LEE KONG CHIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Year 2006/07 Term 3B
MKTG 101
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Instructor:
Dr Sundar Bharadwaj
Visiting Professor of Marketing
Tel:
Email:
Office:
6828 0414
SBharadwaj@smu.edu.sg
Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Level 5, Room 5084
Required Course Materials
-Miscellaneous Handouts from Your Facilitator
Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, 12e Edition, Prentice Hall:
Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Additional readings will be assigned. Students are expected to keep abreast of current developments
in the Asia-Pacific region by reading leading business dailies/weeklies like the The Strait Times, The
International Herald Tribune, Asian Wall Street Journal, Far Eastern Economic Review, The
Economist, Business Times and Business Week.
Course Description
The class introduces participants to concepts and principles of marketing strategy and
analysis. The major role of marketing in a company (or public agency) is determining,
creating, communicating and delivering a value proposition that meets the needs of its
customers. In addition, marketing in its boundary-spanning role introduces the “voice of the
customer” into the firm, helps build long-term relationships and ensures that the firm builds
equity with its customers.
Course Objectives
(1) To provide you with an introduction to marketing concepts, the process required to
develop marketing strategies, the nature of key strategic decisions (i.e., value creation,
communication, delivery and extraction), the dual goals of creating satisfaction for the
customers and loyalty.
(2) For those who are intending to pursue a more in-depth examination of marketing, this
course will provide you with a set of basic tools to enable you to interact effectively with
marketing specialists and a foundation for subsequent in-depth study in other courses.
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(3) Participants will be expected to learn the "language of marketing." It is also expected
that by the end of the course you will have a solid understanding of marketing issues, the
major decision areas under marketing responsibility, the basic interrelationships of those
decision areas, and an appreciation of how to apply key frameworks and tools.
What the Course Is Not
(1) It is not a purely marketing strategy course. While there will be discussion of the key
strategy concepts such as market planning, competitive reactions, marketing
competencies, the thrust will be more at gaining knowledge rather than a deep
understanding of market strategy.
(2) Because this is a survey course, it emphasizes exposure to a broad scope of issues at the
expense of in-depth treatment of individual topics.
Course Culture and Pedagogy
The methods of learning in this course require advance preparation by the
participants. The presentation and exposition of the marketing concepts will be through a
mix of Socratic dialogue, group learning, case discussion, and projects. The background
readings and mini-lectures expand on the concepts and ideas which provide the basis for
marketing decision making. The cases and simulation provide you with an opportunity to
discuss and apply these concepts in "real world" marketing situations.
Case discussions are intended to present dilemmas as they are encountered by
managers, so it is important to deal with the cases as you find them (i.e., no “Monday
morning quarterbacking” based on knowledge of what happened after the time frame of the
case). In case discussions, the present tense should be interpreted as referring to the time
frame of the case or its end. Please do not prepare for the class discussion by seeking out
additional or more recent data on the firms or industries in the case.
The Marketing Current Issues Minute". Every class meeting period, we will reserve the
first 15-20 minutes of class to discuss how the recent actions by firms or trends in the
marketplace are posing new challenges and opportunities to marketing. I expect this topic to
come from you, although I can always think of an important current issue. If you have
opinions, thoughts, or questions related to something happening in the real world, be prepared
to bring it up in class. This is a useful way to enhance your class participation grade. I will
also periodically seed the on-line discussion forum with media stories and I look for
discussion on those as well.
Participation in Class Discussions. An effective class session can only occur if both you
and I are involved in the learning process. It requires openness, a sense of skepticism, and an
interest in learning new ideas and concepts. This suggests that whatever the topic there will
always be room for the subjective, the opinion and the intuition. You should be willing to
share ideas with the other participants and also be willing to listen to them. Your active
participation will help us test our own assumptions and assertions. Your enthusiasm, your
intellect and your physical presence can contribute tremendously to your learning.
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Furthermore, your colleagues are important sources of learning. Take advantage of your
colleagues’ knowledge and ideas, and do your part by being prepared and contributing to
both group and class meetings. However being a cynic will not help. Cynics sit on the
sidelines and disengage. They pollute the learning environment.
Since, your consistent involvement in these class sessions is essential to achieving
the objectives of the course, your learning will be impeded if you do not read the material
assigned prior to class or if you skip information and try to read it at a later date. Class
participation will be graded on a daily (every scheduled class meeting) basis. Participants are
expected to come to class prepared to discuss, ask questions and contribute to the learning
process. For many situations, there might not be a single right answer. I encourage you to be
creative risk takers. You will always have the option to explain, clarify and justify your work
and positions. Class participation is a critical component of my evaluation of your
performance.
Please note that attendance does not constitute participation.
