S Y L L A B U S
Business to Business Marketing
Instructor:
Dr. Annie H. Liu
Office & Hours: Hilton #321; Tuesday & Thursday 12:00-1:30 & 2:00-3:00 pm; Wednesday 7:00-8:00 pm
Texts
Michael D. Hutt & Thomas W. Speh (2004), Business Marketing Management: A Strategic View of
Industrial and Organizational Markets.
Course Objectives
In the business market, the customers are organizations (businesses, governments, and institutions)
and these customers represent a huge market opportunity. While we think of companies like Procter &
Gamble, Sony, or Ford as sellers, they are also buyers that annually spend billions of dollars each on
products and services sold to them by other businesses. Building and maintaining a close relationship
with a business customer, like P&G, require careful attention to details, meeting promises, and swiftly
responding to new requirements.
The purpose of this course is to introduce you to business-to-business marketing by identifying the
distinctive characteristics of the business market, exploring the way in which organizations make
buying decisions, and isolating the requirements for marketing strategy success. The course also
provides a perfect vehicle for profiling leading business marketing firms such as Cisco, Dell, and
others that demonstrate best practices in marketing strategy.
Class Participation
In order to stimulate active learning, class time will be heavily discussion-oriented. Obviously, the
quality of a discussion class is a function of the quality of each student’s preparation.
I am most interested in your ability to demonstrate learning of class concepts (from the readings),
which could include: (1) description/elaboration on concepts in readings, (2) an application of class
concepts to current events (i.e., show how class concepts relate to current events, or analyze current
events in terms of class concepts), and/or (3) a critical assessment of class concepts (i.e., conditions
under which they would be more or less useful, and why).
My evaluation emphasizes the thoughtful, meaningful contributions to class discussions and not the
quantity of participation per se. Quality participation is based on the (1) quality of the insights
exhibited, (2) the student's ability to maintain continuity of discussion (i.e., pays attention to existing
discussion/prior comments), (3) answer follow-up questions (which requires some degree of thought
about the material – above and beyond mere reading--prior to class), and (4) your contribution to the
spirit of the class (contributes to a positive learning environment).
Presenting & Leading Case Discussions
Students (with group members) are required to present & lead the discussion of 1 case study. Each group
should plan on a 15 minute presentation, and another 15minutes for activities and Q&A to stimulate class
participation and discussion. Depending on the format of the case, each team will present relevant facts and
information from the cases, suggesting and evaluating alternatives, and making a recommendation. See page
4 for detail information.
While the assigned group will have the primary responsibility of presenting facts, analyzing data,
evaluating alternatives, and making recommendations, all students are expected to have read the case
and done some analysis. In addition to offering their own insights, students in the class should be
prepared to discuss with the groups about their options/suggestions; offer alternative perspectives;
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and critique the information presented by the group. These cases will be weighted as heavily as
typical class discussions, as part of each student’s class participation grade.
Current Events
The objective of the presentation is, first and foremost, to provide students an opportunity to apply a
class concept to a particular firm or industry. Secondly, the student gains exposure to various trade
publications in the course of selecting the article for their presentation. Third, the presentation gives
each student the opportunity to practice and hone their presentation skills. Each student will select a
topic on which they will give a 10 minutes presentation. A sign-up sheet will be passed the second
week of class. No make-up orals are scheduled.
For the current events presentation, the student should find an article that describes how a company
or an industry is utilizing a particular marketing tool or class concept in its business marketing strategy.
I do not recommend reviewing an article that provides a generic list of concerns on a particular topic
(e.g., 10 things to consider in telemarketing).

Each student must turn in a copy of the article to me Monday prior to the talk, along with a 1page summary of the presentation.
During the oral presentation, the student should:
 provide a brief summary of the article
 specifically identify and discuss how the article integrates each class concept)
 provide a critical analysis of whether or not the strategy described in the article is being
appropriately used, and offer specific suggestions for improvement based on the class concepts
you have identified above.
