MKT211 Business-to-Business Marketing (B2B) Fall 2008

Transcription

1 MKT211 Business-to-Business Marketing (B2B) Fall 2008 Course Syllabus Instructor Ling Peng Time & Location M 9:30-11:00 (SO203) & W 11:00-12:30 (SO201) Pre-requisite BUS205 Marketing Management Office BU205 Phone L2peng@ln.edu.hk Website Office Hours M 14:30-16:30 & W 14:30-16:30 Or by & appointment Department General Course Description: This course develops students' understanding of the various marketing concepts involved in organizational buying. It helps students to comprehend the buying process of business markets. Concepts including strategic alliance, networking, supply chain management, outsourcing, and issues and impacts of globalization, will be introduced. With value created and delivered in the marketplace as its cornerstone, this course equips students with the necessary marketing tools to deal with issues related to business markets. Business ethics is emphasized in the course and integrated into the topics. Ling s Description of the Course Aims: B2B refers to marketing activities that are directed toward businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations - as opposed to consumers. This course enables you to understand specific issues and problems faced firms by having organizations as customers; get to know some tools and concepts with which firms analyze and answer to these challenges; acquire the capability to identify and analyze some underlying mechanisms of the challenges on business markets. An important aspect of that is how it can best handle its relationships with other firms (its customers). 1

2 Learning outcomes: On completion of this course, you will be able to: - Describe the nature of business markets and the related concepts and theories involved in business activities among business organizations. - Recognize the similarities and differences between consumer markets and business markets. - Familiarize the business organization buying behavior with particular emphasis on the globalization of modern business and related ethical issues and consideration of corporate social responsibility. - Analyze business situations in the context of buyer-seller relationships, consumer relationship management and supply chain management. - Apply concepts and theories to business marketing situations and take appropriate decisions using a strategic marketing perspective. Teaching Method A variety of methods will be used to accomplish the above objectives including instructor's lectures, in class group discussions & assignments (usually on Wednesday section), case studies, term project, videos & films. The course is designed to clarify the material in the textbook and outside material, stimulate your thinking about key issues related to marketing, and relate the covered material to real world situations. Emphasis will be placed on active student participation and discussions. You are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the relevant issues. Ideally, I would like to create an open atmosphere in which we can creatively and imaginatively analyze ideas and concepts. In the process we will add to our intellectual skills and become more analytical in our thinking about daily events. Required Texts: Dwyer, F. Robert & Tanner, John F. Jr. (2009) Business Marketing, 4rd ed., McGraw-Hill (available in the university bookstore). Only partial lecture notes will be provided prior to each class on the course website, with additional information provided during class. Some concepts discussed in the text will be emphasized during class, and new concepts not found in the text will also be introduced. You are responsible for keeping up with the readings prior to each class. 2

3 Measurement of learning outcomes: Final grades will be determined as follows: Class Participation 10% At an individual level: 60% Mid-term Exam 10% Final Exam 50% At a group level: 30% Group Assignments (5X2%) 10% Group Project 20% Overall Course Grade 100% Exams: There will be a mid-term (10%) and a cumulative final exam (50%). The exams are designed to test your understanding of basic B2B concepts and your ability to apply those concepts in various situations at an individual level. The mid-term exam will cover chapter 1-8 and lecture materials up to and including October 20. It will be held on October 27 (Monday, in normal class time) and consist of 50 multiple choice questions. The cumulative final exam will consist of short-answer questions and essay questions based on all lecture materials and the whole textbook. Short-answer (4 X 10%) 40% Long-answer (2 X 30%) 60% Final Exam Grade 100% Hence at an individual level, you will only have two exams, accounting for 60% of the overall course grade. Teamwork and collaborative learning are the essence of the new economy. Individual competency in marketing is critical, but so is your ability to work in groups and accomplish tasks as a member of a team. We will try to simulate a similar environment in the classroom to enable learning and to provide you with an on-hands experience. The class will be divided into small groups or teams for in-class discussion, assignments and project purposes. Each team will comprise of 4-6 students. Group assignments and projects account for 30% of your final grade. 3

4 Group Assignments: To facilitate cooperative learning, there will be some group assignments offered during the class that pertain to specific course material. These assignments are meant to help you explore a recent issue in B2B area at a group level. They might be case studies or answers to questions. To complete the assignments, groups should report back to the full class and/or hand in written points or answers to questions. In total, there will be plenty more than 2 assignments; only 2 are counted into your final grade (I will let you know which one counts when I announce the assignment). Group Project: Each team (the same as for the group assignments) will investigate a B2B phenomenon or issue by searching the company website, talking with the people of the company, or even talking with their clients, suppliers, the advertising agency and others. A team may choose to examine either: (a) A specific company s B2B marketing problem, or (b) A B2B marketing issue confronted by a group of companies or industry. A team project should (a) clearly define the issue or problem at hand, including its importance, (b) contain a thorough analysis of the customer, competitive and organizational environments relevant to the problem or issue, and (c) offer a concrete recommendation for handling the problem or issue. Projects must include at a minimum: - Presentation (20 minutes with 5 minute Q/A) - Written report Each team will be assigned a presentation date, in one of the time slots in the last two classes. Each team will make an oral presentation of its findings on its assigned presentation date. Each team should distribute a 1-page Executive Summary to all students in the class at the beginning of the presentation, to facilitate communication. Final reports are due on December 3 (the last class, of course, reports turned in earlier will be gladly accepted). Final report must be: o Between pages, Not including appendices o Double spaced o 12 point font (your choice between Arial or Times New Roman) o Margins, header and footer are 1 inch wide 4

5 Marking of the Group Project will be determined as follows: Presentation 10% Written report 10% Class Participation: The instructor and the textbook are not the only sources of learning in this class. You and your peers are also a large source of information. It is critical that you participate during class in discussions. I will assess your participation level by your attendance and your willingness to present the answers for your team during class. Please also keep in mind that most group assignments are announced and completed during the class. You take the risk of missing assignments if you are not in the class. As agreed in the Department Board Meeting , held on 15 Jan 08, all Marketing Instructors will implement the Departmental Attendance Policy that requires students to have at least 75% of attendance rate for each course offered by the Department. Therefore I will randomly check your attendance during the class. 5

6 Class Schedule (subject to change) for LEC1: Dates Chapter Notes M Sept. 1 - Introductions / Overview W Sept. 3 1 What is B2B M Sept. 8 1&2 Character of B2B W Sept Character of B2B (Cont) M Sept Mid-Autumn Festival No Class W Sept B2B Purchase Function M Sept Org. Buyer Behavior W Sept Market Opportunities in B2B M Sept Marketing Strategy in B2B W Oct. 1 - National Day - No class M Oct. 6 6 Marketing Strategy in B2B (Cont) W Oct. 8 7 Weaving Marketing into the Fabric of the firm M Oct Project Day (Briefing & project meeting) W Oct Managing B2B Products M Oct Managing B2B Products (Cont) W Oct Review Class for Mid-term M Oct Mid-term Exam W Oct Pricing & Negotiations M Nov. 3 9 B2B Channels W Nov. 5 9 B2B Channels (Cont) M Nov Communicating with Customers (IMC) W Nov Advertising, Trade, and PR M Nov One-to-One Media W Nov Sales and Sales Management M Nov Project Presentation W Nov Project Presentation M Dec. 1 - Project Presentation W Dec. 3 - Review Class for Final; Written Report due TBA Final Exam Important Dates: September 10: Group formed October 13: Project day (topic determined) October 27: Mid-term exam December 3: Project written report due 6