Quizzes
You will be given three short in-class quizzes. The quizzes will cover assigned readings and inclass discussion up to that point. The quizzes will be held on:
Date
Chapters
Session 3/Jun 22
Chapters 1&2
Session 11/Jul 9
Chapters 8,9, 14, 15 & 16
Session 14/Jul 18
Chapters 10, 11, 12,13, 18&19
No make up quizzes will be given, unless you have university accepted written excuse.
Marketing Plan Assignment
Appendix 1 of your text book provides an introduction to a marketing plan. In your groups of
four or five (minimum four) develop a marketing plan for any one of the following:
1. SMU’s new Master of Science programs.
2. SMU’s existing BBA program
3. SMU’s Executive (non-degree) Program
4. OSIM’s new Upapa product.
5. Creative’s Zen (e.g., Zen Stone)
6. Apple’s new Iphone
7. HSBC’s infinity product
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Appendix A Provides details of the deliverables.
Marketing Strategies Assignment
In this assignment, groups made up of four/five (minimum four) students each will be
asked to conduct secondary research to identify and categorize marketing strategies followed by
firms. Details of this assignment are provided in Appendix B.
Due date: July 18, 2007.
Virtual Worlds Assignment
Virtual world such as second Life are becoming increasingly popular. Second Life
(www.secondlife.com) is one such virtual World site. Singapore has a location on Second
Life. Companies such IBM, CISCO and educational institutions such as Insead have built a
presence as well. Membership is free.
Requirements
This is an individual assignment. You are required to identify a single organization
(firm, education institution, individual, or public sector organization etc.,) that does a good
job of marketing on Second Life and justify why you think so. You will write a 1 page typed
memo addressed to the class (excluding appendixes and attachments) about how and why the
organization you have chosen does a good marketing job in Second Life. This may involve
library research on Second Life, plus logging into Second Life and studying organizations to
identify your chosen target organization.
This assignment is due on July 11, 2007 at 8.30AM.
ASSESSMENT METHOD
Grades are based on participation in the class, performance in quizzes, the marketing strategies
assignment, the Marketing Plan assignment, the Virtual Worlds assignment and the mid-term
examination.
The midterm exam will consist of multiple choice questions, and true or false questions.
As regards the multiple choice questions, you will be asked to pick the best answer from among
those presented and mark your answer on an answer sheet. If you think the question is
ambiguous or that more than one answer is appropriate (for example, the answer depends on
some unstated assumption), you will have the opportunity to write out a brief explanation
(defense) of your logic and your answer. You will be given credit if your explanation reveals
that you understand the issues involved. All exams and quizzes will be in the multiple-choice
format.
Class participation
In-class Quizzes (3)
Mid-term examination
100 points
225 points
250 points
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Marketing Strategies Assignment
Marketing Plan Presentation
Virtual Worlds assignment
150 points
150 points
125 points
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CLASS SCHEDULE
Tentative Schedule for Summer 2007
Date
Session 1
Jun 18
Session 2
Jun 20
Session 3
Jun 22
Topic for Class Discussion
Assignment
Goals of Marketing: Discovering, Creating,
K&A: Chapter 1
Communicating, Delivering and Extracting the
Value Proposition
Goals of Marketing
K&A: Chapter 2/Appendix 2
Introduction to Marketing Math
Case: Trap-Ease America:
The Big Cheese of Mousetraps
Market Insight
K&A: Chapter 4
Quiz 1
Case: Enterprise Rent-A-Car:
Measuring Service Quality
Marketing Strategy Basics: Discovering and Sizing Opportunities
Session 4
Consumer Behavior
K&A: Chapters 5&6
Jun 25
Case: Weight? I’m on Adkins
Session 5
Jun 27
Marketing Planning and Analysis & Segmenta K&A: Chapters 7
Targeting and Positioning
Case: GM: Downsizing the Hummer
Session 6/Jun 29 Mid-term exam
Session 7/Jul 2
Project Day
Marketing Mix: Creating the Value Proposition
Session 8
Product Management & Brand Management
Jul 4
Marketing Mix: Communicating the Value Proposition
Session 9/Jul 6
Project Day
Session 10
Jul 9
Integrated Marketing Communications
Sales Force Management
Marketing Mix: Delivering the Value Proposition
Session 11
Distribution
Jul 11
Quiz 2
Marketing Mix: Extracting the Value Proposition
Session 12
Pricing
Jul 13
Session 13
Jul 16
Session 14
Jul 18
Marketing in New Environments
Course Wrap-up
K&A: Chapters 8&9
Case: Converse: We Love You, chucks!
