ZICKLIN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
BARUCH COLLEGE/CUNY
EMS in Marketing Singapore
MKT 9750: MARKETING STRATEGY
Friday March 21 – Sunday March 30, 2014
Course Professor: Bahriye Goren
E-mail: Bahriye.Goren@Baruch.Cuny.Edu
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
In today’s increasingly global and technology-driven business environment, strategic and
sophisticated marketing becomes one of a corporation’s most powerful and versatile business tools.
This capstone course of the EMSM program is designed to provide general managers and seniorlevel executives with incisive contemporary analysis of core marketing concepts to help them to
develop skills to create and implement market-oriented strategies. To enhance decision-making
and build awareness of an ever-changing business environment, this course relies on case-method
supplemented by lectures and extensive in-class discussions. Each case describes actual
management situation on which a strategic decision must be made, with scenarios that reflect every
aspect of industrial, consumer, and service business’ issues.
Through dynamic interaction with peers, the lessons learned from case study come to life in study
groups and lively classroom discussions. Sharing the combined knowledge and experience of
senior-level managers from diverse corporations adds a powerful dimension to the learning
environment of executive MS programs. Thus active participation in group work and class
discussion is required for a successful completion of this course.
COURSE MATERIALS:
Textbook: Walker, Orville C. and John Mullins, Marketing Strategy: A Decision-Focused
Approach, 8th ed., McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Cases & Articles:
Harvard Business Review (HBR) articles
California Management Review (CMR) articles
Harvard Business School Publishing cases
COURSE EVALUATIONS:
Class Participation
Group Case Project
Individual Case study write-ups (3)
Group Case Presentation
Final Exam
10%
30%
30%
10%
20%
Class Participation: Effective oral communication is key to business success (you may attest to
this). Class participation can take many forms - some connection between the lecture and one’s
own business experience; some relevant dimension not explicitly covered by the lecture; the links
between the subject matter being discussed and one’s personal knowledge in that area, or; active
participation in case discussions.
Individual Case Study write-ups: Each student will be expected to write one case analysis out of
five cases assigned for this course. Each analysis will be collected at the beginning of the class at
which the case is assigned. Each student will write a 1 page summary of the case which describes
the problems, a brief situational analysis and key issues/problem areas in the case.
Group Case Workshop: Each group will select one case out of five assigned for this class. The
group will preside the case workshop with a format in which the group members are the company
executives and other students are stakeholders who want to know how to solve the current
problems raised in the case. The workshop can take up to an hour. After leading the workshop, the
group should submit any presentation materials (e.g., PPT slides or handouts) used as part of the
workshop.
Group Term Project: Each team is required to work on a term project on a company (or SBU, or
division, or product line) of choice. Please choose a company on which you can collect a
reasonable amount of information to work with. It will be more interesting if you choose a
company that is either performing poorly or is in a fast changing industry. Your presentation
should cover two major themes:
1. You need to discuss the changes happening in the target marketplace of the company (i.e.,
changes in customer needs/wants, market segments, distribution channels, and competitive
structure and strategies, technology, regulation, and so on) and you need to assess their
implications of those changes for the company’s market position and performance.
2. Based on the analyses that you have done above, you should recommend with clear
justification how the company should (i) respond to those changes in its marketplace, or
(ii) try to influence the marketplace itself. Your recommendations should take a form of
changes in (a) marketing strategy, or (b) organizational changes (i.e., people, structure, or
systems) to better fit with the marketing strategy, or both. You should be very specific in
making recommendations rather than offering normative mantras such as “management
should find out more about what customers want and exceed their expectations …” or “the
company should streamline its processes to cut the costs and accordingly to maximize their
profits.”
The deliverable for this term project will be presentation and a set of presentation slides. No written
papers are required.
Examination
There will be a final exam on the last day of class. The specific format will be discussed in class.
TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE:
March 21st (Friday)
Theme: Marketing Strategy Course Overview
Value Creation: Role of Marketing in Competitive Strategy
Session #1 (7:00 pm – 8:15 pm)
Course Overview & Introduction
Class Exercise #1 (Warm-up exercise – what is Marketing?)