For example, you may come to the conclusion that IBM needs to work on its customer
relationships by improving communication with its retailers, and merely advertising its
commitment to a customer-focus strategy will be insufficient.
 Q&A from the class to follow – list of 2 to 3 discussion questions to stimulate class discussions.
Exams
Exams will require the analysis of a case. An exam case will be given the week prior to the exam date
on the syllabus along with a set of case questions. Cases must be turned in to my office by class time
on the exam date stated in the syllabus. Exams should be typed and should not exceed 10 pages.
Grading Procedure
Participation
Current Events
Case Presentation/Discussion
Exam
Group Project
Project Presentation
10%
15%
15%
25%
25%
10%
100%
2
Tentative Class Schedule
Week of
August
29
September
5
September
12
September
19
September
26
October
3
October
10
October
17
October
24
October
November
31
7
November
14
November
21
November
December
28
5
Topic
Readings & Cases
A Business Marketing Perspective
Case: Segway
Assign Case & Project Groups; Current Event Sign-up
Organizational Buying Behavior (OBB) & Case Analysis
CRM for Business Markets
Case: WESCO
Project Group & Company Name - DUE (9/21)
E-Commerce for Business Markets
Supply Chain Management
Case Presentation: SC Johnson
Managing Business Marketing Channel
Case: Atlas Copco
Review for Exam 1
EXAM 1 Due
Project Research
Project Background & Progress Report (10/19)
Case: SaleSoft
Managing Services for Business Markets
Case: Bain & Company
Project Research
Project Progress Report (11/9)
Case: Cisco
Business Marketing Communications & Guest Speaker
Project Research
Thanksgiving (11/24-25)
Project Research
Complete Project Due & Presentations (11/30)
B2B Activities
Presentations
1
Segway
3
4
WESCO
5
6
SC Johnson
13
Atlas Copco
SaleSoft
14
Bain & Company
Cisco (pp.487-512)
16 & 17
General Policies
* NO late assignments will be accepted.
* NO make-up exams or in-class exercises will be given.
Students are expected to do original work for all assignments, including cases, exams, and projects. Students
are responsible for their own conduct and all cases of dishonesty will be reported to the proper university
officials. Please do not put yourself in an embarrassing or unfortunate situation.
All written assignments must be well organized using an interesting writing style that is grammatically correct
(regardless of what your native language is). Expect a severe grade reduction for poor grammar.
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Case Analysis & Presentations
Everyone (in a group) will be required to present and lead discussion of 1 assigned case study. As you study
and analyze case information, write down important facts, identify the key issues of the problem, and
conduct SWOT analysis if applicable. The purposes of this class exercise include:
 To develop skills to lead, motivate, and facilitate discussion in group setting.
 To provide a linkage between the class concepts and industry and company-specific applications.
 To use class concepts to critically assess the companies’ marketing strategies.
For the case study presentation in the class, the focus should be on the following:
1. Allocate 15 minutes for the case presentation, and another 15 minutes for activities to stimulate class
participation and discussion.
2. Presentations should tie-in with class concepts and include interesting visuals (e.g., posters, handouts),
role-plays, games, and/or fun activities for class involvement. The particular format and structure of the
presentation will depend on the specific content. Each group should find a creative, informative manner
to present the information to keep the audience involved in your presentation/discussion. Check
evaluation criteria for presentation guidelines. Boring or unprepared presentations will result in low
grade!
3. Stimulate, motivate & lead class discussions to come up with the best answers to the case scenarios and
discussion questions. Provide interesting & unique ways in which the class can participate individually or
as teams in developing answers. In other words, don’t just give away or force-feed your answers to the
class.
4. Present the key issues of the problem. Do not repeat the entire content of the case to bore the class.
Pay attention to the response of the class – do they understand what you are talking about? Are they
bored? Or are they interested? Each group should prepare a brief handout for the class, including
highlights of the talk and discussion questions.
