Argosy University
School of Business
Argosy Campus
COURSE SYLLABUS
B6026
Marketing Planning & Strategy
Summer 2009 Term I / Tuesday, 6 – 10 p.m.
Faculty Name: Abdullah Alshboul
Campus: Chicago
Contact Information:
Abdullah Alshboul
Phone: (708) 655-0793
Email: .
Office Hours and Electronic Communication:
I will typically respond to your emails within 24 hours. Please include the Course Number (MGT 402) in the subject line of your email communication. If you phone me and I am not available, please leave your name, course number and call back number.
If you would like to meet in person or have a telephone meeting, please email or call me to schedule an appointment.
Short Faculty Bio: I am currently a DBA candidate at Argosy/Chicago University working on my dissertation, Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, IL, and Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Prishtina, Yugoslavia. Abdullah Alshboul gained his professional experience, as a team leader for AMS Wireless Solutions, C21, Liquidation manager and co-founder of USS, network engineer for UPS, data maintenance manager for SBC (AT&T), and teaching in various educational institutions.
Course Description: This course focuses on the essential concepts and tools necessary to answer important Marketing Management questions. This book is a new approach to marketing management and provides a foundation of marketing knowledge and framework so that tools learned in this course can be used throughout the individual’s academic or professional careers.
Course Pre-requisites: None
Required Textbook
Lacobucci, Dawn. (2009). Marketing Management. (1st ed). South-Western College Pub.
ISBN-10: 0324784430 ISBN-13: 9780324784435
Technology: Pentium III CPU/ Windows 98; 128MB RAM printer; Microsoft Office; Adobe Acrobat Reader (full version); Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 (PC) 5.0 (MAC) or Netscape Navigator 4.08; Norton Antivirus.
Course length: 7.5 Weeks
Contact Hours: 45 Hours
Credit Value: 3.0
Program Outcomes
1. Communication
1.1 Communicate business concepts effectively, both written and orally appropriate to the audience
2. Team
2.1 Define the attributes of an effective team member and leader and the characteristics of an effective team in reaching specific business goals
3. Cognitive
3.1 Problem Solving – Given a business problem, select and defend a business solution chosen from specific alternatives
3.2 Information Literacy – Given a business research question, access information from a variety of sources, select appropriate sources to respond to a business question
4. Analysis/Application
4.1 Integration – Describe the interrelationship of the functional business areas of statistics, accounting, operations, finance, marketing, and strategy
5. Ethics/Diversity
5.1 Diversity – Identify the issues and challenges related to diversity in current business organizations
5.2 Ethics – Identify the issues and challenges related to ethics in current business organizations
Course Objectives
1. Understand the objectives of marketing planning and strategy and the importance of the marketing to the organization.
2. Understand segmentation and why it is important to marketers.
3. Understand marketing tools and methods and their necessity to the strategy of the firm.
4. Understand Sense the Importance of Customer Loyalty and Customer Relationship Management
5. Recognize the importance of research in marketing decision making
6. Examine Trends in the Global Marketplace and their Potential Impact
7. Understand the virtues and drawbacks of marketing.
8. Provide a foundation of marketing knowledge and framework so that tools learned in this course can be used throughout the individual’s academic or professional careers.
College of Business Mission Statement
The Argosy University College of Business is dedicated to providing practical, evidence-based, high-quality, solutions-focused business programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as continuing business education and specified certificate training to business practitioners and educators in public, private, and non-profit sectors across industries. All undergraduate and graduate programs of the College of Business are designed for the business practitioner and business educator, to instill excellence of execution in knowledge, skills, and ethical values relevant to today’s global business environment. The inherent goal of these academic programs is to foster values of social responsibility in a supportive, learning-centered environment of mutual respect and professional excellence.
Assignment Deadlines
In the learning environment as well as in the real-work environment, due dates are important. The assignments have due dates to ensure that the student can in fact successfully complete the class in an accelerated timeframe while also benefiting from instructor input before preparing each new assignment. Also important is timely participation and the components of the classroom to maximize the learning experience for all parties.
