Accelerated SQL Server 2008
The expert tuition and approach to rapid learning in Accelerated SQL Server 2008, one of the first SQL Server 2008 books available, will enable SQL Server and other database professionals to make the leap to the 2008 release of Microsoft's flagship database management system quickly. Take full advantage of the features of SQL Server 2008, know what tools are available, and quickly realize the power and ease of use that SQL Server 2008 has to offer.
A Theory of Marketing : Outline of a Social Systems Perspective
Marketing has become one of the most influential forces in contemporary market economies. Yet despite ubiquitous empirical presence, uncountable textbook definitions, and sixty years of scholarly work, a coherent sociological understanding of this powerful concept is still amiss. Drawing on Luhmannian social systems theory, historical analysis, and four qualitative studies, the author theorizes on the marketing function as a self-contained system of communications. It is argued that marketing systems prosper within a host organization if and as long as they successfully influence observers' preferences towards particular brands. On these conceptual foundations a comprehensive brand- and communication-centered theory is developed that fulfills Alderson', Cox' and Bartels' foundational requirements for a general theory of marketing in an unprecedented way.

