'A refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like ... It's an amazing tale' Bill Gates

'The best book I read last year was Shoe Dog, by Nike's Phil Knight. Phil is a very wise, intelligent and competitive fellow who is also a gifted storyteller' Warren Buffett

In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the boot of his Plymouth, Knight grossed $8000 in his first year. Today, Nike's annual sales top $30 billion. In an age of start-ups, Nike is the ne plus ultra of all start-ups, and the swoosh has become a revolutionary, globe-spanning icon, one of the most ubiquitous and recognisable symbols in the world today.

But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, he tells his story. Candid, humble, wry and gutsy, he begins with his crossroads moment when at 24 he decided to start his own business. He details the many risks and daunting setbacks that stood between him and his dream - along with his early triumphs. Above all, he recalls how his first band of partners and employees soon became a tight-knit band of brothers. Together, harnessing the transcendent power of a shared mission, and a deep belief in the spirit of sport, they built a brand that changed everything.

A memoir rich with insight, humour and hard-won wisdom, this book is also studded with lessons - about building something from scratch, overcoming adversity, and ultimately leaving your mark on the world.

Marketing planning as a process of analysis, thinking and action is essential for survival and long term success. Marketing planning is widely adopted by businesses from all sectors, service companies, manufacturers and public sector/not for profit companies. The process of marketing planning encapsulates elements of marketing management: marketing analyses, development of strategy and the implementation of the marketing mix. It is a systematic process for assessing marketing opportunities, helping organizations to stay in touch with marketplace trends and to keep abreast of customer needs - all designed to help firms compete more effectively. In addition the marketing plan plays a key role in informing the organisation about the agreed marketing strategy and actions required for implementation. The plan also provides details of resource allocation, responsibilities and timelines, and should address potential obstacles to success. The marketing plan is a road map, providing direction to help the business implement its strategies and achieve its objectives.

The growth of digital marketing is the most important yet unpredictable trend in marketing today. How can the online world be harnessed by the companies of today and tomorrow to grow their marketing impact? What role do information and databases have to play in this system? And why do some non-digital means of direct marketing still remain so powerful? Alan Tapp's successful text has long been a leading authority on direct marketing, and for this fifth edition he is joined by Ian Whitten and Matthew Housden for the most up-to-date book yet. The authors all bring great expertise across direct, database and digital marketing to provide comprehensive, compelling coverage of the key theory and debates of the fields. The fifth edition includes comprehensive coverage of all recent developments in digital marketing, including analysis of the seemingly relentless rise of Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media. It has a range of thoroughly updated case studies covering companies and organisations from sports teams to car manufacturers and non-profits and contains a new chapter on Data Protection legislation and its impact on marketers.

Export, Thrive, Change the World is a practical guide for small business owners who would like to export but are unsure how. Jennifer addresses the major concerns she has encountered whilst working with small business owners including Brexit. Then shares her seven steps to export success. Jennifer intends to provide business owners with all the tools and resources necessary to export.

Performing an in-depth exploration of the gendered nature of marketing theory and practice, this timely book unpacks the many ideological assumptions embedded in marketing thought and action. Drawing on past and present scholarship at the intersection between marketing and feminism, Pauline Maclaran and Andreas Chatzidakis highlight the gendered silences in the history of marketing. By referencing core bodies of feminist theory and engaging with interdisciplinary perspectives on feminism and marketing, they illustrate a comprehensive understanding of the subtleties at work in the gendering of marketing. Structured around five key areas, the book examines the history of marketing thought, communications, product design and branding, marketing's free externalities, and the marketing organisation. Identifying the biases, misconceptions and prejudices perpetuated by gendered marketing, it concludes by questioning if and how marketing can be de-gendered, in order to empower and transform consumers. Tracking the evolution of feminist thought and its critique of market-related structures and activities, this book will prove invaluable to students and scholars of marketing, media studies, sociology and gender studies. With insights into industry practices, it will also prove a vital reference guide to practitioners and policymakers working in advertising, marketing and the media who are concerned with gender and feminism.

