Back in 1960, Theodore Levitt (1960) formulated the decisive notion that companies wishing to achieve continuous growth must look at the markets from the customer perspective given that—in dynamic environments—no state of affairs can be taken for granted and the customer is king. He cited the relevance of the railroads in the U.S. as an example: their relevance was declining because the firms involved saw themselves not as transportation companies but as railroad companies. Their marketing focused on “railroad” as a product rather than on “transportation” as a customer need. This caused them to lose their initial advantage, and the burgeoning demand was covered by cars, trucks, and airplanes.

A little over a hundred and thirty pages is absolutely sufficient space in which to gain an understanding of the fundamentals of marketing, to become familiar with the quintessential Marketing Arena and its most important instruments and the underlying marketing process. You are enabled to develop your own, comprehensive and thorough marketing plan. And if you follow the recommendations and examples provided in this short book you will be able to avoid the mistake that was done by the U.S. railroads in the twentieth century—forgetting the customer in your marketing plan.

Or as Henry Ford put it: “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” Now it’s your turn!