School of Business

BAD 250-02

Marketing

Course Syllabus

Spring, 2006

 

 

Instructor:                     Patricia Stankard

Office:                          Fine Arts, F113

Phone:                          (708) 524-6997 x1316

Email:                           pstankard@ameritech.net

 

Class meets:               Monday & Wednesday, 3:30 – 4:45 PM

Prerequisite             Econ 190

Office Hours:   I will be available from 2:45 PM through 3:15 PM on Mondays and Wednesdays. Please feel free to make an appointment with me regarding any questions you might have regarding course material.

Required Materials:  Solomon/ Marshall/ Stuart, Marketing: Real People, Real Choices, 4th Edition, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice Hall: 2006

Course Overview:  Marketing is the business discipline that deals with creating and keeping customers.  Customers are essential for any business.  Without a customer, there is no business. Successful companies believe strongly in the adage that “nothing happens in business until something is sold”. Thus, when we are studying marketing, we are studying one of the bedrock foundations of any business.

Marketers are the link between a firm and its existing and prospective customers.  Marketers motivate and direct all of the other disciplines within a firm or organization to respond to those customers with product and/or service solutions that meet and fulfill customer needs. Marketing’s function in a firm is to continually define profitable new opportunities for products and services that serve customers in a way that will maintain and grow market share with existing customers while further growing share through the acquisition of new customers. You will learn the importance of the marketing function to a firm as well as how marketing affects consumers and/or business users of products and services.

Because marketing is all around us, we come to this course with a great deal of firsthand "marketing" experience. We are all consumers after all. This is both a help and a hindrance. Our own, personal marketing experiences are helpful in that they suggest to us what marketing techniques attract and motivate us as individuals. Our experiences are hindrances in that not every individual is like we are. One of our greatest challenges this semester, then, will be to develop an understanding of marketing that moves beyond our personal views. In other words, we will look at, understand and interact with the world from a marketer’s point of view.


Method of Instruction:

I will use a variety of teaching techniques in this class, including lectures, class discussion, current event topics, case studies, written assignments and group activities.  My style is highly interactive and will rely upon students to add to the quality of discussion.  Our class environment will be respectful of differing opinions.  I expect students to be on time and I encourage students to participate.

Learning Objectives:

·         Create an understanding of today’s marketing environment including the growing influence of e-business on traditional marketing channels.

·         Understand the tools, practices and experiences needed to deal with issues and opportunities that marketing managers deal with on a daily basis.

·         Develop an appreciation for the roles of market research and customer understanding in the development of a proper marketing mix to achieve organizational goals.

·         Appreciate and apply the broad range of marketing programs and disciplines that create competitive advantage and enhance customer relationships.

·         Embrace the importance of ethical marketing practices in strategic marketing decision-making. 

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1)  Explain the assumptions that underlie modern marketing practice;

2)  Analyze, in detail, each of marketing’s four Ps;

3)  Use correctly marketing terminology;

4)  Develop a coherent marketing strategy based on environmental, industry and company analyses; and

5) Write a coherent analysis of a marketing problem

 Course Requirements and Expectations:  

Requirement

Explanation/Expectation

Points

Textbook

Read the chapter material and be able to discuss the material in class.

 

3 Exams

20 points each

60

2 Written Papers

15 points each.    The purpose of the papers is twofold: 

1) to gauge your understanding of the marketing principles involved in proper analysis of the material in both the case and the article, and to judge your application of the results of that analysis to a solution or remedy for the marketing issues or problems presented in the case or the article.

 

2) as business people, you will be required to frequently communicate with both peers and superiors, in writing, to express your thoughts and ideas concerning issues of relevance to your business.  Your clarity, grammar, spelling, punctuation and resourcefulness will be evaluated to judge your ability to communicate your ideas professionally.

(continued)

30

 


 

Requirement

Explanation/Expectation

Points

Class Attendance and Participation

10 points, or 10% of your overall course grade, will depend on your class attendance and class discussion of your opinions, your answers to questions, and your analysis and ideas regarding both textbook material and your research for papers. 

1) You are expected to attend all classes and roll will be taken periodically.  3 unexcused absences will result in a 0 point class participation grade.  You are expected to be in class promptly at 3:30 PM.  Latecomers are a distraction to the instructor and to fellow students.  When you enter the business world, you will learn that unexcused absence, tardiness, and inattentiveness are just not tolerated.  As a businessperson, I expect students to adhere to this policy as well.

2) Each student is expected to contribute to class discussions.  Prior reading and completion of assigned work enables you to speak up and earn the full class participation grade component. Your class participation grade will reflect the quality and the frequency of your contributions.  Attendance alone does not represent participation.  Unexcused absences will lower your participation grade substantially.

