Professor Scott Smith Office Hours :
678 TNRB 422-5569 Monday 9:30 - 10:30
Wednesday 9:30 - 10:30
Course Objectives:
Marketing 660 is the capstone marketing course directed at integrating marketing information into an overall corporate marketing strategy.
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the study of marketing strategy. Marketing strategy includes a broad range of topics related to the development and implementation of marketing activities within a business. These topics include such activities as learning how to use consumer behavior as it relates to developing, evaluating, and implementing strategy for a business. These activities may include determining what kind of strategy may be accomplished, when the strategy is to be developed, and how corporate strengths and weaknesses relate to the strategy.
My goals are for you to learn the key concepts of strategy formulation, and to apply them by analyzing marketing situations and developing appropriate marketing strategies. Oliver Wendell Holmes once inferred that there are three types of men: those who are fact finders, those who are able to synthesize and integrate, and finally those who are able to extrapolate and interpolate. Strategy development, if done well, is based on the higher thinking process involving integration and extrapolation. It is planning for the future.
Required Text:
S. C. Jain, Marketing Planning and Strategy , Southwestern Publishing Co.
Grading Procedures:
Grades will be based on a combination of project, exercise, quiz and exam scores.
Four exercises 30%
Midterm Examination 25%
Term Project 25%
Quizzes 20%
Total 100%
Exercise #1—Schema and Scripts (Individual)
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Select a product that you recently purchased. Draw out an associative network of the general knowledge that you have in memory for this product. Use colored pens or pencils to identify the different types of meanings in your knowledge structure.
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Select a recurring situation that you commonly experience. It could be a product purchase situation or a product use situation. Think about the typical sequence of behaviors that you perform in that situation. Draw out the script you have in memory that guides how to generally behave in that situation.
Exercise #2 – Measuring Means—End Chains (Individual)
Find two consumers who you can talk to separately for about 5-10 minutes each. Try to find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted.
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Begin the interview by stating…"assume that you are in the market for athletic shoes such as running shoes, cross-training shoes, walking shoes, etc. What factors to you consider when you are deciding what brand of athletic shoe to buy for yourself? Then ask…"What two factors are most important to you in making your decision?"
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The for each of the two factors, do the laddering… "Why is [FACTOR] important to you?" Or, "Why is [FACTOR] important?" Or, "What does [FACTOR] give you? Or, "Why does [FACTOR] matter to you?: Continue this process for each factor until the consumer cannot go on. Draw out the two means-end chains you measured for each person.
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Discuss what you have learned about these consumers' product knowledge and what implications your analysis could have for developing marketing strategies.
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Next, develop an attribute by brand matrix of product evaluation scores. In the rows of the matrix identify the relevant attributes used in evaluating brands. The columns of the matrix are the major competing brands. As a group, complete the matrix, giving a 1-10 score for each brand on each attribute, according to how well the brand scores on the attribute or characteristic.
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Identify a new product or brand as a final column in the matrix. Identify how it should perform on each of the characteristics to meet the needs of a specific market segment.
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Identify in detail, the characteristics of the market segment to which the new brand appeals.
Exercise #3 – Consumer Decision Making (Group)
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Find a friend that you can talk to for about 15-20 minutes about their purchase of jeans (or pants in general). Here's a general outline of the interview that you can follow and/or modify to suit yourself. Your goal is to understand the negative meanings of perceived risk this person feels when buying your new product.
Elicit decision criteria: "I'd like yo to think about the times when you buy [PRODUCT]. What are the key factors that you consider when choosing [PRODUCT]. Try to get a list of 4 - 10 decision criteria. Probe for more detail if necessary.
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Identify Perceived-Risk criteria: "Sometimes people think about he positive aspects of products they are considering buying … the "good" things the product will give them. In other cases, people think about the negative aspects of products … the unpleasant consequenc es the product might have. Are there any of these considerations [show person his /her list of criteria] that you think of in terms of avoiding potentially negative consequences? What aspect (or level) of [CRITERIA] are you trying to avoid?
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Probing for risk meanings: [For each negative/risk decision criteria, ask:] "Why is it important that you avoid [CRITERIA]? Or "What things does [CRITERIA] lead to?" or "What are the consequences of [CRITERIA]?" Continue laddering to probe the chain of negative connections. Draw out the means-end chain in your written report.
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Exploring risk handling strategies: "Most consumers develop ways of handling the possibly negative consequences of their purchases. What things do you do to handle the potentially negative consequences of buying [PRODUCT]? Probe to gain a complete understanding.
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Assignment: In five pages or less, describe what you have learned about the risk perceptions of this consumer and how they handle perceived risk in making this purchase. Also, discuss the implications of your research for developing your marketing strategy for your project.
Class Schedule
September 4 Introduction
September 9 Strategic Analysis (Chapters 1-4)
September 11 Strategic Analysis (Chapters 5,6)
September 16 Strategic Capabilities and Direction (Chapters 7,8)
September 18 Strategy Formulation (Chapters 9,10)
September 23 Strategy Implementation and Control (Chapters 11,12)
September 25 Market Strategies (Chapters 13,14)
September 30 Pricing and Distribution Strategies (Chapters 15,16)
October 2 Promotion and Global Strategies (Chapters 17,18)
October 7 Midterm Examination (Text)
October 9 An Introduction to HTML Programming
October 14 An Introduction to HTML Programming
October 16 Exercise #1 Presentations (hand in)
October 21 Exercise #2
October 23 Exercise #2 Presentations (hand in)
October 28 Exercise #3
October 30 Exercise #3 Presentations (hand in)
November 4 Introduction to Electronic Marketing
November 6 Introduction to Electronic Marketing
November 11 Developing Your Offering
November 13 Developing Your Offering
November 18 Developing Promotional Strategy
November 20 Developing Promotional Strategy
November 25 Developing Quality Service
December 2 Developing Quality Service
December 4 Presentations of Term Project
December 9 Presentations of Term Project
December 11 Presentations of Term Project
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