To avoid late penalty deductions, assignments should be submitted on the due date via E-mail. Assignments submitted each day late will be deducted with 5% late penalty deductions. A student needs to contact me prior to the due date to discuss possible options when circumstances beyond the student’s control prevent or will be preventing him/her from completing the assignments by the deadline. When circumstances are beyond the control of the student, we will set an alternative due date. When the assignments are graded, late penalties will be applied based on the reasons for the late submission and the delay time frame.
Assignment Table
Module / Module Topics / Readings / AssignmentsWeek 1 / Complete reading Chapter 1. / 1. What is Marketing? / Assignments:
1. What did you expect marketing to be before reading this chapter or beginning your class? Ask a family member, a classmate, or coworker what they think marketing is. See if you can persuade them that marketing enhances a mutually beneficial exchange between a customer and a company.
2. Think about a recent time when you bought or tried to buy something but were treated poorly as a customer. What happened? What was the problem? If you ran the brand’s company, what would you do to ensure happier and more loyal customers?
3. What do you consider to be the world’s biggest social problem? Wars? Global warming? Resource imbalances? How could marketing help solve such a large social problem?
Due date: week 2(before 6pm on Tuesday)
Week 2 / Complete reading Chapter 2 / 2. Marketing Segmentation.
/ Assignments:
4. Your next job is in the marketing branch for a major sports club. You have to think about how to segment both consumer fans and business fans. What variables are relevant? How do you test whether a particular variable is useful?
Due date: week 3(before 6pm on Tuesday)
Week 3 / Complete reading Chapter 3&
4 / 3. Targeting.
4. Positioning. / Assignments:
5. Use the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) data (census.gov/epcd/www/naics.html) and population data at (census.gov/) to find components of market sizing estimates.
6. If you were to create a perceptual map for the product category of sports cars, what attributes should you include to illustrate the similarities and differences among the brands?
Due date: week 4(before 6pm on Tuesday)
Week 4 / Complete reading Chapter 5 & 6 / 5. Products: Goods and Services.
6. Brands.
E-mail the professor a draft of your Final Project / Assignments:
7. There are companies that have traditionally been known for their excellence in tangibles (e.g., Xerox in copiers, IBM in computers) but now describe themselves as primarily service companies. Do you agree? What does it take for a company to declare itself a service organization (e.g., a percentage of business, a certain strategy or mission)? What would it take for you to believe such a claim?
8. Choose four product categories in which there are products you use and like a lot. What are your favorite brands in these categories? What are four alternative brands (one for each category)? What are four brands you would never use (one in each category)? Why do you prefer your favorite brands over the others?
Due date: week 5(before 6pm on Tuesday)
Week 5 / Complete reading Chapter 7 / 7. New Products. / Assignments:
9. Choose one fact that seems most relevant to your business and forecast (conceptually) how that trend (Demographics, Psychological, and Technological) will affect your marketplace, company direction, competitive offerings, etc.
Due date: week 6(before 6pm on Tuesday)
Week 6 / Complete reading Chapter 9 & 10 / 9. Channels of Distribution and Business Marketing Networks and Logistics.
10. Integrated Marketing Communications: The Advertising Message. / Assignments:
10. Would you feel equally comfortable buying socks, shoes, jeans, CDs, DVDs, books, an all-inclusive travel package, a used car, a new car, and an apartment online versus making the purchase IRL? Why or why not? What is it about these purchase categories, and what is it about the online versus real life contribute to your opinions on these matters?/9
Due date: week 7(before 6pm on Tuesday)
Week 7 / Complete reading Chapter 12&13. / 12. Customer Evaluations.
13. Marketing Research Tools. / Assignments:
11. Let’s say you and your colleagues think there are three segments for your brand. The brand managers in your division have thought this way for as long as anyone on the team can remember. What would you think if you ran a cluster analysis and the segmentation came out differently? What if it looked like there were two or four segments, or maybe there were three but they didn’t resemble the three you “knew” should be there? What would you think? What would you do?/13
12. Say you ran three focus groups for a new product idea and every group thought the new product idea was fantastic. Your boss is thrilled because a promotion rides on a successful new launch, so your boss plows ahead and starts drafting sales forecasts, ad budget requests, etc. Why do you know this is premature? How would you handle the project? How would you handle your boss?/13
Week 8 / Complete reading Chapter 14&15. / 14. Marketing Strategy.
