BUS M&L 4203: MARKETING STRATEGY
Autumn Semester, 2015 on THURSDAYs
A. COURSE SYLLABUS
Instructor:
Vasu Unnava, Ph. D.
Office Hours: By Appointment & Special Hours
Email:
Office:
Telephone:
URL:
544 Fisher Hall
(614) 292 3212
Carmen.osu.edu
unnava.2@ osu.edu
Required Course Pack:
Course packet is available from UNIPRINT in bookstores. Note the name of instructor (UNNAVA)
on the packet.
Supplementary Course Material:
All other course materials such as case assignment questions, work sheets etc., will either be made available on
CARMEN or given out in the class.
Course Objectives:
Marketing strategy plays a very important role in marketing. Decision makers in corporations understand the
influence of environmental factors, recognize potential opportunities and threats in the market place and use
marketing tools, research, and planning in creating successful marketing strategies. Marketing strategies enable
organizations to achieve sustainable competitive advantages and to lead achieve positive return on investment.
You will develop and improve your qualitative and quantitative analytical skills, written and oral presentation
skills by applying your knowledge of marketing principles to real business problems. You will create
marketing strategies and defend them. To be a successful marketing strategist, you should understand the
problem, underlying causes, and provide justification for your marketing strategy.
Class Format:
Marketing strategy course is based on analyzing business cases. The course is built on group case
presentations, discussions, team interactions and evaluations. If you cannot attend class regularly, you should
not plan on taking the course this semester – your class participation grade is affected adversely if you are
absent from class. Your attendance and active, quality participation in discussions are critical to your learning
and success in this course. Several of the marketing concepts you have been exposed to in earlier courses will
be applied to a specially selected case of TARGET Corporation to develop a marketing strategy.
Course Evaluation:
Your grades will be evaluated as follows:
1. Case Presentation
2. Executive Committee Evaluation
3. Class Participation
4. Online quizzes, Best three out of Five
5. TARGET Case
6. Final EXAM
TOTAL
BRAG Sheet
TOTAL
VASU UNNAVA
BUS M&L 4203: Marketing Strategy
20% (Group Grade-one case)
5% (Group Grade-one case)
20% (Individual Grade)
30% (10% each quiz, Individual Grade)
10% (Group Grade)
15% (Individual Grade)
100%
1%
101%
THURSDAYS, Autumn Semester 2015
Page 1 of 7
IMPORTANT NOTE: Re-grading requests will be accepted in writing on a paper (emails are NOT accepted)
within ONE week of receipt of the grade.
Grading Scale
The grading scale, and point conversion that will be utilized for the final grade is:
Grade
GPA
Grade
GPA
A
= 94-100 %
4.0
C+
= 77-79.9 % 2.3
A= 90-93.9 %
3.7
C
= 73-76.9 % 2.0
B+
= 87-89.9 %
3.3
C= 70-72.9 % 1.7
B
= 83-86.9 %
3.0
D+
= 67-69.9 % 1.3
B= 80-82.9 %
2.7
D
= 63-66.9 % 1.0
E
= below 62
Group Work:
Students will form groups at the beginning of the semester and are required to complete three to
four* assignments as a group. The group assignments are:
1. Present one case analysis and respond to questions/comments from class. Your group case will be
decided on the first day of the class.
2. As an executive committee, your group will provide a written evaluation of another group’s
presentation in the class. The group you will be evaluating will also be decided on the first day of
class.
3. Your group will create and present marketing strategy for a specially selected case on TARGET
Corporation. Two top teams from the class will present to TARGET Corporation executives in class.
4*. If your team is chosen as one of the best two teams in the class, you will present to TARGET
team for an AWARD.
I) Oral Presentation (20%): You will find HBS case assignment questions on CARMEN for each
case. HBS cases are selected to develop insights and understanding of different strategies and their
implications. The contents of analysis and hence presentation may vary across cases. Your group will
meet with instructor to discuss case questions and presentation material before presentation to the
class.
A formal professionally prepared oral presentation of your course case analysis is required. The
presentation time is 30 minutes. General guidelines for presentation are:
a)
b)
c)
d)
A clear statement of the problem including your justification for viewing the problem as you do
A thorough analysis of the situation
Presentation of alternative strategies, and their evaluation based on the nature of case
Selection and justification of final marketing strategy and reasons why other alternative strategies
are rejected
e) Implementation plan of the final marketing strategy
Each case presentation will be followed by “Question and Answer (Q&A)” session after the
presentation. This is an opportunity for all students to participate in case discussions. The Executive
committee would take lead in asking questions and then other students will follow. Each member in
the presenting group will take turns in responding to questions from students in the class. Toward the
end of the class, the key learnings from each case are discussed by the instructor.
You will find helpful tips on how to analyze a business case on CARMEN.
VASU UNNAVA
BUS M&L 4203: Marketing Strategy
THURSDAYS, Autumn Semester 2015
