IBM 6015 Marketing Management

Professor Tang Yingchan, Fall 2010

I.        COURSE OBJECTIVE

This marketing management course is a survey course designed to provide the students with an understanding of the basic concepts of marketing management and experience in making marketing decisions. The objectives of this course are threefold:

1. to develop students' ability to identify marketing problems and opportunities,

2. to deepen students' understanding about strategic issues such as competitive analysis, product positioning, target markets selection, market-oriented management, and making decisions with right blend of marketing 4Ps, and

3. to analyze current business events in the context of established marketing principles, with special focus on the New Economy and emerging Asian markets.

The course is concerned with the development, evaluation, and implementation of marketing management in complex environments. It focuses on the process of marketing management with a strong application tone.  As a result, knowledge of marketing concepts are generated from in-depth analysis of a varieties of principles, theories, industry and company facts, analytical procedures, techniques, models, and marketing simulation game. 

II.       TEXTBOOK AND READING MATERIALS

1. Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 13/e, Pearson 2009

2. Marketing Management Study Guide, Companion Website

3. Jean-Claude Larreche, MARKOPS: The Simulation for Marketing Training

III.    STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Reading assignments should be prepared thoroughly prior to the session for which they are assigned. Lectures will parallel the text in most instances but will be supplemented by additional material, thereby making attendance a necessity Each student is expected to participate regularly in class discussion, both as called by the instructor and on a voluntary basis. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in any form. Any student who engages in academic dishonesty will be penalized to the fullest extent allowed by university guidelines.

IV.      EVALUATION

1	Markops	40%
	Result (50%), Report (30%), Presentation (20%)
2	Final Exam	40%
3	Team work & class participation	20%

V.       MARKOPS SIMULATION GAME

"You can't create a leader in a classroom." (Fast Company, 2003)

- Professor Henry Mintzberg, McGill University

         "Don't give up: Never quit before you reach your goal."

- Jim Valvano, former NCSU Basketball Coach

         Game Perspective

The Markops is designed to provide a "hands on" learning experience in marketing analysis and decision making. Student-chosen teams of three members will be charged with the responsibility of developing and executing marketing strategy and plans within the context of the game. The game is a rather nice and realistically complex representation of the "real world", so the marketing skills developed and enhanced within IBM6015 should easily be transferable to your future careers.

          Game Preparation

Understanding the rules of the game is the secret to win, therefore going through the ESTRAT before the real game starts is highly recommended. You may try to log-on the machine, to print out information available on your disc, and to input marketing decisions. Discuss with your team members or consult with me if you have any questions. It should be noted that you are expected to do detailed quantitative analyses using spreadsheets to have the greatest chance of success.

          Game Performance and Evaluation

The grade for performance will be based on the last period's game result:

1. Cumulative net contribution 
2. Total market share (based on $ sales)

                Your team grade will be calculated as: Your Game Result/ Highest Team's Game Result

Business Plan

Each team will be responsible for turning in decisions on the due dates. No late assignment will be accepted.  Immediately after decision 3, the team must submit the business plan for periods 4. The Markops business plan is as follows (Official Guidelines):

• Market Analysis Period 1 - Period 3

• Situation Analysis Period 4 Forecast Period 4

• Market Strategy Periods 5-7

• Key Learning Points

• Overall quality / professionalism

You can discuss your team's experience, leadership, sales forecasting tools, and how the final decision was settled, etc. The report should not exceed eight pages.  The best and the worst teams will be asked to present a shortened form of this assessment report to the class at the end of the semester. This presentation should include all members of the team and should be professionally presented using charts and graphs wherever possible. Each team will be given 15 minutes for the presentation, followed by a 5-minute Q&A. Evaluation of your business plan is based on

• Quality of your analysis of the market situation, appreciation of consumer trends

• Coherence of your decisions, overall strategy and the accuracy of your long-term vision

• Efficacy of the means selected to enhance performance, and their suitability with respect to brand portfolio management techniques

• Your ability to predict sales and profitability

• Your sensitivity to strategic issues specific to your market

• Clarity, concision of expression, persuasiveness of argument

• Originality of approach, creativity of ideas

• Quality and branding of written presentation

          Feedback From Previous Participants

•     "This was a rewarding yet mind boggling exercise."
•     "All in all this simulation resembles gambling. You have to take some   chance with guts feeling to make things happen."
•     "We were simply too conservative and afraid to take risks."
•     "How embarrassing to get from being the number 1 group to one of the worst groups by period 8. Nevertheless, a valuable lesson was learned."

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VI.       CLASS SCHEDULE  (Office Hours)

Date	Marketing Management Topic	MARKeting OPerations
09/13	Mechanics & Set up	Demo
09/20	Introduction, Holistic Marketing (1, 22)	Team Assignment
09/27	Marketing Strategy & Plan (2, 11)	Markops Download
10/04	Marketing environment & Globalization (3, 21)	1. Markops World
10/11	Marketing Research (4, 5)	2. Organization
10/18	Buyer Behavior (6, 7)	3. Company Report
10/25	STP & Positioning Strategy (8, 10)	4. Marketing operations
11/01	Markops Overview	5. Marketing Strategy
11/08	Brand Equity (9): brand value chain	Pre-Game Period 4 Exercise
11/15	Product and Service strategy (12, 13): service quality, e-service, self-service,	Round 1 due
11/22	Price Strategy (14): dynamic (smart) pricing	Round 2 due
11/29	Channel & Retailing strategy (15, 16): retailing trends	Round 3 due
12/06	Integrated Marketing Communication (17, 18)	Round 4 due
12/13	Personal Communication, Interactive Marketing (19)	Progress Report (BP) due
12/20	New Marketing Offering (20)	Round 5&6 due
12/27	Long-term Growth (21, 22): holistic marketing and cause-related marketing	Round 7&8 due
01/03	Course Overview	Final Game Presentation
01/10	Final Exam

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Last updated on July 16, 2010.  Copyright, All rights reserved.