Book Tamers| book reviews

Marketing in the public sector is a book that could really change a system, and Kotler explains from the very beginning about how solutions used in the private sector of the commercial societies could be applied in the public sector.

Of course, there are differences, of course that governmental organizations are most of the time monopoles while companies can’t afford ignoring competition, of course almost everywhere, when it comes to State shares, people frown and get uncomfortable while they are calmer when it comes to a commercial society, the reason being set loud and clear: gaining profit.

There is a certain fear (sometimes justified) of anything that relates to the State. We have the impression that we offer too much and we get too little, that politicians steal and that for them democracy means anything but taking responsibilities. But what the author is planning to do is not easy at all.

Kotler, the old revolutionary

If in the States or another country with a decent system of public administration, Kotler’s solutions would get some marketing prizes, in a developing country this would probably mean there will be a revolution and winning the elections 3 times in a row.

In all this madness named public administration, Kotler enters with an easiness that I honestly didn’t see in him. He is however a visionary, but one of whom one can’t say he made the transition from a black and white TV set to a color one.

He is the father of marketing as we know it today, but fathers become frequently too conservative and some of this conservatory spirit can be felt in Kotler’s writing. Reaffirming basic marketing ideas and adjusting them so that they could be used for the public sector, Kotler has that ‘80s feeling.
I have to admit an exceptional thing Kotler does: he understands the breaches in the system, the deficiencies in mentality that public clerks in America display and emphasizes the unlucky associations they make when it comes to marketing.

And actually the same level of shallowness is present when it comes when associating culture and marketing. To be more precise, there is a permanent swing between harsh ignorance ad insufficient efforts to judge a matter that we do not yet understand.

Written by Andrei