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Dress Code: Dress code is business casual for case presenters.
II. Executive Committee (5%): Each group will become a board of directors or an executive team
evaluating one case presentation. The executive committee will evaluate another group’s case
presentation on the quality of analysis, presentation skills and their performance during the Q&A
session. The evaluations will be kept confidential. You can see your group’s evaluation score given
by the executive board at the end of the semester on CARMEN. Details on the responsibilities of
executive committee can be found on CARMEN.
III. Class participation (20%): An extremely important part of the class is your contribution to case
discussions. There are at least a couple of reasons why class participation is weighted 20% in this
class. First, those who prepare the most outside of class and participate most actively in class will be
likely to learn the most from the class. Second, they will also contribute greatly to the learning of
other students in the class by encouraging thorough discussion of important case-related marketing
concepts and issues.
To do well in class participation, students must regularly contribute to class discussion by making
insightful comments that reflect a careful analysis of assigned material. It is expected that all
students will carefully read and analyze each case prior to class discussion. This will facilitate active
participation and enrich the quality of class discussions.
The following grading guidelines are provided to assist you in understanding how class participation
will be graded. Note that class participation should not be confused with class attendance. Merely
attending class will not lead to a strong class participation grade. To accomplish the latter it will be
necessary to be consistently and actively engaged in the class discussions and be a leader in many of
these discussions. Therefore, we might consider the following examples of possible class
participation grades.
Scale
Description
A
A consistent leader in class discussions who regularly makes
strong contributions by making insightful comments that reflect a
thorough analysis of the case and/or articles and other enrichment
material under consideration in this class – comments that advance
our understanding of the topics under consideration.
B
Contributes fairly regularly to class discussion making insightful
comments that reflect a careful reading of the cases and articles
under consideration in the class.
C
Contributes to class discussion with reasonable comments that
follow from the prior discussion, but does not contribute as
frequently or consistently as others.
D
Infrequent comments or a tendency to make comments that do not
appear to be based on a reading of the case. Comments when
called on but the comments frequently do not reflect a careful
reading of class material.
E
Very few positive contributions to the class discussion.
VASU UNNAVA
BUS M&L 4203: Marketing Strategy
THURSDAYS, Autumn Semester 2015
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You will receive a set of class participation sheets at the beginning of the semester. You will use the
sheets to note down your contributions to each case discussion in the class. The class participation
sheet set will be collected on Dec 3, 2015 during the class time.
IV. Quizzes (30%): Best three quizzes out of five quizzes, each 10% or 30% of total points
There will be five quizzes during the semester and the best three scores will account for 30% of the
grade. The dates for quizzes are given in the syllabus. Questions will be based on the assigned
readings, case presentations and key learnings discussed in the class. Each quiz will contain about
10 multiple choice questions. The quizzes are CARMEN online quizzes. Duration of each quiz will
be about 20 minutes. Quizzes will open on Fridays around 5 pm and close on the following
Monday at 11:00 pm.
V) Oral Presentation of TARGET case (10%):
Each group will be assigned a case provided by TARGET Corporation. If selected as top two teams
in the class, your group will present your marketing strategy for the TARGET case to the entire class
and TARGET executives.
VII) Final EXAM (15%):
There will be about 30 multiple choice questions on the final exam which is expected to last one hour.
Further details will be posted on CARMEN.
Work Load Expectation: The University and College expectation is that students spend two hours
outside of class for every hour spent in class. So, for our course, you would about spend two hours
and forty minutes on the course outside class room every week.
FIRST BONUS OPPORTUNITY:
You can earn one bonus point when you will turn in your BRAG sheet (emails do not get credit) with
your picture by Sept 10, 2015.
VASU UNNAVA
BUS M&L 4203: Marketing Strategy
THURSDAYS, Autumn Semester 2015
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FISHER COLLEGE OF BUSINESS, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
B. IMPORTANT NOTES
Important Notes
 All quiz dates, exam dates, and assigned reading due dates are included in the Course Outline.
Please make note of these dates and plan your semester accordingly. With a valid written
excuse, missed exams or quizzes will be dealt with on an individual basis. Without a valid
written excuse, missed exams or quizzes will recorded as zero pints.

