WIDENER UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION MKT 600 - Strategic Marketing
Fall 2000
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Texts:
Strategic Marketing Problems: Cases and Comments, by Roger A. Kerin
and Robert A. Peterson (Prentice-Hall) 9th edition
MARKSTRAT 3: A Marketing Strategy Simulation, by Jean-Claude Larreche
and Hubert Gatignon, (South-Western)
Suggested
Texts and Reading Sources:
Competitive Marketing Strategy, by John A. Czepiel (Prentice-Hall)
Marketing Strategy: A Customer - Driven Approach , by Steven P. Schnaars
(Free Press)
The Wall Street Journal
Business Week
The Economist
Course Objectives:
This course concentrates on the development and implementation of strategic
as opposed to tactical aspects of marketing decisions. While other marketing
courses examine tactical decisions faced by a brand, advertising, sales
or research manager, this course is concerned with the strategic decisions
regarding the direction of the overall marketing effort. Special emphasis
is placed on strategic marketing analysis and on strategy implementation
via marketing mix variables. The course has the following objectives:
Familiarize students with the marketing problems implicit in multi-product,
multi-market organizations.
Develop skills in analyzing markets and understanding the nature of
competitive advantage.
Provide a context for implementing strategic marketing decisions and
reviewing their effectiveness.
Expose students to recent research in marketing.
Develop skills in designing an effective marketing mix in a dynamic competitive setting.
Facilitate group problem solving skills and enhance oral communications abilities.
Learning Method:
A big part of graduate education in contrast to the undergraduate experience
is active personal learning with the professor acting as a guide for paths
of intellectual pursuit. Therefore, you will be expected to do a great
deal of reading on your own. In addition to the course textbooks, you will
receive articles over the course of the semester from the instructor that
will reinforce or expand topics addressed in class. A substantial amount
of time will be devoted to work on a computer marketing simulation game
-(MARKSTRAT). Markstrat is a complex simulation and consequently students
will be organized into business teams (firms) for the purpose of making
weekly decisions. This is an important part of the learning experience;
students will not be permitted to work on their own because of an inability
to get along within a group. Group work is intended to provide opportunities
for generating solutions through team dynamics. Individual performance
will be assessed through an in-class mid-term and final exam, two written
cases from the Kerin and Peterson text, and an oral presentation summarizing
a recent academic marketing article. Additional cases from the text will
be covered in class. The instructor will lead the case discussions, but
all class members are expected to be thoroughly familiar with the material
and suggest feasible solutions.
Course Requirements and Student Evaluation:
A. Cases:In-Class
Each member of the class will be expected to make a contribution over
the course of the semester to the discussion and analysis of the selected
cases. Contributions can be in the form of suggested solutions or well
reasoned disagreements with a proposed alternative. It is up to you to
demonstrate that you have read and thought about the material and are not
merely along for the ride.
B. MARKSTRAT Simulation
Each group will be assigned a MARKSTRAT firm within an industry. Your
task will be to (1) set marketing and financial objectives, (2) develop
strategies to achieve those objectives, and (3) implement those strategies
with appropriate tactical decisions. We will do the first decision in class
during our second meeting to ensure that all teams are thoroughly familiar
with the mechanics of entering decisions.
MARKSTRAT is a challenging simulation and will require a very significant
time commitment from all group members. Those who make the commitment will
do well, while those who do not will complain about the game’s alleged
lack of realism and inadequate information. Typically, the instructor will
not provide you with all the information you think you deserve. You are
on your own! Do not waste time; become totally immersed with the MARKSTRAT
environment. Because of the complexity of the game, it will be necessary
for you to devote a substantial amount of time to the game outside of the
classroom.
Each student team will be responsible for turning in a decision, on
a weekly basis, with the first decision due by 3 PM Tuesday September 12,
2000. Subsequent decisions must be e-mailed to me as described in class
by 3 PM on each successive Tuesday so that I have time to deal with any
problems that may arise and to ensure that we have timely results for our
class meetings. Ordinarily, I will not devote class time to processing
MARKSTRAT decisions.
C. Exams
There will be an in-class mid-term and a comprehensive take home final
exam based on the material in the text, class lectures, reading handouts,
student presentations and Markstrat experience. The course instructor reserves
the right to adjust final course grades for student class participation
or particularly effective oral presentations. Normally, participation will
not alter the final grade by more than half a letter grade - i.e. B to
B+.
D. Article Presentation
Each student will be required to make a ten to fifteen minutes presentation
of an article of interest that was published in the last five years in
The Journal of Marketing, The Journal of Marketing Research, The Journal
of International Marketing or The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
You are not to use material from the popular press or other non-academic
sources such as Time, Business Week or The Wall Street Journal. You
must select your article by October 4, 2000. When selecting your article
provide the details to me via e-mail or on a typed page - i.e. your name,
journal, name of article. The article presentations are intended to expose
the class to a wider selection of marketing literature therefore duplicate
article presentations will not be permitted; whoever selects the article
first, approaches me and gets clearance will be given presentation rights.
In order to be considered for an “A”, you must have handouts summarizing
the article for distribution in class to your classmates. The presentation
must be supported with overheads or other visual aids - i.e. PowerPoint.
A separate handout summarizing the article will be given to the instructor
for grading purposes. In addition to the instructor, students will also
provide feedback on a rating form to article presenters. The instructor
will use the student rating forms as a factor in evaluating the overall
quality and effectiveness of the presentation.