The new rules for persuasive messaging. When it comes to messaging, what worked in the past won't work today. Our noisy, digital world has undermined our ability to focus. For a message to grab attention and persuade, it now has to pass the SAUCE test and be: Simple, Appealing, Unexpected, Credible, and Emotional. Secret Sauce shows you how to transform unconvincing messages into compelling copy. It comes with a 15-question SAUCE test and a Heat Gauge which allows you to precisely measure the persuasive impact of your messages. Short, easy to read, and packed with visuals, Secret Sauce provides: Clear examples of what works and what doesn't * Fascinating insights from behavioral and neurological research * Powerful lessons from successful and failed campaigns Less than 10 percent of marketing messages are truly compelling-engaging the head and heart. Secret Sauce helps you weed out the clutter and craft messages that stick.

Get into the contemporary European Consumer mindset with this industry-leading text. Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective, 7th Edition is the latest version of this market-leading textbook, providing the most comprehensive and engaging introduction to the field in Europe and around the world. Well known for its accessible, reader-friendly writing style and contemporary approach, this textbook is ideal for Second and Third-Year Undergraduates, as well as Master's students who study relevant courses. The latest version includes new examples and case studies from the European consumer viewpoint, aiming to retain the content's character. The extensive European material also comprises a number of extra advertisements that will help you study the different theoretical characteristics of marketing applications. The book does not limit knowledge to the European market, however: it also discusses the broader global consumer scene, with American and other non-European examples illustrating various similarities and differences. Key features include: 'Marketing Opportunity', 'Marketing Pitfalls', and 'Multicultural Dimensions' Boxes throughout the text illustrate the impact of Consumer Behaviour on marketing activities. 'Consumer Behaviour as I See It' Boxes feature marketing academics talking about the relevance of Consumer Behaviour issues in their everyday work. Brand new Case studies about European companies and topics offer a better insight into the world of Consumer Behaviour. New coverage of sustainable consumption and emerging technologies is integrated into the text. Extensive analysis of the new world of digital consumers, social media, and online behaviour. From theory to practice, this ultimate guide on Consumer Behaviour will support your understanding and critical thinking skills, offering the tools necessary to get into the contemporary European consumer mindset and excel in the field.

Today's ever-changing marketing environment, accompanied by unpredictable competitive actions, creates uncertainty for enterprises and presents dilemmas, challenges and problem situations that necessitate planning ahead in order to survive. Directional/strategic marketing planning presents a step-by-step approach to developing plans that give direction to future marketing actions. Directional/strategic marketing planning begins with the marketing audit, which provides a clear understanding of the enterprise's current position in the market, the nature of the opportunities and threats in the external environment, and the enterprise's internal strengths and weaknesses. Once the basic directional market options available in the future have been determined, specific decisions that the marketer needs to make given a range of specific plans are discussed. Directional/strategic marketing planning is aimed at third and fourth year marketing students.

Entrepreneurs build businesses to fulfil dreams for themselves, their families, their employees and their community. Their business lives therefore have an impact on a wide range of people. Entrepreneurial skills focuses on the essential concepts and skills needed to grow and manage a business successfully. Entrepreneurial skills presents current, relevant content in unique and interesting ways. It draws from real-world examples to introduce the reality of the entrepreneurial life so that the reader will better understand his or her motivations for starting a business and avoid distorted concepts about what is required to be an effective business owner. Entrepreneurial skills will equip undergraduates at universities and universities of technology as well as practising entrepreneurs to deal with the challenges and develop the necessary skills for running a business.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This Advanced Introduction provides a concise yet thorough guide to understanding and planning advertising, while answering the key questions at the forefront of this modern topic: what is advertising? What is its role in businesses and organizations? And what are the implications of the offline-online shift? Key Features include: Theoretical analysis of how advertising works with specific research insights and practical cases Discussion of the ethical ramifications, pitfalls and societal consequences of current advertising practice An overview of the many contemporary advertising formats that are present today, discussing the various stages in the advertising planning process, and analyzing their effects. This Advanced Introduction will be a valuable resource for higher education students and teachers in business, marketing and communication sciences. It will also be beneficial for advertising professionals and brand managers who are interested in a concise structured overview of the important issues that matter in planning, carrying out and measuring the results of advertising campaigns.