15. Marketing Plans / Final Presentation
Late Assignments
Late assignments will not be accepted unless approved by the instructor.
Grading Criteria
Grading Scale Grading requirements
A / 100 – 93A- / 92 – 90
B+ / 89 – 88
B / 87 – 83
B- / 82 – 80
C+ / 79 – 78
C / 77 – 73
C- / 72 – 70
D+ / 69 – 68
D / 67 – 63
D- / 62 – 60
F / 59 and below
Attendance/participation / 20%
Weekly Assignments / 30%
Final paper
Final Report 20%
Final Power Point 20% / 40%
Optional / 10%
100%
Library:
All resources in Argosy University’s online collection are available through the Internet. The campus librarian will provide students with links, user IDs, and passwords.
Library Resources: Argosy University’s core online collection features nearly 21,000 full-text journals and 23,000 electronic books and other content covering all academic subject areas including Business & Economics, Career & General Education, Computers, Engineering & Applied Science, Humanities, Science, Medicine & Allied Health, and Social & Behavior Sciences. Many titles are directly accessible through the Online Public Access Catalog at http://library.argosy.edu. Detailed descriptions of online resources are located at http://library.argosy.edu/misc/onlinedblist.html.
In addition to online resources, Argosy University’s onsite collections contain a wealth of subject-specific research materials searchable in the Online Public Access Catalog. Catalog searching is easily limited to individual campus collections. Alternatively, students can search combined collections of all Argosy University Libraries. Students are encouraged to seek research and reference assistance from campus librarians.
Information Literacy: Argosy University’s Information Literacy Tutorial was developed to teach students fundamental and transferable research skills. The tutorial consists of five modules where students learn to select sources appropriate for academic-level research, search periodical indexes and search engines, and evaluate and cite information. In the tutorial, students study concepts and practice them through interactions. At the conclusion of each module, they can test their comprehension and receive immediate feedback. Each module takes less than 20 minutes to complete. Please view the tutorial at http://library.argosy.edu/infolit/
Academic Policies
Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism: In an effort to foster a spirit of honesty and integrity during the learning process, Argosy University requires that the submission of all course assignments represent the original work produced by that student. All sources must be documented through normal scholarly references/citations and all work must be submitted using the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition (2001). Washington DC: American Psychological Association (APA) format. Please refer to Appendix A in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition for thesis and paper format. Students are encouraged to purchase this manual (required in some courses) and become familiar with its content as well as consult the Argosy University catalog for further information regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism.
Scholarly writing: The faculty at Argosy University is dedicated to providing a learning environment that supports scholarly and ethical writing, free from academic dishonesty and plagiarism. This includes the proper and appropriate referencing of all sources. You may be asked to submit your course assignments through “Turnitin,” (www.turnitin.com), an online resource established to help educators develop writing/research skills and detect potential cases of academic dishonesty. Turnitin compares submitted papers to billions of pages of content and provides a comparison report to your instructor. This comparison detects papers that share common information and duplicative language.
Americans with Disabilities Act Policy
It is the policy of Argosy University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities, in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If a student with disabilities needs accommodations, the student must notify the Director of Student Services. Procedures for documenting student disability and the development of reasonable accommodations will be provided to the student upon request.
Students will be notified by the Director of Student Services when each request for accommodation is approved or denied in writing via a designated form. To receive accommodation in class, it is the student’s responsibility to present the form (at his or her discretion) to the instructor. In an effort to protect student privacy, the Department of Student Services will not discuss the accommodation needs of any student with instructors. Faculty may not make accommodations for individuals who have not been approved in this manner.
The Argosy University Statement Regarding Diversity
Argosy University prepares students to serve populations with diverse social, ethnic, economic, and educational experiences. Both the academic and training curricula are designed to provide an environment in which students can develop the skills and attitudes essential to working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.