5. A Shadow group will be assigned to provide comments and give constructive feedback to each leading
group. The comments, feedback, as well as peer evaluations will be integrated into case presentation
grades. Individuals who receive zeros from group members will also receive a zero for the case
presentation.
Case Grading will be based on:
 the thoroughness of identification of critical issues in the case,
 the team’s thoroughness in exploring options/solutions to case by themselves and with the class
(including necessary financial analysis and conceptual issues),
 the team’s ability to tie the solution to concepts learned in class,
 the team’s evaluation/insight/critique (based on class concepts), and
 the relevance of analysis on the industry and the company.
 professional communication skills (including professionalism, preparation, organization, delivery,
etc.).
To receive your individual presentation grade: Place the following documents in a folder & turn it
in before presentation: (1) a meeting dialog including dates, & who did what, (2) a hard copy, (3) a disk
of your presentation, (4) peer evaluations from all members (completed & folded in half), and (5)
other relevant information. Presentation grade will follow Evaluation Criteria listed in page 4.
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Group Research Project: Working Relationship Case Study
Purpose
The purpose of this project is for you to gain better understanding of and insight into working
relationships between firms in business markets. This will be accomplished through your group
conducting a set of personal interviews with a supplier firm about its best practices and problems that
is experiencing in its business-to-business relationships. The supplier firm can be either a
manufacturer or a distributor (NO retailer). The firsthand experience that you will gain in this
research will help place you far above the typical student in your understanding of business marketing.
Procedure
Your group will want to gain multiple perspectives on the selected firm’s working relationship strategy,
practices, and problems. Therefore, you will need to interview several individuals within the firm that
you consider most germane. To foster multiple perspectives and promote candor, the interviews
should be conducted sequentially. Avoid, wherever possible, interviewing the research participants
together. Ensure the respondent that his/her responses will be held in strict confidence and that your
group upholds this confidence. Acquire permission first if you intend to interview the firm’s
customers.
Find a sponsoring firm and secure commitments from the management by building mutual trust for a
win/win relationship. Ensure the management that the findings will be for classroom learning and will
be held in confidence and that your group upholds this confidence. Offer to provide them your
findings, encourage them to share insights with our class, and invite them to our class activities
(presentations, guest speaking, etc). The names, titles, company addresses and telephone numbers of
individuals should be provided in an Appendix to your paper. Keep a dialog of the interviews (i.e.,
time, place, names of the interviewers & interviewees, & content of the interview) for record. Turn in
the interview dialog with your complete report in the Appendix.
The actual content of the paper should include these sub-titled sections:
I. Company and Industry Background.
 Give a brief description of the nature of the firm’s business, the products offered and size of the
firm (or business unit, if applicable).
 Briefly describe the industry in terms such as number of competitors, the number of end-user
markets served, and the firm’s position within the industry.
II. Target Market & Channel Relations (Refer to Chapter 2, 3, 4, 6, 7,14)
 Identify the target customers (i.e., the buying firms). Is there more than one type of buyers?
What segmentation bases does the company use to identify its buyers (e.g., buying process,
benefits etc)?
 What is the form of the company’s channels relationships?
 What does the company do to build relations/partnerships with its customers & suppliers? How
does it measure and track these relationships?
III. Working Relationship Best Practices and Problems.
 What best practices and problems has the firm had in building or sustaining working relationships
with its suppliers or channel?
 Conclude this section with the specific working relationship problem that is of special interest to
your group and on which the remainder of the research paper will focus.
 Briefly relate why this is a problem for the firm and what its significance is.
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VI. Alternatives and Analysis.
 What alternative ways of solving this problem has the firm considered?
 What, if any, additional ways can your group offer? In discussing each alternative, provide an
analysis of it. This entails marshaling supporting evidence (as well as consideration of any
contrary evidence) to provide a compelling rational for resolving the problem.