K&A: Chapters 14&15
Case: Pepsi: Promoting Nothing
K&A: Chapter 16
K&A: Chapters 12&13
Case: Sears: Visions of Grandeur
K&A : Chapters 10&11
Case: Southwest Airlines:
Waging War in Philly
K&A: Chapters 18 & 19
Case: Wal-Mart Takes on the World
Group Presentations and Quiz 3
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Appendix A
Marketing Plan Project
Requirements
Please follow the guidelines provided in Appendix 1 of your text book. You do not
have to turn in a formal report. What is required is a PowerPoint presentation of 8 slides that
cover the following issues:
1. Marketing Objectives and goals.
2. Current Marketing Situation and Market description
3. Competitive Review and SWOT Analysis.
4. Marketing Strategy that covers:
a. Segmentation, targeting and positioning
b. Product strategy
c. Promotion strategy
d. Pricing strategy
e. Distribution strategy (if relevant).
You do not need to cover the action programs, the marketing organization, budgets and
controls in your presentation.
You will do a formal presentation of these slides in class on July 18, 2007.
APPENDIX B
Marketing Strategies Group Project
Introduction
The objective of this project is for you to identify marketing strategies adopted by
firms and categorize them based on concepts and strategies discussed in class and in your
book. In order to do the project, groups of four/five (minimum of four) members each will
examine marketing stories in Asian Wall Street Journal for a year and then identify the
appropriate categories to which they belong. Once the identification is done, each group
would then summarize and comment on the likely success of these strategies, based on
intuition, class learning and additional research. Illustrative strategies may be launch of new
products, new brand names, line extensions, new pricing approach, new advertising
strategies, different promotional approaches, dropping products, etc.,
Specifically, each group has to get the ASIANWALL STREET JOURNAL in the
library through online sources and then conduct the research. The end product from you
should be a report with a detailed appendix.
The report will also contain up to a maximum of four typed double spaced pages of
text in 12 point Times Roman font that addresses the following issues:
1. Introduction
A general introduction to the paper, its contents and the structure.
2. Classification and Description of the Marketing Strategies
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Using the topics in your class syllabus, categorize the different strategies you see that
year and provide a summary report.
3. Evaluation
A summary report evaluating the strategies and the potential outcomes. Do not spend
time talking about each and every strategy, but pick and choose four of them: two that you
think will succeed and two you think will fail and expand on these. Set up some criteria
which form the basis of your evaluation.
4. Key Learning
This section should address the question, “What did we learn from the exercise?”
Provide the section headings presented above in the paper.
Appendix
The appendix should have the following information in a Tabular form:
1. The name of the company
2. The name of the ultimate parent of the company
3. The earliest date in the Asian Wall Street Journal when this strategy was announced
4. A description of the strategy.
The paper should be typed and stapled with a cover page which has the names of the group
members and is due before 12:00Noon on July 13, 2007.
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About the Instructor
Sundar S. Bharadwaj
Associate Professor of Marketing
Associate Director, Emory Brand Science Institute
Professor Bharadwaj joined the Goizueta Business School in fall 1993. His research
focuses on business problems relating to current and long-term returns and risks to marketing
investments in brands, customers, innovation, and marketing strategy. He has received an
Early Career Award from the Marketing Strategy Special Interest Group of the American
Marketing Association. His research on the process of marketing strategy making published
in the Journal of Marketing was awarded the Marketing Science Institute/Paul Root Award
for contribution to the Practice of Marketing in 1999 by the American Marketing Association.
His framework for assessing a service firm’s competitive advantage in a global market has
been awarded for best research in services in 1993 by the American Marketing Association.
Similarly, his research on the role of functional conflict in marketing strategy quality and
creativity was awarded by the Journal of Academy of Marketing Science in 1996. His
doctoral research on core competencies of a firm and brand equity was awarded by the
American Marketing Association.
At Goizueta, Professor Bharadwaj teaches the core Marketing Management class in
the MBA, Exec MBA, Marketing Strategy in the Modular Exec MBA and a Marketing
Strategy Seminar in the PHD programs at Goizueta. He has also taught courses in B2B
Marketing, services marketing and retail to undergraduates and MBAs. He also teaches in the
brand management, e-marketing, marketing strategy, customer and pricing management
programs targeted at corporate executives. He has served as the Director of the Marketing
area’s doctoral Program and has chaired a number of doctoral student dissertations. He has
also served as the area coordinator of the marketing area. He has been a visiting faculty
member at the Indian School of Business and Singapore Management University.
Professor Bharadwaj has held brand management and sales management positions in
multinational corporations (such as SmithKline Beechams and AMUL) where he developed
branding strategies and channel strategies for new and existing product. He has executive
education and consulting experience in areas related to brand strategy, customer/Key account
management, marketing strategy, pricing strategy and new product management with U.S.,
European and Asian firms ranging from Coca Cola, IBM, Microsoft, KPMG, Nokia, NOL,
Siemens, Rock-Tenn, Schneider Electric, Synovate, Satyam and Singhealth.
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