What titles should be on any retailer’s bookshelf? Having taught MBA students about retailing for seven years, it would be churlish to overlook the key texts I recommend to them.

They let me out of the Library last week. As you know, it’s where I live at the Marketing Society. So it’s a virtual library, but quiet and bookish as you would expect.

Many UK high street retailers are struggling in tough economic conditions, with low consumer confidence and a more complex multi-channel environment creating significant challenges.

McDonald’s was the highest profile Olympic sponsor, but many people were not “lovin’ it”. A firestorm of criticism enveloped sponsors who were felt to be a bad fit with a sporting event, and London 2012 was dubbed “The Obesity Games”.

A few years ago, if you were a Western brand, the word on the street was ‘Go East’. Western brands were assured that, in China, the sky was the limit – they simply had to set up shop and, then, instant success. For many, this was the case.

As many of you will already know, The Marketing Society has been supporting Pimp My Cause since the launch of #marketingforgood at the summer party