BADM 472-01, Marketing Management II, Fall 2005

Abstract

This course should be fun! I don’t mean backslapping, playground fun; rather, it should be intellectually fun. You will feel challenged and at times perhaps a little lost. However, you should also experience a sense of accomplishment when you meet the challenge of preparing and presenting a complex case. You should experience, during this course flashes of enlightenment—moments when theories, principles and practice come together in a well-structured marketplace strategy. You will, I hope, experience the joy and frustration of working with a colleague on cases that you will present to the class. BA 472 will be an exciting journey if you are an active participant. If you choose not to be actively involved in the course, BA 472, at best, will be a forced march to be endured. In this course, we'll apply many of the theories examined in Marketing Management I in order to understand and explain business phenomena. The primary methods for attaining understanding and ability to explain business phenomena will be case analyses, student presentations, and discussions. There are several course objectives we hope to attain. (1) Attain a more thorough understanding of selected concepts, theories and principles we examined in Marketing Management I. (2) Develop skills necessary to analyze critically marketing situations and to frame well informed5 marketing strategies based upon our analyses. (3) Develop skills necessary to present the results of our marketing analyses as well as our recommendations in writing and orally. (4) Develop skills necessary to examine, question, and discuss others’ market analyses. (5) Develop skills of working with others to attain a common goal Cases present the frustrating opportunity for students to put all of their marketing, accounting, finance, management, and economics knowledge to work in solving strategic marketing management problems. Usually, you will find it relatively easy to identify the general strategic area covered by the case, e.g., product development or promotion management. However, before recommending a solution to the issues presented in the case, you must determine which information presented in the case is relevant. Then, you must thoroughly examine that information. Sometimes, one is lulled into "treating the symptom rather than the disease" presented in a case. Using cases also allows us to cover many different aspects of marketing, e.g., consumer goods and services, industrial goods, transportation, not-for-profit, social issues, durable goods, and so forth. The use of cases also means that students must develop their analytical and communication skills of drawing, stating, and defending their conclusions as well as analyzing and questioning others' conclusions. Some classic seminal articles from marketing literature might be helpful in understanding particular cases used in the course. If these readings are assigned, the assignment will be announced in class, and you will be told where to find the article. You are responsible for knowing about and completing the reading assignment. Similarly, some concepts covered in the course might require explanations most easily conveyed in the traditional lecture format. In that case, lectures will be used.