ECON344 Outline

ECONOMICS 344Marketing & Consumer Economics

Course Outline – Winter 2011

Class & Section: Econ 344 - 7690 Section 004 Days & Times: Wed & Thurs 5:00 PM - 6:20 PM Location: RCH 307

Instructor: Harp AroraOffice: HH 127, Phone 519-747-5793 (business office # - I’m off-campus)Office Hours: Wednesday 3:15 - 4:50 PM, appointment preferred

E-mail: [email protected], however correspondence is primarily through UWACE. This is the source for course updates, marking criteria, lecture notes, additional readings, class cancellations and announcements: uwangel.uwaterloo.ca/uwangel/frameIndex.htm.

Please also use ACE to share marketing materials, articles or resources you come across that might be helpful/interesting to the rest of the class.

Marketing focuses on an organization’s customers, competitors, distributors, & business regulators. It is an interdisciplinary field drawing on

theory and methodology from a variety of sources including psychology, sociology, mathematics, statistics & economics.

Objectives

1. To gain a command of the principles most useful for understanding marketing and consumer behaviour.

2. To understand a broad range of marketing topics and perspectives and to develop the skills needed for marketing decision-making.

3. To develop written and oral skills in a team environment.

Required Materials

(1) Textbook: Marketing, Canadian Edition, Grewal, Levy, Persaud, Lichti, McGraw Hill Ryerson 2009 (ISBN 978-0-07-098492-9)

(2) i-Clicker (ISBN 9780716779391)

Course Requirements & Key Dates

Class Participation: 10% (throughout term)Individual Assignment: 15% Week 6 Thurs Feb 10Team Project (Written): 30% Week 10 Thurs Mar 17Team Project (Oral Presentation): 15% Wk 11 & 12 Mar 23, 24, 30Final Exam: Scheduled by Registrar 30% TBD

Note: All written submissions are due at the start of class on date stated. For individual submissions, a 5% per day penalty begins at the start of class. There will be no allowance for late group submissions.

Economics 344 (01) Fall 2010 Page 1 of 8

mailto:[email protected]

Individual Assignment (15%): Due Thu Feb 10

Pick a current magazine or publication available on the newsstands in Canada. Apply research techniques and sources covered in class and in your textbook to:

1. Determine the target market for this publication. 2. Reference one product/service that is advertised in the publication. 3. Determine the target market for that specific product.4. Discuss whether this publication is an appropriate medium to advertise the product/

service.5. Discuss whether the product/service selected is consistent with the publication's

audience.

Notes: It’s important you select something with ample available statistical information that

you can clearly identify what’s asked for e.g. target audience, readership, circulation etc.

The report itself should be no more than 5 pages, 1.5 spacing (but you can include appendices over and above that).

The marking scheme will be posted on ACE. Make sure you include a copy of your ad as an appendix to your assignment. Please include your name, student ID and section on your cover page

Individual Class Participation (10%): throughout term

We’ll be using i-Clickers starting in week 2, both for discussion purposes and to quiz you on the readings. You’ll receive a point for each question you answer. Your participation grade will be based on your total points divided by the number of points possible. If you love easy marks, bring your clickers to every class!

Team Project

The project consists of two parts: written due March 17th and presentations on Mar 23, 24, and 30th.

Forming Teams: Self-formed teams by Jan 21

You have the choice of forming your own team by Jan 21st or having me randomly assign you to a team once the drop/add period is over (week of Jan 25th).

Groups should have no fewer than 6 and no more than 7 members. If you form a group you must let me know via ACE by Jan 21st at the latest with the full names and IDs of your group members. Your team members must be from your own section.

If you don’t have a full group but still want to work with certain people, no problem. I’ll keep you together and assign several other people to your group. If you prefer to meet new people outside your faculty or department, no need to do anything – I’ll randomly assign you to a group.


Only contact me if you have people you want to form a team with. If you have no preference, I will automatically assign you to a group.

Peer Evaluation (optional): Let me know by Feb 17th

If your team wishes to do peer evaluation, you must let me know by Thurs Feb 17th. It’s best to decide this as soon as your group is formed as you can’t change your mind later (in order to be fair to all team members). If I don’t hear from you on ACE by Feb 17 th, each team member will receive the same grade for the group project. For those who requested peer evaluations, I will send a note via ACE asking you to submit your evaluations once the presentation are complete after Mar 30th.

Selection of Topics

Scenario A- Market Shift for Product/Service in Mature to Decline Stage

Your marketing team has just been hired by the owner of an established organization. You get to choose the existing firm and/or the existing product/ service offerings from the firm. The key criterion is that the specific product/ service offered by the firm is in the mature to decline stage. The firm believes that it can turn itself around by repositioning the product/service to meet a new market.

The market shift/expansion could be related to a shift in the target (e.g. corporate travel agencies shifting to serve a newly defined demographic market), or by diversifying the application of the product (Blackberry’s designed for teenagers), or by focusing on new feature/ benefit profiles or any other reasonable means of shifting the product.

