BUS M&L 4203: MARKETING STRATEGY, AUTUMN SEMESTER 2014
TUESDAYS (3540), 11:10AM-12:30PM, SH 315
A. COURSE SYLLABUS
Instructor: Vasu Unnava, Ph. D. Office: 313 Fisher Hall
Office Hours: By Appointment & Telephone: (614) 292-3212
Special Hours for Final Exam URL: Carmen.osu.edu
Email:
Required Course Pack:
Course packet is available from UNIPRINT in bookstores. Note the name of instructor (VASU UNNAVA) on the packet.
Supplementary Course Material:
All other course materials such as case assignment questions, work sheets etc., will either be made available on CARMEN or given out in the class.
Course Objectives:
Marketing strategy is the key part of marketing processes. Decision makers in corporations understand the influence of environmental factors, recognize potential opportunities and threats in the market place and use marketing tools, research, and planning in creating successful marketing strategies, which will provide sustainable competitive advantages to the businesses. You will develop and improve your qualitative and quantitative analytical skills, written and oral presentation skills by applying your knowledge of marketing principles to real business problems. You will create, recommend marketing strategies and defend them. You will make a formal presentation of your marketing strategy. To be a successful marketing strategist, you should understand the problem, the underlying causes, and provide justification for the marketing strategy.
Class Format:
Marketing strategy course is based on business cases. We will use case presentations by groups, discussions, team interactions, critiques and evaluations. If you cannot attend regularly, you should not plan on taking this course this semester. Attendance, active, insightful and ongoing participation in class discussions are critical to your learning and success in this course. The concepts learned from case analyses will be applied to a select case on TARGET Corporation to formulate a marketing strategy.
Course Evaluation:
Your grades will be evaluated as follows:
1. Course Case Presentation 10% (Group Grade-one case)
2. Executive Committee Evaluation 5% (Group Grade-one case)
3. Class Participation 10% (Individual Grade)
4. Online quizzes, Best eight out of ten 40% (5% each quiz) (Individual Grade)
5. Target Case 10% (Group Grade)
6. Target Case Written Report 5% (Group Grade)
7. Final EXAM 20% (Individual Grade)
TOTAL 100%
Bio BONUS 1%
TOTAL 101%
IMPORTANT NOTE: Re-grading requests will be accepted in writing on a paper (emails are NOT accepted) within 1 week of receipt of the grade.
Grading Scale
The grading scale, and point conversion that will be utilized for the final grade is as follows:
Grade GPA Grade GPA
A = 94-100 % 4.0 C+ = 77-79 % 2.3
A- = 90-93 % 3.7 C = 73-76 % 2.0
B+ = 87-89 % 3.3 C- = 70-72 % 1.7
B = 83-86 % 3.0 D+ = 67-69 % 1.3
B- = 80-82 % 2.7 D = 63-66 % 1.0
E = below 62
Group Work in the course:
Students will be forming groups at the beginning of the semester and as a group, and they will be responsible for working in groups to complete four assignments. They are as follows:
1. Your group will read, prepare, present one case and respond to questions/comments from class.
2. As an executive committee, your group will evaluate another group’s presentation during our class time.
3. Your group will create a marketing strategy for an assigned TARGET case.
4. Finally, your group’s responsibility will be submitting the marketing strategy report on your TARGET case.
Very Important Note: You will provide a printed copy of your PPT file on case presentation to the instructor at the beginning of presentation or email the night before the presentation.
I) Oral Presentation (10%): A formal professionally prepared oral presentation of your course case analysis is required. The presentation time is about 25-30 minutes. Your presentation should focus on:
a) A clear statement of the problem including your justification for viewing the problem as you do
b) A thorough analysis of the situation
c) Presentation of alternative strategies, if the case material requires presentation and evaluation of multiple marketing strategies.
d) Selection and justification of final marketing strategy and reasons why other alternative strategies are rejected
e) Implementation plan of the final marketing strategy.
Each group will have “Question and Answer (Q&A)” session at the end of the presentation. This is an opportunity for students to participate in case discussions. Executive committee would take lead in asking questions and then other students will follow. Each member in presenting group will take turns in responding to questions from students in the class. You will find helpful tips on how to analyze a business case on CARMEN. Each group will meet with instructor to discuss case questions and presentation material before presentation to the class.