 Integrate within this analysis germane concepts from the course readings.
V. Recommended Actions & Conclusions.
 What specific, implementable course of action should be taken in addressing the problem?
 A cogent rationale that supports your recommendations and that rules out alternative courses of
action should be provided. Implementation of these actions must be made apparent to the reader.
 What have you learned from this project/case study? What would you do differently (if at all)?
Appendices. Directly useful, adjunct material such as interview dialog, tables, figures, lengthy
anecdotes, and detailed lists which do not appear in the text should be included in appendices.
Appendices should be labeled alphabetically in the order in which they are cited. Note carefully,
though, that the text of the research paper must be able to meaningfully stand alone.
Timing & Format of the Research Paper
Present the name and company background of your firm in class on September 21st, and turn in a
complete company & industry background paper (up to 5 pages) for presentation on October 19th.
Please talk with me and have your project approved before you do your interviews. Late submission
of the company background or changing company in the later day will result in one lower grade.
Update your project progress with class and present an oral report on November 9th. The completed
paper with the interview dialog and executive summary should be turned in by November 30th. It is
your responsibility to coordinate among your group members to complete your project by the due
date. Keep a copy of your paper and presentation for your own record. Papers will not be returned.
The completed paper should include Table of Content, 15 to 20 pages of Content (double-spaced,
12pt. Times New Roman, 1 inch margin), a complete References (check end of each chapter for the
exact format), Interview Dialogs and, any relevant Figures / Tables / Pictures in Appendix.
A one-page, single-spaced executive summary of your research paper should be prepared. This
summary will be distributed to the class prior to your final project presentation, so make enough
copies for each student to have one. Be sure to include your group members’ names. Peer
Evaluation will be integrated for individual grade. Individuals receive zeros from group members will
also receive a zero for the project. LATE PROJECTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
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My Initial ________
Business to Business Marketing
Evaluation Criteria for Shadow Group Feedback
Case Name:
Presenters:
1.
2.
3.
4.
I. Introduction/ Critical Issues/ Background Research / Body of Presentation
II. Delivery/ Audience Interactions / Visual Aids
(20%)
III. Integration of Class Concepts/ Options & Solutions / Closing
IV. Creativity Section (20%)
Handouts / Displays / Posters
Role Play
Games
Others
V. Individual Contribution & Communication Skills (20%)
1.
2.
3.
4.
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(20%)
(20%)
Peer Evaluation Form -- Project Presentation (Confidential)
Peer Evaluation will be integrated for research project. Individuals receive zeros from group
members will also receive a zero for the project.
Please specify (in terms of percentages) the relative allocation of work/effort/commitment
that you & your partners devoted to your group project. The percentages must sum to 100%.
For example, in a four-person group, if each partner devoted an equal amount of effort to the
project, assign each partner 25%.
Please write a description about what you have done and how you have contributed to your group
project & presentation.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
My Name:_____________________________________
Percentage
Allocated
_____________
Partner1: ______________________________________
_____________
Partner2: ______________________________________
_____________
Partner3: ______________________________________
_____________
Partner4: ______________________________________
_____________
Total
100%
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Peer Evaluation Form -- Case Presentation (Confidential)
Peer Evaluation will be integrated for case presentation. Individuals receive zeros from group
members will also receive a zero for the case.
Please specify (in terms of percentages) the relative allocation of work/effort/commitment that you
& your partners devoted to your case presentation. The percentages must sum to 100%. For
example, in a five-person group, if each partner devoted an equal amount of effort to the project,
assign each partner 20%.
Please write a description about what you have done and how you have contributed to your group
project & presentation.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
My Name:_____________________________________
Percentage
Allocated
_____________
Partner1: ______________________________________
_____________
Partner2: ______________________________________
_____________
Partner3: ______________________________________
_____________
Partner4: ______________________________________
_____________
Total
100%
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