Scenario B- Critical review of a successful marketing plan

Your group will analyse the successful market strategy of an existing product/service. Because this market information is more readily available, I will expect a higher degree of research and analysis if your group chooses this scenario.

Consideration will be made for a group that wants to work directly with an existing firm to review and redesign their market strategy. If you’d like to do this, please see me to review your idea and get approval before you start.

Scenario C- Critical review of a failed marketing plan

Same as Scenario B, but for a failed marketing strategy.

Note: Feel free to ‘pitch’ your topic to me before you get started to get feedback.

Written Report (30%): Due Thurs March 17

You will create a marketing plan that includes a strategic analysis of how you would market a product or service to a particular market. Include an executive summary, a brief product/service description, an environmental scan or analysis, segmentation and target


market review, and the marketing mix including price, promotion, and place (also called distribution). You should be able to defend why the marketing mix strategies were chosen. There should be logic in the approach.

Your written submission should be about 18 - 20 pages long (1.5 line spacing, 12 point font), plus exhibits. Please do not try to provide ‘filler’ to the document. This is not considered a positive addition to your work. Create a document that is the ‘right’ length to efficiently deliver the needed information.

Note: no late submissions will be allowed as this is a group project.

Oral presentation (15%): randomly assigned to Mar 23rd, 24th or 30th. Each team member will participate in developing an oral presentation to be presented by each team in class. This presentation will convey the consumer context of your new product/service idea. This part of the project will be graded on the educational and entertainment/presentation value to the class, as well as how it reflects co-ordination and teamwork. Presentation slots will be allocated to teams randomly.

The marking schemes for the written and oral presentation will be posted on ACE.

Final Exam (30%): Date to be scheduled by Registrar

The final exam will consist of multiple choice, short and long answer questions including case studies. The exam will cover content from the entire term. Exams this term are scheduled Apr 8th to 21st.

Readings (throughout term)

It is expected that you have done the readings when you show up to class. The class will not be a regurgitation of the textbook. Rather, in class we’ll expand on and discuss some of the key concepts and ideas presented in the book. Your overall evaluation is based on both in-class discussions and readings assigned from the textbook. I will also occasionally send links to additional readings such as magazine or news articles that relate to the topics we’re covering in class.


Course Outline

Note: The outline may be adjusted as required.

Week 1 Wk of Jan 3: Laying the Foundations:Course Overview Brief introduction Overview of MarketingDeveloping Marketing StrategiesSlide Section 1Readings: Chapters 1 & 2

Week 2 Wk of Jan 10: The Marketing EnvironmentEthics and Social ResponsibilitySlide Section 2Readings: Chapters 3 & 4

Week 3 Wk of Jan 17: Notification due Jan 21st for team membersMarketing ResearchConsumer BehaviourSlide Section 3Readings: Chapter 5 & 6

Week 4 Wk of Jan 24: Teams announced on ACEConsumer Behaviour cont’dBusiness to Business MarketingSlide Section 4Readings: Chapters 6 & 7

Week 5 Wk of Jan 31: Segmentation, Targeting & PositioningSlide Section 5Readings: Chapter 8

Week 6 Wk of Feb 7: Individual assignment due Thurs Feb 10th Branding and Packaging Decisions Developing New ProductsSlide Section 6Readings: Chapters 9 & 10

Week 7 Wk of Feb 14: Notification due for peer evaluations Feb 17th

Pricing Concepts and StrategiesSlide Section 7Readings: Chapter 12

Feb 21 – 25 Reading Week – no classes


Week 8 Wk of Feb 28: Notification of Group Topic Due by Mar 2nd

Marketing Channels: Distribution StrategyRetailing, Direct MarketingSlide Section 8Readings: Chapters 13 & 14

Week 9 Wk of Mar 7: Integrated Marketing CommunicationSlide Section 9Readings: Chapter 15

Week 10 Wk of Mar 14: Team Written Report Due Mar 17th Advertising and Sales PromotionPersonal SellingServices MarketingSlide Section 10 Slide Section 11Readings: Chapter 16Readings: Chapter 11

Week 11 Wk of Mar 21: Group Presentations Mar 23 & 24th

Week 12 Wk of Mar 28: Group presentations Mar 30th

Global MarketingWrap-up and Q&A Slide Section 12Readings: Chapter 17

Additional Sessions: Classes may be extended for present’ns (TBD)

Note: additional questions and cases may be assigned during the term

Avoidance of academic offences:Academic Integrity: To create and promote a culture of academic integrity, the behaviour of all members of the University of Waterloo is based on honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offense, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4,


http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm




Appeals: A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if a ground for an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 - Student Appeals, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm

There is also a website available (AAvoiding Academic Offences@ www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts/ugrad/academic_responsibility.html) and the web address is mandatory on all undergraduate course outlines (motion passed at UGAG, 4 Oct 2007). It is important for students to be aware that one may commit plagiarism inadvertently, through ignorance of appropriate citation methods, so checking this website prior to submitting a paper is to the student=s advantage.

Note for students with disabilities: The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each academic term.



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ECON344 Outline