Financial Aspects of Marketing

This is a core text for students studying the Financial Aspects of Marketing for the first time. It moves systematically through the subjects covered in the majority of courses, reinforcing learning through a number of pedagogical features including: numerous exercises and examples, learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter and summaries at the end, case studies to pull together the areas so far covered. The use of Spreadsheets is integrated into the text. If you are a student of marketing or a working marketing or retail manager who needs to be able to use financial information in a practical working context, this book was written for you. The book covers all the aspects of finance you will need to know about when working in business. You learn to understand balance sheets and profit and loss accounts, interpret annual reports, work with budgets and costing systems, and make use of financial information in forecasting and in decision-making. Techniques such as ratio analysis, absorption costing, direct product profitability, time series and regression analysis, exponential smoothing, product pricing, break-even analysis, short-term decision making and discounted cashflow methods are covered in detail. Throughout the text you are shown how to make the best use of spreadsheet technology in applying your learning. Major sections are supported by practical and applied case studies which help you place your learning in a real-life business context. In essence the book offers a step-by-step learning resource for non-specialists. It enables you to build up your confidence by taking you through the learning process in a user-friendly way.