EXC XX21 Marketing and Strategy
EXC XX21 Marketing and Strategy
The course provides an introduction to strategic and marketing-relevant perspectives, analyses, and management principles. Strategy operates primarily at a company level, while marketing management operates at a product and product category level and customer segment level.
Throughout the course, students will gain knowledge of strategic analyses and develop an understanding of holistic strategic thinking where the analyzes are one tool for making strategic decisions that are important for companies' survival and growth. Students will gain knowledge about how marketing is linked to strategic decisions.
Marketing management deals with how the company organizes, communicates,and delivers its value proposition, as well as how the company systematically and continuously analyzes the market and competition. A key task in marketing management is how the company secures current and future incomes and is thus an overall management responsibility.
Both strategic management and marketing management are fundamental in management education and are therefore included as a basic course in all BI's bachelor programs.
Strategy:
- Students should acquire adequate insight into strategic issues and be able to identify and analyze which elements are important in a company's ability to create value over time. Students will gain insight into how strategic decisions are influenced by internal and external factors as well as considerations for sustainability, social responsibility and ethics.
- Students will learn different strategic approaches based on analyses of the firm’s external and internal environments and discuss the implications of these for the selection and implementation of different strategies. Students will gain an understanding of how strategy integrates marketing and other relevant subject areas, including considerations about the role of digitalization in strategy.
Marketing:
- Combining an analysis of the company’s current situation and planning activities to reach its goals on the basis of this analysis, is a key learning goal in marketing management. Because the market is constantly changing companies must continuously analyze the market and develop an overall strategy and a plan for how changes and opportunities will be met. Through the course, students will acquire sufficient knowledge and competence to develop a marketing plan and acknowledge how difficult and important this task is for a company.
- The overall learning goal is that the students have acquired sufficient knowledge and competence to plan marketing activities and develop a marketing plan. The subjects covered are:
- The content of a marketing plan and the process of developing it
- The main principles in marketing management.
- Managing the portfolio of customers:
- Customer heterogeneity and segmentation
- Forming customer relationships
- Customer strategy
- Managing product portfolio and value delivery
- Products and product category
- Product strategy (marketing mix)
- Managing the brand portfolio
- Definition of brand and the brand's role
- Brand strategy and management
- Analyzing markets and marketing
Strategy:
Students should be able to identify and understand a company's most important internal and external challenges, and which elements are important in a company's value creation. Students should be able to carry out a strategic analysis of a business and its environment. They should also be able to identify and discuss issues related to strategic choices and implementation of strategy, and thereby be able to see links between strategy and marketing as well as organizational challenges related to sustainability, social responsibility, and ethical issues. Students should be able to present a substantiated strategy for a company to an imaginary management team or board.
Marketing:
Students shall be able to develop a marketing plan that specifies the challenges and opportunities facing the business. The students should be able to demonstrate thorough skills in analyzing the market and business marketing. This also includes the ability to identify concrete actions for change, communicate them in a convincing way, and prepare an overall estimate for the company's revenues and expenses over several years.
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Strategy:
- Introduction to strategy and marketing
- Value creation
- Resource analysis - competitive advantage
- Analysis of activities based on different logic
- Macro environment with PESTEL
- Competition- Dynamic strategies
- Industries - Innovation, and digitalization
- Collaboration strategies - alliances, mergers, and acquisitions
- Where do we want to go? Mission, vision, and business idea
- Strategic decisions and choices
- Strategy and sustainability, social responsibility and ethics
Marketing:
- Marketing plan and marketing planning
- Value creation and management of customer portfolio
- Value creation and management of product portfolio
- Value creation and brand management
- Customer heterogeneity and segmentation
- Understanding the customers
- Economic analysis of the marketing efficiency and profitability
The learning process combines classroom teaching, online lectures, individual activities, group activities, discussions, assignments, and active problem-solving activities under mentored guidance. Typically, students will watch lecture videos explaining models, theories, and other important concepts from the syllabus from home, and work on the project assignment and related problem-solving tasks on campus under the guidance of faculty.
Teaching
Information about what is taught on campus and via digital formats will be presented with the lecture plan before the start of the course each semester.
No specific prerequisites required.
Exam | Weight | Invigilation | Duration | Support materials | Grouping | Comment |
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Exam category Submission Form of assessment Written submission Grading scale ECTS Grading rule Sample co-assessment | 100 | No | 1 Semester(s) | Group (2 - 3) |
Exam category | Weight | Invigilation | Duration | Grouping | Comment exam |
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Exam code: Grading scale: ECTS Grading rules: Two examiners Resit: - | 100 | No | 1 Semester(s) | Group (2 - 3) | In this course, students will work on a project assignment throughout the semester. The project task is to recommend a strategy for a company based on an analyses at company, industry, and macro level as well as to develop a marketing plan based on the recommended strategy. (Students receive information about this company at the start of the course). The completed assignment should also include a reflection on how the students think their analysis at company level (strategy) relates to the analysis at product and product category level (marketing), and vice versa. In addition to the information provided, students are expected to actively seek information from open sources online. Furthermore, students must make certain assumptions as all information about the company and the market will not be available for this type of assignment. The project assignment is to be solved individually or in groups of students. (The project assignment is submitted at the end of the semester). In the project assignment, the students will make visible to what extent they have acquired knowledge in the subject, as well as developed the attitudes that are desired. Students are expected to master the use of spreadsheets (Excel) and word processing software. Students will use the Internet to search information that is relevant to the project assignment. The project paper can be solved individually or in groups of 2-3 students. The project paper shall not exceed 6000 words. The project paper should be submitted by the end of the semester. |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.
The completed assignment should also include a reflection on how the students think their analysis at company level (strategy) relates to the analysis at product and product category level (marketing), and vice versa.
In addition to the information provided, students are expected to actively seek information from open sources online. Furthermore, students must make certain assumptions as all information about the company and the market will not be available for this type of assignment.
The project assignment is to be solved individually or in groups of students. (The project assignment is submitted at the end of the semester). In the project assignment, the students will make visible to what extent they have acquired knowledge in the subject, as well as developed the attitudes that are desired.
Students are expected to master the use of spreadsheets (Excel) and word processing software. Students will use the Internet to search information that is relevant to the project assignment.
The project paper can be solved individually or in groups of 2-3 students. The project paper shall not exceed 6000 words. The project paper should be submitted by the end of the semester.