BMA5502 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Dr. Li, Xiuping
Associate Professor
Department of Marketing
NUS Business School
Email: bizlx@nus.edu.sg
Semester II, AY2013/2014
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Almost all marketing decisions require understanding customers’ characteristics. From new
product development, pricing strategies, channel choices, to product promotions, all these
decisions would involve the knowledge of your customers’ needs, how they process marketing
stimuli, and how they make their judgments and purchase decisions. Thus, it is critical to
understand the frameworks you can use to gain customer insights and design marketing mix that
can be really targeted at your core customers.
This course focuses on consumer insights which affect the consequence of marketing decision. It
systematically examines the buying process which a consumer takes from pre-purchase
motivations, cognition, evaluations to characteristics of decision contexts. The course is
designed to provide a comprehensive coverage of the key theoretical frameworks to gain
customer insights. They will be delivered from three aspects as shown the figure below. First,
relevant theories and research in behavioral science to understand different aspects (topics such
as motivation, attitude, and decision making) of consumer behavior will be introduced; second,
under each topic, the tools to understand your own customers will be introduced. Third, relevant
examples and cases will be discussed to relate to the key marketing decisions.
Stages of Consumer Behavior
1. Pre-purchase Stage:
 Consumer Needs
Activation
Key Concepts
Consumer Needs and
Motivation
Key Strategic Marketing
Decisions






Segmentation,
Targeting, and
Positioning
4Ps
Searching for information
Making sense of relevant
marketing information
Sensory Perception
Learning and Memory
Evaluation of alternatives
Attitude, Persuasion,
Influence
ELM model
Multiple Attribute Model


Promotion
New Product
development and
testing
Decision Rules
Framing Effect
Prospect Theory
Context Effect
Confirmation/Disconfirmation
Of Expectations

Pricing

Loyalty programs
2. Decision Stage:
 Making decision among
alternatives
3. Post-purchase Stage:
 Evaluation of
consumption experience

New Product (service
and goods) Design
and Packaging
Branding
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
Future Intentions
Word of Month
Required Readings:
1. Cases and a number of articles assigned for each class session.
2. Consumer Behavior (6th international edition) by Wayne D. Hoyer, Deborah J. MacInnis, and
Rik Pieters, Cengage Learning , Chapters 1 -12.
GRADING SCHEME
Class Participation
Individual Case Analysis Reports
Group Field Project
30%
30%
40%
INDIVIDUAL CASE ANALYSIS REPORTS (3 reports, 10% each)
The main objective of having case discussions in class is to give you an opportunity to apply the
concepts, frameworks, and tools discussed in the course to uncover potential strategic consumer
insights in order to address a real-world marketing issue.
A list of case questions will be provided to you one week before the discussion date noted on the
course schedule. You need to submit a case brief (no longer than 2 pages, double spaced, 12 point
Times New Roman Font, 1” margins; point form is fine), summarizing your answers to the questions.
GROUP FIELD PROJECT
The main objective of this project is to encourage you to apply the concepts, frameworks, and
tools discussed in the course to uncover potential strategic consumer insights in order to address
a real-world marketing issue.
At the beginning of the semester, you will be provided with a list of marketing topics/questions
from a partner company. In general, the projects will focus on uncovering strategic insights on
consumer behavior with managerial relevance. The projects will involve primary data collection
and analysis. To address your selected marketing question, you might wish to use (where
appropriate) a combination of tools and empirical techniques—conceptual analyses and
application of current research and industry practices, in-depth interviews, focus groups,
consumer surveys, experiments, as well as the tools we discuss in class.
You also need to provide recommendations to the company. These recommendations should be
grounded on a combination of data and theory.
By the end of the third week, you should have formed a project group of four or five students to
work with during the semester.
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Course Schedule
Week /
Date
Topics
Week 1
Jan 14
What is Consumer Behavior
Course Overview
Week 2
Jan 21
Introduction to the field
project topic
Methods to Gain Consumer
Insights
Cases /
Guest Lectures


Tom, N. (2007). Behavior Defines Consumers. Advertising Age, 78(28), 20.
Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapter 1
Guest Lecture

By A/P
Catherine Yeung on

Tauber, E. M. (1972). Why Do People Shop? The Journal of Marketing, 36(4),
46-49.
Charness, G. & Uri Gneezy (2009), “Incentives to Exercise,” Econometrica, Vol.
77, No. 3, May, 909-931
Davenport, T. H. (2009). How to design smart business experiments. Harvard
Business Review, 87(2), 68.
Randomlized Controlled
Trials for Designing
Business Experiments
Week 3
Jan 28


Consumer Needs and
Motivation_1
Theoretical Frameworks
Required Readings
Case Discussion
Montreaux Chocolate
USA





Week 4
Feb 4
Week 5
Feb 11
Customer Needs and
Motivation_2
Managing Needs Conflicts
Sensory Perception and
Inference



Feynolds, T.J. and Gutman, J. (1988) "Laddering theory, method, analysis and
interpretation," Journal of Advertising Research, Feb/Mar, Vol.28(1), p.11-31.
Hitt, J. (2000) "Does the smell of coffee brewing remind you of your mother",
The New York Times Magazine, May 7
Shiv, B. & A. Fedorikhin (1999), “Heart and Mind in Conflict: The Interplay of
Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making,” Journal of Consumer
Research, Vol 26, No. 3 (December), 278-292.
Terlep, S. (2012) "Auto makers' new reality: cars aren't a must for kids," Wall
Street Journal (Online) New York, N.Y., 10 Jan 2012.
Tom, N. (2007). Behavior Defines Consumers. Advertising Age, 78(28), 20.
Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapter 2
Krishna, Aradhna (2012), “An integrative review of sensory marketing: Engaging
the senses to affect perception, judgment and behavior,” Journal of Consumer
Psychology, Vol. 22 (July), 332-351
Balcetis, E., & David Dunning (2006), “See what you want to see: Motivational
Influences on visual perception,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Vol 91(4), October, 612-625.
Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapter 3
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Week 6
Feb 18
Consumer Memory_1
Consumer Knowledge
Recess
Week
Feb 25
Week 7
March 4
Attitude, Persuasion, and
Influence_1
Week 8
March 11
Informative vs. Emotional
Attitude, Persuasion, and
Influence_2
Case Discussion
Introducing New Coke


Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapters 5-6


Asch, Solomon E. (1955), “Options and Social Pressure,” Scientific American,
193 (5), 31-35.
Ly et al. (2013), “A Practitioner’s Guide to Nudging,” Research Report Series,
Behavioral Economics in Action.
Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapters 11

Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapters 7-9

Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapters 10

Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapter 12

Social Influence
Week 9
March 18
The Decision Making
Process_1
Week 10
March 25
The Decision Making
Process_2
Week 11
April 1
Customer Satisfaction and
Loyalty
Case Discussion
Hoyer et al. (2013), “Consumer Behavior”, Chapter 4
Starbucks: Delivering
Customer Service
Week 12
April 8
Consumer’s Culture
Week 13
Project Presentation
Final Presentation
April 15
* This schedule will be updated during the semester as and when there are further changes.
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