Dress Code for Presentation: Dress code is business casual for case presentation.
II. Executive Committee (5%): Each group will become a board of directors or an executive team evaluating one case presentation. Executive committee will evaluate case presentation on the quality of analysis, presentation skills and Q&A session. The evaluations will be kept confidential till the finals week of the semester. Details on the responsibilities of executive committee can be found on CARMEN.
III. Class participation (10%): An extremely important part of the class will involve your contributions to case discussions. There are at least a couple of reasons why class participation is weighted 10% in this class. First, those who prepare the most outside of class and participate most actively in class will be likely to learn the most from the class. Second, they will also contribute greatly to the learning of other students in the class by encouraging thorough discussion of important case-related marketing concepts and issues.
To do well in class participation, students must regularly contribute to class discussion by making insightful comments that reflect a careful analysis of assigned material. It is expected that all students will carefully read and analyze each case prior to class discussion. This will facilitate active participation and enrich the quality of class discussions.
The following grading guidelines are provided to assist you in understanding how class participation will be graded. Please also note that class participation should not be confused with class attendance. Merely attending class will not lead to a strong class participation grade. To accomplish the latter it will be necessary to be consistently actively engaged in the class discussions and a leader in many of these discussions. Therefore, we might consider the following examples of possible class participation grades.
Scale Description
A A consistent leader in class discussions who regularly makes strong contributions by making insightful comments that reflect a thorough analysis of the case and/or articles and other enrichment material under consideration in this class – comments that advance our understanding of the topics under consideration.
B Contributes fairly regularly to class discussion making insightful comments that reflect a careful reading of the cases and articles under consideration in the class.
C Contributes to class discussion with reasonable comments that follow from the prior discussion, but does not contribute as frequently or consistently as others.
D Infrequent comments or a tendency to make comments that do not appear to be based on a reading of the case. Comments when called on but the comments frequently do not reflect a careful reading of class material.
E Very few positive contributions to the class discussion.
Students will receive a set of class participation sheets at the beginning of the semester and it will be collected during at the end of the semester. Students will note down their contributions to each case discussion in the class and hand over the sheet set to the instructor during and/ or at the end of the semester.
IV. Quizzes (40%): Best eight quizzes out of ten quizzes, each 5% or 40% of total points
There will be ten quizzes during the semester and best eight scores will be counted. The dates for quizzes are given in the syllabus. Questions will come from the assigned readings, case presentations and key learnings discussed in the class. Each quiz will contain about 10 multiple choice questions. The quizzes are CARMEN online quizzes. Duration of quiz will be about 20 to 30 minutes. Material for quizzes will come from the cases discussed in the class. Quizzes will open on Tuesdays around 5 pm and close on Sundays at 11:00 pm.
V) Oral Presentation of TARGET case (10%):
Each group will be assigned a case on TARGET Corporation. For the stated problem, the group will analyze the case and present a marketing strategy.
VI) Written Report (5%) on TARGET case: Each group will submit a written report of TARGET case. It should not exceed five pages (double spaced, 12 point font, standard margins). It should summarize key points from oral presentation and conclusions about marketing strategies. You can submit the report in electronic format in CARMEN drop box.
VII) Comprehensive Final EXAM (20%):
There will be about 40-50 multiple choice questions and the exam duration will be about 80 minutes. Details will be posted on CARMEN.
Note: The University and College expectation is that students spend two hours outside of class for every hour spent in class. So, for our course, you would about spend two hours and forty minutes on the course outside class room every week.
FIRST BONUS OPPORTUNITY:
You can earn one bonus point when you will turn in bio-sheet (emails do not receive credit) with your picture by Sept. 9, 2014. You will submit a printed copy before the class begins.
FISHER COLLEGE OF BUSINESS, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
AUTUMN SEMESTER 2014
B. IMPORTANT NOTES
Important Notes
· All quiz dates, exam dates, and assigned reading due dates are included in the Course Outline. Please make note of these dates and plan your semester accordingly. If you are unable to attend a class, please notify me by email unless it is an emergency. With a valid written excuse, missed exams or quizzes will be dealt with on an individual basis. Without a valid written excuse, missed exams or quizzes will recorded as zero pints.