Evaluation
Criteria:
Individual work
Mid-Term
20%
Final Exam
20%
Article Presentation
10%
1st Written Case
10%
2nd Written Case
10%
Group work
MARKSTRAT performance 30%
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
If you cannot attend class, please notify the instructor in advance.
Keep in mind that late arrival and early departure disturbs the class;
consequently do not schedule activities that interfere with your class.
Also because MARKSTART is a group effort your participation is vital. If
you cannot make the great majority of classes during their normal meeting
time, you should not enroll for the course at this time.
Sample of Suggested Presentation Articles:
“Ethical and Legal Foundations of Relational Marketing Exchanges”,
by Gregory T. Gundlach and Patrick E. Murphy. Journal of Marketing, October
1993: 35-46.
“The Impact of Organizational Citizenship Behavior on Evaluations of
Salesforce Performance”, by Scott B. MacKenzie, Philip M. Podsakoff, and
Richard Fetter. Journal of Marketing, January 1993: 70-80.
“Managerial Representations of Competitive Advantage”, by George S.
Day and Prakash Nedungadi. Journal of Marketing, April 1994: 31-44.
“Waiting for Service: The Relationship Between Delays and Evaluations
of Service”, by Shirley Taylor. Journal of Marketing, April 1994: 56-69.
“Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments: Conceptual
Foundations”, by Donna L. Hoffman and Thomas P. Novak. Journal of Marketing,
July 1996: 50-68.
“Transaction Cost Analysis: Past, Present and Future Applications”,
by Aric Rindfleisch and Jan B. Heide. Journal of Marketing, October 1997:
30-54.
“The Effects of Brand Name Suggestions on Advertising Recall”, by Kevin
Lane Keller, Susan E. Heckler and Michael J. Houston. Journal of Marketing,
January 1998: 48-57.
Schedule of Topics and Assignments
1. Week of September 6th . Course Overview
1.1. Orientation to Markstrat simulation.
1.2. Team organization
1.3. Mechanics of submitting decisions and receiving results
For next class:
Read handout “Towards a General Theory of Competitive Rationality:
(Dickson)
Read chapters 1-4 Kerin & Peterson
2. Week of September 13th . Strategy and Environmental Scanning
2.1. Marketing Strategy: Case histories - Cyrus McCormick; Hewlett-
Packard
2.2. Attributes of strategy and strategic decision making
2.3. Competitive rationality
2.4. Scanning and understanding environments
2.5. SWOT analysis
2.6. Product market strategies
2.7. "The Marketing Controversy" - A theoretical orientation
Markstrat Decision 1
Read chapter 5 for next class
Read for next class: South Delaware Coors, Inc. p.119.
3. Week of September 20th. Market Targeting
3.1. The Marketing research process
3.2. Questionnaire design issues
3.3. Mental models of the market
3.4. Cost estimation
Markstrat Decision 2.
Case: South Delaware Coors, Inc. p.119
4. Week of September 27th. Product and Service Strategy
4.1. Portfolio analysis – BCG & GE approach
4.2. Limitations of portfolio explanations
4.3. Life cycles & Positioning
4.4. Attributes of services
4.5. Attacking and defending market positions
Markstrat Decision 3.
Read for next class: Manor Memorial Hospital p. 161.
5. Week of October 4th. Market Segmentation
5.1. Segmentation techniques
5.2. Limitations of segmentation
5.3. Mental models of markets
Markstrat Decision 4.
Case: Manor Memorial Hospital p. 161.
Read for next week: Cadbury Beverages p. 249.
Read chapter 6.
6. Week of October 11th - Communications and Promotion Strategy
6.1. Creative tactics - push vs. pull
6.2. Media choice & effectiveness
6.3. Sales force strategy
6.4. Sales promotions
Case: Cadbury Beverages p. 249.
Markstrat Decision 5.
Mid-Term Exam October 18th!
First Written Case: Godiva Europe
p. 286.
7. Week of October 25th. Marketing and ethics
7.1. Review of Mid-Term exams
7.2. Historical perspective
7.3. Ethical decision framework
7.4. Social responsibility
Markstrat Decision 6.
Read chapter 7.
Read for next week: Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company p. 356.
8. Week of November 1st. Marketing Channels & Logistics
Management.
8.1. Basic channel functions.
8.2. Channel intermediaries
8.3. Channel power, conflict and control
8.4. Tribal business networks
8.5. Trade-offs in logistics
8.6. Customer service
Markstrat decision 7.
Case: Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company p. 356.
Read chapter 8.
9. Week of November 8th. Pricing Strategy
9.1. Role of price
9.2. Penetration vs. skimming
9.3. Popular price setting techniques
Markstrat decision 8
Article presentations - 5 students
Read for next week: Southwest Airlines p. 393
10. Week of November 15th. Price and Quality Studies
10.1. Measures of quality
10.2. Consumer products study
10.3. Implications for pricing strategy
Markstrat decision 9.
Case: Southwest Airlines p. 393.
Article presentations - 5 students
Read chapter 9.
Read for next class: Amazon.com p. 495.
11. Week of November 29th. Marketing Strategy in the Internet
Age.
Markstrat decision 10.
Case: Amazon.com p. 495
Article presentations - 5 students
Read chapter 10.
12. Week of December 6th. Summary; Course Wrap-up.
Review and Assessment of Markstrat results
Article presentations - 5 students
Final Exam - December 13th!
Second Written Case: The Circle
K Corporation p. 588