Session #2 (8:30 pm – 10:00 pm)
Marketing Strategy Formulation (I)
Articles:
“What is Strategy?” by Michael Porter (HBR Reprint 96608)
“Core Competence of the Corporation” by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel (HBR Reprint 90311)
“Crafting Strategy” by Henry Mintzberg (HBR Reprint 87407)
Book:
Chapters 1-3
March 22nd (Saturday)
Theme: Developing Positions of Competitive Advantage: Market-Driven and Market
Driving Strategies
Session #1 (9:00 am – 10:30 am)
Marketing Strategy Formulation (II)
Articles:
Note on Marketing Strategy (HBSP Reprint 9-598-061)
“Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines,” Treacy and Wiersema , Harvard Business
Review, Jan-Feb 1993 (HBR Reprint 93107)
Session #2 (10:45 am – 12:15 pm)
& Chap 1 – 3 Summary Discussions
Session #3 (1:30 pm – 3:00 pm)
Articles:
“The Right Game: Using Game Theory to Shape Strategy” by Brandenburger and Nalebuff,
Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1995 (HBR Reprint 95402)
“The Art of Standard Wars” by Shapiro and Varian, California Management Review, Vol. 41, No.
2 (Winter 1999) (CMR 140 01/01/99)Marketing Strategy Formulation (I)
Session #4 (3:15 pm – 4:45 pm)
& Chap 4 – 5 Summary Discussions
Session #5 (5:00 pm – 5:30 pm)
Group Working Session
March 23rd (Sunday)
Theme: Developing Positions of Competitive Advantage - Cases
Session #1 (9:00 am – 10:30 am)
Microsoft’s Search (HBS Case 9-709-461)
Session #2 (10:45 pm – 12:15 pm)
HSBC Credit Card Reward Program (Ivey Case)
Session #3 (1:30 pm – 3:00 pm)
& Chap 6 – 7, 10 Summary Discussions
Session #4 (3:15 pm – 4:45 pm)
Theme: STP: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
“Discovering New Points of Differentiation” by MacMillan and McGrath, Harvard Business
Review, July-August, 1997 (HBR Reprint 97408)
“Creating New Market Space” by Kim and Mauborgne, Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 1999
(HBR Reprint 99105)
Session #5 (5:00 pm – 5:30 pm)
Group Working Session
March 28th (Friday)
Session #1 (7:00 pm – 8:30 pm)
Case – Goodyear: The Aquatred Launch (Condensed) (HBS Case 9-500-039)
Session #2 (8:45 pm – 10:00 pm)
Video Case:
Diageo Johnny Walker – Keep Walking campaign (video will be shown in class)
If time permits:
Nightline’s “Deep Dive” video of IDEO redesigning a shopping cart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUazVjvsMHs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_civr9fr4iw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zddv5Bv7da8&feature=related
March 29th (Saturday)
Theme: Branding, Brand Equity, and Lifetime Value of Customers
Session #1 (9:00 am – 10:30 am)
& Chap 8 – 9 Summary Discussions
Session #2 (10:45 am – 12:15 pm)
Articles:
“The Brand Relationship Spectrum,” by David Aaker and Erich Joachimsthaler, California
Management Review, (CMR 177 07/01/2000)
“Managing Brands for the Long Run” by Keller, California Management Review, (CMR 150
04/01/1999)
Session #3 (1:30 pm – 3:00 pm)
Case – Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.: The “Talk to Chuck” Advertising Campaign (HBS Case 9507-005)
Session #4 (3:15 pm – 4:45 pm)
& Chap 11 – 13 Summary Discussions
Video Cases:
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html
Session #5 (5:00 pm – 5:30 pm)
Group Working Session
March 30th (Sunday)
Theme: Strategic Pricing Perspectives
Session #1 (9:00 am – 10:00 am)
Articles:
“How Do You Know When the Price is Right?” by Dolan, (HBR Reprint 95501)
Session #2 (10:00 am – 11:30 pm)
Case – Virgin Mobile USA: Pricing for the Very First Time (HBR 9-504-028)
Session #3 (11:30 pm – 12:00 pm)
One Group Presentation – (I)
Project Presentation: Each team will have 30 minutes to present. The presentation should not
exceed twenty minutes so that a number of questions and discussions will be allowed. As noted
above in the Group Project Section, the final project deliverable will consist of a PowerPoint file
and presentation of this file within the time limit. Although the presentation time is limited to 20
minutes, the final PowerPoint file can be longer to provide detailed justification of your ideas.
Session #4 (1:15 pm – 3:00 pm)
Three Group Presentations – (II)
Session #5 (3:00 pm – 4:00 pm)
Exam
Session #6 (4:00 – 5:00 pm)
Class Exercise #2 (revisit question posed in first class)
Course Wrap-up and Evaluations – close at 5:30