· You are encouraged to set up an appointment and meet the instructor. E-mails should not be seen as an alternative to class participation. Not all questions can be effectively answered by e-mail. The response to any e-mail question can be suggesting a one-on-one meeting, or by addressing the question during next class session.
· You are responsible for everything that takes place in class, including changes to assignments or schedules, whether you are present or not.
· Please come to class on time. Do not engage in side conversations.
· Usage of laptop PCs, tablet PCs, and cell phones is NOT allowed in the class room. Turn off your cell phones, mp3 players and pagers before you come to class. Do not take calls. No texting is permitted in the class. They make class distracted from the main issues.
· Late arrivals, moving in and out of class room or using computers in the class room will cause a letter grade deduction from your final grade.
Have fun! This course let you conduct marketing strategy without risking your own money or your job.
Academic Integrity or Misconduct:
All students are expected to abide by the university’s Code of Student Conduct which may be found on the website of the Office of Academic Affairs, Committee on Academic Misconduct (COAM):
http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/home.html. Your attention is particularly called to guidance on plagiarism:
http://oaa.osu.edu/coam/hownottoplagiarize.pdf. The instructor is obligated by University policy to report to COAM all suspected cases of academic misconduct. If you are unclear regarding any aspect of University policy on the above matters, discuss your questions with the instructor.
Disability:
Every effort will be made to provide each student with a meaningful learning opportunity. If there are any obstacles that could prevent you from learning effectively, please set an appointment with the instructor so that we might jointly figure out how to circumvent those obstacles. Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss specific needs. The Office for Disability Services, 614-292-3307, in room 150 Pomerene Hall can assist with coordinating reasonable accommodations should there be a need.
Course Outline* for BUS ML 4203, Tuesdays
VASU UNNAVA, Marketing Strategy, Autumn Semester 2014
Week / Date / Content/Case / Assignment1 / 2-Sept / Syllabus, Marketing Strategy & Analytical Tools
2 / 9-Sept / Analytical Tools (Continued) &
TARGET Corp. / .Bio Sheet Due
ONLINE QUIZ 1 (Analytical tools)
3 / 16-Sept / Brand Management:
Altius Golf and The Fighter Brand / ONLINE QUIZ 2
(Altius Golf)
4 / 23-Sept / Brand Extensions: Mountain Man Brewing Co: Bringing Brand to Light / ONLINE QUIZ 3
(Mountain Man.)
5 / 30-Sept / Product Positioning:
Clean Edge Razor: Splitting Hairs in Product Positioning / ONLINE QUIZ 4
(Clean Edge Razor)
6 / 7-Oct / Customer Loyalty: Olympic Rent-A-Car U.S.: Customer Loyalty Battles / ONLINE QUIZ 5
(Olympic Rent-A-Car)
7 / 14-Oct / New Product Development: Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? / ONLINE QUIZ 6
(Montreaux Chocolate USA)
8 / 21-Oct / Competitive Strategy in Retailing:
Reeds Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors / ONLINE QUIZ 7
(Reeds Supermarkets)
9 / 28-Oct / Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0:
HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0 / ONLINE QUIZ 8
(HubSpot)
10 / 4-Nov / Advertising & Segmentation:
What is the Deal with Living Social? / ONLINE QUIZ 9
(Living Social)
11-Nov / Veteran’s Day No Class
11 / 18-Nov / Strategic Marketing Planning:
Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning / ONLINE QUIZ 10 (Brannigan Foods)
.Due Class Participation sheets
12 / 25-Nov / TARGET Case Presentations
13 / 2-Dec / TARGET Case Presentations
14 / 9-Dec / Review for final EXAM (Final EXAM details on CARMEN)
FW / Finals Week / Final EXAM (details on CARMEN;
TARGET CASE WRITTEN REPORT,
CARMEN DROP closes by 11:10AM on 12/17/14
*Note: Subject to change if necessary. Please check CARMEN for important notes, lecture slides, and announcements.
Due: Sept 9, 2014, by the start time of our class. Tuesdays 4203, 11:10AM