10

 

Total Points

100

A GRADE OF:

will be earned

90-100 points

B

will be earned

80-89 points

C

will be earned

70-79 points

D

will be earned

60-69 points

F

will be earned

59 points or below

Written Papers: The first paper will be a 3-5 page paper on a marketing dilemma as faced by a corporation at the current time.  The specific topic will be assigned on January 30th and will be due on February 27. The second paper will be a business case that will be assigned on March 15th and will be due on April 17th.   This paper should be 5 pages in length.  

Please Note:  Make up exams will not be given and all written papers that are not handed in on or before the due date will receive a grade of “F”.  Plagiarism and academic dishonesty will also result in a grade of “F”.

Grading criteria. Each exam question will be graded holistically.  This means that the written response will be considered in its entirety and given a grade. A good rule of thumb is the following:

A answers are great answers to the question asked. An A answer is complete, intelligent, shows depth of understanding, is creative and is expressed in clear, easy-to-understand language that is free of grammatical mistakes.

B answers are good answers: they show a good level of understanding, have many key points and are generally well written, but may have some grammatical problems.

C’s represent okay answers; these are just ordinary answers; the response is nothing special, lacks many great insights and may have serious grammatical mistakes.

D answers are short, brief, and simple in their observations. D’s are given to just passable answers. D answers parrot back textbook information and lecture notes without further interpretation and are superficial.  D answers can have serious grammatical errors that significantly interfere with reader understanding.

F answers do not answer the question asked, no matter how long and detailed. 

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using the ideas and/or writings of another and claiming them as one's own. Plagiarism is most often thought of copying, word for word, what someone else has written and passing it off as one's own. Plagiarism is also the very similar copying of someone else's words and/or ideas without attribution. Thus, it is still plagiarism if two sentences, two paragraphs, or two papers appear to be almost similar even though there are some differences. Plagiarism is best avoided by carefully acknowledging the sources of one's words and/or ideas. Student work found to be plagiarized will be given an F.

 A note on participation

As you see 10% of your grade involves participation.  The essential message here is that class participation has a significant impact on your grade (both positively and negatively). But what exactly is “participation”? I believe participation is your voluntary involvement in class.  Participation is NOT me calling on you when no one wants to talk.   In my view, participation is all about involvement and engagement.  It is about being active rather than passive.  It is about intelligent conversation not deadening silence.  It is about being a fully engaged member of our class.  It is all about your willingness to consistently contribute to everyone’s learning – including mine.

Your participation level can be gauged by how consistently you:

·        raise your hand in direct response to questions I ask

·        ask questions that help clarify points in the textbook or in my lecture

·       comment on what other class members have said

·       share an experience that illustrates a class concept or point

 Please remember that the fundamental idea behind evaluating this component is that the best of ideas are useless until they are communicated. Communication skills (both verbal and written) are crucial to career success.  I really want to encourage you to come up with good ideas and communicate them. They have a very real impact on your grade.  Finally, let me remind you (one more time) what class participation is not: Merely coming to class. Simple physical presence in class is not the same as participation! 


COURSE CALENDAR: (subject to change

Day

Date

Assignment

M

Jan. 16 

Class introduction and Syllabus review; Chapter 1

W

Jan.19        

Chapter 2

M

Jan. 23 

Chapter 2

W

Jan. 25

Chapter 3

M

Jan. 30  

Chapter 4

W

Feb. 1 

Chapter 4

M

Feb. 6 

Chapter 5

W

Feb. 8 

Chapter 5

M

Feb. 13

Exam 1, Chapters 1-5

W

Feb. 15 

Chapter 6

M

Feb. 20 

Chapter 6

W

Feb. 22  

Chapter 7

M

Feb. 27 

Chapter 7, (Written paper 1 due)

W

March 1

Chapter 8, discuss paper 1

M/W

March 6/8

Mid Semester Vacation

M

March 13

Chapter 9

W

March 15  

Chapter 10

M

March 20

Chapter 10

W

March 22  

Chapter 11

M

March 27  

Chapter 11

W

March 29  

Exam 2, Chapters 6-11

M

April 3  

Chapter 12

W

April 5 

Chapter 12

M

April 10    

Chapter 13

W

April 12   

Chapter 13

M

April 17  

Chapter 14, (Written paper 2 due)

W

April 19 

Chapter 14, discuss paper 2

M

April 24 

Chapter 15

W

April 26

Chapter 16

M/W

May 1/3

Exam 3, Chapters 12-16