In general, this course provides you with the opportunity to learn how to apply course material regarding the design and implementation of marketing strategies to various business situations, in particular, a simulated, multi-period competitive market environment that provides regular feedback about the success of the strategies employed. More specifically, the learning objectives for this course are to:1) Develop the necessary skills for the analysis of marketing opportunities, competition, and competitive advantage based on existing frameworks, theories, and empirical generalizations.2) Examine alternative strategies for sustainable competitive advantage and growth over the course of a market’s evolution and product life cycle and gain experience creating imaginative and effective marketing strategies.3) Understand the nuances of how to make decisions about segmentation, targeting, and positioning and how to align the marketing mix with the overall marketing strategy.
. 4) Develop skills in using a customer-focused approach in developing marketing strategies5) Learn to use various types of metrics and indicators in analyzing the effectiveness and performance of a company’s marketing strategies.6) Develop an understanding of how to utilize some basic analytic techniques and models within marketing and interpret their results, including how to analyze the potential profitability of various marketing strategies.This course is designed to be a hands-on course with an emphasis on cases and a marketing strategy simulation, supplemented by lectures and readings. The course lets you practice the concepts and skills of modern marketing strategy in a simulated market environment.
The major, broad topics emphasized in this course are marketing strategy, marketing analysis, and market planning. A complex simulation game, Markstrat, is used during the course. The marketing simulation game serves as a continuing, evolving “case” in which course participants working in teams assume marketing management roles.Class Sessions:The class sessions will focus on the understanding of major concepts, frameworks, and analytical tools used in developing and analyzing marketing strategies. Equally important, the course will focus on the application of these concepts, frameworks, and tools to the Markstrat simulation game and the analysis of real-world cases. In order to develop skills in applying the course material to actual managerial situations, this course relies heavily on case materials, and the analysis and discussion of different case situations is a key component of most class sessions.
For class sessions with assigned cases, you should prepare the case thoroughly before class and be prepared to discuss them in class. The readings introduce some key conceptual viewpoints, analytical tools, and important trends in the development and analysis of marketing strategies. The class sessions will focus on the discussion of cases and readings, supplemented with lectures and exercises to clarify the conceptual material and analytical frameworks.The following are some guidelines for preparing the cases: Preparation might typically begin with a rapid reading of the assigned readings in order to familiarize yourself with key concepts and frameworks. The case might then be read quickly in order to familiarize yourself with the key issues presented. Then, it is worthwhile to review the assignment questions for clues as to what issues require special attention.
The next step is normally to re-read the case carefully, taking note of how the information, facts, and observations can be used to understand the key issues. Identifying relevant frameworks for analyzing the information in the case is valuable at this point. Finally, preparation would include notes that can be used to guide your participation in class discussion on the assigned or other issues judged to be critical to the company’s or industry’s apparent dilemma.
