Course Section Two:
GUIDE to MARKETING MANAGEMENT DECISION MAKING
[MKTG 300; Dr. Carter; 2K7]
*Individual Marketing Management Decision Report (30 points) – DUE August 18th (Sat. @11:59pm) by e-mail*
Introduction
The second section of the course builds upon your exposure to marketing concepts, definitions, and terminology by instilling practical marketing management decision skills. After learning marketing fundamentals, we now apply them to actual marketing organizations and brands. Marketing management is an action-oriented practice directed by strategic planning, and strategic planning is the art of intelligent decision making. In order to practice effective decision making, our instructional method moves textbook concepts to the background and brings your individual company marketing choices to the foreground.
Assignment Guidelines
The classroom process and grading criteria are designed to improve your critical thinking decision skills.
1)Classroom Process:
Class sessions consist of marketing situation discussions regarding actual organizations and their management decisions.Four separate marketing situations will be presented using Wall Street Journal articles to highlight particular organizations. Instead of looking at these marketing situations as students, you should think as marketing managers of the organizations involved in decision making. The assigned text chapter concepts in the syllabus must be applied to the designated marketing situation article to fully explain your marketing management decisions for the organization. Selected students will be volunteered to contribute their marketing situation decisions each class session, and earn up to 5 extra credit points. The following three step procedure should be used to determine your in-class marketing decisions:
a)State what the marketing decision objective is for the organization – focus
b)Describe how assigned concepts improve decision outcomes – formulation
c)Explain why the actual choices made achieve the decision objective -- fit
Marketing situation articles for each of the assigned textbook chapter concepts are listed below:
Wednesday (8/8)
a)“Design It Before You Buy It”-- Intelligence Gathering; marketing decision support systems [Ch.8; Exhibits 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, “Questionnaire Design,” “Internet Research,” and “Scanner Research”]
Monday (8/13)
b)“Google Pushes Tailored Phones”-- Idea Generation & Innovation Process; developing and managing products [Ch.10; Exhibit 10.1 (each stage of new product development process) and Exhibits 10.2, 10.3 (each stage of product life cycle)]
Wednesday (8/15)
a)“European Jewelers”– Market Targeting; segmenting, targeting, and positioning for markets [Ch.7; “criteria,” “bases,” “six steps to a segment,” “target market strategies,” Exhibit 7.2, as well as Exhibit 7.3 (positioning “perceptual maps” and “bases”)]
b)“Vera Wang” –Mind Tailoring; consumer/business decision making and influence factors
- B2C “Individuals” (Ch.5); Exhibit 5.1 (each stage of consumer decision making process), Exhibit 5.2 (each measure of buying decision continuum), Exhibit 5.3 (each decision influence factor),
- B2B “Retailers” (Ch.6); Exhibit 6.1 (Internet e-business), “strategic alliances,” “categories of business customers,” “B2B vs. B2C markets (and NAICS),” “types of business products,” business procurement (“buying centers” & “buying situations”)
2)Grading Criteria and Method
Although your proficiency at marketing management decision making is improved by the classroom process described above, an individual Marketing Management Decision Report (30 points) is the method used to evaluate your grade performance.
The report is a typed documentation of your ability to perform; (a) the three step marketing decision procedure (“what/focus, how/formulation, why/fit”), (b) for all four assigned textbook concepts, (c) using actual Wall Street Journal market situations for your chosen organization – or other factual accounts of relevant market situations. Specific point allocations for each Decision Report criteria are presented below. A course website link and “draft” report feedback are provided to improve written content proficiency.Draft reports submitted by Wednesday 8/15 by 6pm will be returned with written communication feedback (not concept decision evaluation) by Friday 8/17, with an extended resubmission deadline of Sunday 8/19 @ midnight.
Grading Criteria & Point Allocation3-Step Decision Procedure / Textbook Concept Precision / Market Situation Portrayal / WrittenContent Proficiency
[Drafts reviewed through 8/15]
12 Points / 5 Points / 5 Points / 8 Points
The report should include a minimum of five typed double spaced pages in 12 point font with standard margins. The five pages include; one page for each of the four concept sets, as well as a one page summary of the organization and its marketing management focus. However, there is no maximum page limit or penalty.
A specific outline for the described Decision Report content is shown below:
A)Summary of company or organization and its present marketing or brand issues
B)Market Situation – described using a WSJ article, other sources, or personal knowledge
[*Note – the “market situation” can be a single article or event for all 4 chapter concept
sets, or more than one article addressing developments related to particular concept sets]
C)Chapter 8 – Intelligence Gathering Decisions
- State what the marketing decision objective is for the organization – focus
- Describe how assigned concepts improve decision outcomes – formulation
- Explain why the actual choices made achieve the decision objective -- fit
D)Chapter 10 – Idea Generation & Innovation Process
- State what the marketing decision objective is for the organization – focus
- Describe how assigned concepts improve decision outcomes – formulation
- Explain why the actual choices made achieve the decision objective -- fit
E)Chapter 7 – Market Targeting
- State what the marketing decision objective is for the organization – focus
- Describe how assigned concepts improve decision outcomes – formulation
- Explain why the actual choices made achieve the decision objective -- fit
F)Chapters 5 & 6 – Mind Tailoring
- State what the marketing decision objective is for the organization – focus
- Describe how assigned concepts improve decision outcomes – formulation
- Explain why the actual choices made achieve the decision objective -- fit
Prepare to ask any additional questions for clarification during the second marketing management decision making session Monday August 13th in the new course meeting room – DDH #K-105.