You are encouraged to set up an appointment and meet the instructor as needed. E-mails
should not be seen as an alternative to class participation. Not all questions can be effectively
answered by e-mail. The response to any e-mail question can be suggesting a one-on-one
meeting, or by addressing the question during next class session.

It is your responsibility to keep track of all discussions in class, including changes to
assignments or schedules, whether you are present or not.

Attendance Policy: Any student who fails to attend without giving prior notification to the
instructor will be dis-enrolled after the third instructional day of the term, the first Friday of the
term, or the second scheduled class meeting of the course, whichever occurs first.

Attendance will be taken in the first ten minutes of the class time. No attendance credit
will be given after 10 minutes of class time.

Do not engage in side conversations.

Usage of laptop PCs, tablet PCs, and cell phones is NOT allowed in the class room. Turn
off your cell phones, mp3 players and pagers before you come to class. Do not take calls.
No texting is permitted in the class.
Academic Integrity or Misconduct:
All students are expected to abide by the university’s Code of Student Conduct which may be found
on the website of the Office of Academic Affairs, Committee on Academic Misconduct (COAM):
http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/home.html. Your attention is particularly called to guidance on plagiarism:
http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/hownottoplagiarize.pdf. The instructor is obligated by University policy to
report to COAM all suspected cases of academic misconduct. If you are unclear regarding any aspect
of University policy on the above matters, discuss your questions with the instructor.
Disability:
Every effort will be made to provide each student with a meaningful learning opportunity. If there are
any obstacles that could prevent you from learning effectively, please set an appointment with the
instructor so that we might jointly figure out how to circumvent those obstacles. Any student who
feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the
instructor privately to discuss specific needs. The Office for Disability Services, 614-292-3307, in
room 150 Pomerene Hall can assist with coordinating reasonable accommodations should there be a
need.
VASU UNNAVA
BUS M&L 4203: Marketing Strategy
THURSDAYS, Autumn Semester 2015
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Course Outline* for BUS ML 4203, THURSDAYS
VASU UNNAVA, Marketing Strategy, AUTUMN SEMESTER 2015
No
Date
Content/Case
Assignment
Executive
Board
1
2
3
27-Aug
3-Sept
10-Sept
Introduction to Course
Quantitative Analyses
Introduction to Target Corp.
4
17-Sept
5
24-Sept
6
1-Oct
7
8-Oct
8
15-Oct
22-Oct
9
29-Oct
10
5-Nov
11
12-Nov
12
19-Nov
Brand Management:
Altius Golf and The Fighter Brand
Brand Extensions: Mountain Man Brewing
Co: Bringing Brand to Light
Product Positioning:
Clean Edge Razor: Splitting Hairs in
Product Positioning
TARGET Case Presentations by 8 groups
in the Class
Autumn Break No Classes
TARGET Representatives in Class and
TARGET case presentations by best two
teams.
Customer Loyalty: Olympic Rent-A-Car
U.S.: Customer Loyalty Battles
New Product Development: Montreaux
Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for
Healthy Dark Chocolate?
Competitive Strategy in Retailing:
Reeds Supermarkets: A New Wave of
Competitors
Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0:
HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0
26-Nov
Thanksgiving Weekend_No Class
“Understanding Daily Deals Market”
3-Dec
Advertising & Segmentation:
What is the Deal with Living Social?
13
14
Read TARGET Case
.BRAG Sheet Due
ONLINE QUIZ 1**
(Altius Golf)
Living Social
HubSpot
ONLINE QUIZ 2**
(Clean Edge Razor)
Reeds
Supermarket
ONLINE QUIZ 3**
(Olympic Rent-A-Car)
Clean Edge
Altius Golf
ONLINE QUIZ 4**
(Reeds Supermarkets)
Mountain Man
Olympic RentA-Car
ONLINE QUIZ 5**
(Living Social)
Montreaux
Chocolate
Due Class Participation
sheets
Online Final EXAM. Exam will start at 5
Quantitative Analyses
FW Dec.11pm on Dec 11 and close at 11 pm on 14th.
14
Notes: *Subject to change if necessary. Please check CARMEN for important notes, lecture slides,
and announcements.
**Timings for Quizzes: Online Quizzes open on Fridays at 5 pm and close on following Monday at
11:00 pm
VASU UNNAVA
BUS M&L 4203: Marketing Strategy
THURSDAYS, Autumn Semester 2015
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Due Sept 10, 2015
BRAG SHEET: Bonus Opportunity
Name: __________________________________________
(e-mail):___________________________________
(phone)
-______________________________
Attach your
photo here
How would you describe your accomplishments in a job interview?
VASU UNNAVA
BUS M&L 4203: Marketing Strategy
THURSDAYS, Autumn Semester 2015
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