Investigating the changing forms, dynamics and trajectories of the artisan and craft sector, this timely book considers the opportunities, challenges, and uncertainties associated with artisanal businesses in new economic times. Exploring how artisanal and craft products remain vibrant embodiments of tradition, heritage, authenticity and creativity, the book explores how these qualities are being harnessed and transformed to enable artisanal businesses to exploit the opportunities presented by technological innovation and evolving consumption patterns for their future viability and vitality. Revolutionary advancement in digital technologies offer 'game-changing' possibilities for artisanship and craft, across a spectrum ranging from production practices to e-commerce. But such technological advancements also present challenges to how artisanship sustains its important 'traditional' associations, and how it builds on its relationship with the ethical, the sustainable and the local. Featuring an international range of case studies, chapters exemplify how artisanal organisations can revitalise their business models, using innovative branding and marketing strategies, and entrepreneurship, to utilise the best of both the past and the future. This cutting-edge book will prove invaluable to students and scholars of marketing, business studies and sociology who are interested in contemporary innovation in artisanship and craft. With practical advice from industry experts, it also serves as a useful resource for practitioners and stakeholders within the artisanal and craft sector who might be concerned with the impact of digitalisation on the field.

Do your marketing efforts rely on your best guesses? Would you rather be a data-led marketer, working from hard facts and with a clear strategy? Learn how to improve your marketing, get ahead of your competitors, and enhance your career with this whistle stop tour of the modern marketing landscape, where data and marketing go hand-in-hand.

e-Commerce is a broad term that covers all business activities that use the internet as the platform for conducting exchanges or forming and maintaining relationships. It encompasses social media, the sharing economy, mobile applications, e-tailing, the changes to business models and developments such as wearables, and is a rapidly growing component of business education. The separation between real and virtual worlds is becoming more intangible as we rapidly face a new world of integrated technology. e-Commerce provides a solid grounding in this dynamic discipline as well as tools and techniques to leverage for e-commerce business success. e-Commerce is written from the perspective of a developing country and makes use of many South African examples. It uncovers the main business drivers that practitioners need to be aware of in this rapidly developing field, from an overview of the e-commerce environment and the digital business models and strategies that have emerged from it, to an in-depth look at the strategic drivers for digital and social marketing, operations and emerging trends in the digital future. e-Commerce is aimed at students who already have an understanding of general business theory, specifically basic concepts in economics, marketing and management.

If you ask people what the biggest challenge is in their job it is often handling difficult customers. In the charitable sector, whether the customer is a beneficiary or a benefactor, as in any other 'business' the successful management of customers can make or break an organisation. This book is designed to give such organizations simple templates and tools which they can use with very little training experience. It also serves as a refresher for those who have undergone trainer training. It is essential reading for everyone who interfaces with customers and for CEOs and managers for whom happy customers are critical to the performance of their organisation. The book is designed so that you can dip into individual chapters if you know where you need help, or, you can treat it as a short course in designing and delivering training.

Consumer Behaviour 5e focuses on consumer needs, buying behaviour, and the art of customer satisfaction. It provides invaluable insight into the psychology behind consumer thinking, emotions, experiences and reasoning, as well as how choices between products/services, suppliers and product brands are made.

A unique South perspective on consumer information-processing, decision-making and buying patterns is emphasised through the lens of culture, family, media and values. This perspective will inform academics in the marketing field as well as industry practitioners on how customised marketing strategies can be developed to effectively reach each consumer. The significant impact of the growth of the millennial market segment, the use of digital technology, and access to shared experiences through social media and other online channels, is also explored.

This fifth edition of Consumer Behaviour covers traditional and contemporary issues such as:

• Consumer decision-making and influencing factors
• Why customers behave the way they do
• Market segmentation and how to target a specific market
• Consumer information-processing
• Brand loyalty and how to retain customers
• Customer relationship marketing
• Cross-cultural influences on consumer behaviour
• E-commerce and its effect on consumer behaviour.

The No#1 Marketing Book for Local Trades. If you are a local trades or service based business this is for you...Whether you are an electrician, a plumber, gas engineer, carpet cleaner, handyman or gardener, this easy-to-implement, proven six-step system is designed to position you as the go-to person in your area for the service you provide. It doesn't matter if you are starting out or have been trading for years, the SPARKS Blueprint(TM) can help boost your business, find new customers and keep them.