketing science and the managerial decision making for which it serves as a base. However, one disappointment is that the glue that ties the chapters and topics together is not particularly strong. I would have welcomed a framework that explains how the approaches expanded upon in the various chapters fit together to support managerial decision making. However, this reservation is more than offset by the very fine collection of authors that the editor has assembled, the accessible and comprehensive frameworks that the individual chapters employ, and the choice of exciting and contemporary topics covered. For that reason, I am enthusiastic about recommending the book as a primer for someone, whether a manager or research student, who is...