09511 - Marketing

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are able to understand and use the main variable, theories and tools of marketing managemant. After discussing some main theoretical frameworks at hte end of the course students will be able to aplly them to the real company and market contest. Students are able to analyse behavior and after sale behavior of costumers, to segment the market, to define a marketing plan and decide the main section of marketing mix such as product and brand management, pricing, distribution channels and comunication.

Course contents

The first part of the course introduces the role of marketing within companies and organizations and focuses on analyzing customers' needs and behaviors both at the consumer and organization level, developing segmentation and positioning strategies. One of the purpose of this first part is to familiarize students with the fundamentals of marketing research, that is developing research questions, analyzing data and drawing inferences, with a view to making better business decisions. It will provide the conceptual framework and improve the analytical and creative skills that are necessary to define and develop superior value, profitably deliver it to a carefully selected target market, and sustain both the value and the profitability in the face of ever-changing customer needs and competitive offerings.

The second part focuses on marketing decision making and customer relationship management. Students will discuss how a product can be launched and managed and how a marketing strategy can be implemented through distribution decisions, sales force management, pricing decisions, communication decisions.

Specific topics on service marketing will also be included.

Readings/Bibliography

The required textbook is:

Title: Marketing Management,
Authors: Russ Winer, Ravi Dhar

Publisher: Prentice Hall (International Edition) Fourth Edition
Year: 2014

Lecture notes

Attending class, taking notes, and asking questions is the best way to learn. In class we will provide lots of examples that will be portrayed in the lecture notes. Furthermore, the course material is very detailed. For these reasons, the lecture notes that we are providing are not to be intended as a summary of the textbook and are not exhaustive for a sufficient preparation to the exam. Rather, the notes serve as an outline for the instructors for developing the concepts in each lecture. Lecture notes will be made available to students before each class on the Virtuale platform in .pdf format, so that students can bring a printed version of the slides to annotate them during class at their convenience.

 

Teaching methods

Each class is either primarily a lecture or a case analysis and discussion. Exercises and teamwork will be also developed to open discussion about how to analyze read data and apply the concepts to real cases.

The course will use a mixture of three main tools: discussion of cases, interpretation of data and analysis to develop problem solving skills, and readings to understand core competencies and become aware of theories and techniques.
It is important to keep in mind that the core principles in marketing strategy typically transcend specific applications. Key ideas, theories and tools can be applied to different type of organizations and situation, to financial services, consumer products, industrial markets, and non-profit enterprises. With this in mind, we will draw material from a variety of sources and settings. The final step of transferring the ideas from the cases and discussions to your own situation is critical to making these ideas work for you.

Participation of Exchange Students:

A maximum of 20 exchange students (Erasmus, Overseas, etc.) is accepted. FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED logic will be used for incoming students.

--------

The Teaching Assistant for this course is Ms.Matilde Rapezzi - matilde.rapezzi2@unibo.it

 

Assessment methods

Though not compulsory, class attendance and participation in team-work assignments is strongly encouraged. Team-work assignments consist of:

a) One intermediate short team-work project at the end of the first term: students will be asked to conduct a comparative analysis of two brands of their choice in terms of the customer and the competition (max 15 Power Point slides). Groups will be randomly extracted to present and discuss their reports in class on the assignment due date.

b) One final team-work project at the end of the second term: students will be asked to build the perceptual maps of a set of brands of their choice (max 15 Power Point slides).

Course evaluation will be different depending on the participation in team-work assignment, as detailed in the following:

Students participating in team-work assignments:

50% final written exam

50% team-work assignment

Students who do not participate in team-work assignments:

100% final written exam

The evaluation criteria for the project work are the following:

- Exhaustivity of the presentation

- Ability to address the topic correctly

- Presentation skills

- Respect of the allotted time

Final written exam

Students can attend a mid-term exam (not compulsory) during the teaching break at the end of the first sub-cycle, and then the second mid-term exam at the end of the course. The grades of the two mid-term exams will be averaged to compute the “final written exam” grade.

By School regulation, those who positively pass the first mid-term exam (i.e. grade greater or equal to 18), have the chance to take the second mid-term exam either in the January or February session. However, the second mid-term can be taken only once. Therefore, if a student does not pass the second mid-term exam (or opts for a re-take), s/he can attend only total exams from that moment on.

The course material chapters on the topics discussed in the team-work assignments will be excluded from the exam program for those students who will participate in team-work assignments.

The evaluation criteria for the final exam are the following:

- Ability to answer correctly the questions

- Quality of response/length of the response ratio

Grading

The test assessment grid is determined as follows:

- < 18 insufficient

- 18-23 sufficient

- 24-27 average/good

- 28-30 very good

- 30 cum laude excellent/outstanding

Teaching tools

Teaching materials essential to the course and compulsory for the exams is available thorough "Teaching resources on Virtuale".

 

Students with disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) are required to make their condition known to find the best possibile accomodation to their needs

Office hours

See the website of Chiara Orsingher

See the website of Gabriele Pizzi