Business-to-Business Marketing Textbooks: A Comparative Review

Even in this high-tech age, textbooks remain a very significant teaching instrument. Half of all lecturers at US business schools use textbooks as the basis for their business-to-business marketing courses. Against this background, a comparative analysis of a selection of English-speaking textbooks on b-to-b marketing was conducted. The objective was to identify the various strengths and weaknesses and hence suitability for different purposes through a systematic, methodologically valid comparison, of state-of-the-art textbooks on the subject. Criteria and methods for comparison are derived from the stated objectives of b-to-b textbooks. Bloom's (1956) taxonomy of educational objectives serves as the framework for the systemization of objectives. In a concluding evaluation, the results are discussed and potential areas that could be addressed by future textbooks are considered.