APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

GRA 6409 Strategic Marketing Issues

Responsible for the course
Line L Olsen

Department
Department of Marketing

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
The purpose of marketing is to transform company resources to satisfy customers' current and future needs more effectively and efficiently than competing alternatives. The unique competence in marketing is to deeply understand customer needs and how value is created to fulfill these needs better and more profitable than competition way. We show that organizations need to be flexible and adaptable to major changes in how value and competitive advantage is created.

Learning outcome
In strategic marketing we focus on developing the analytical skills required to identify the key strategic issues companies are facing in the market they compete in, and the skills required to develop and implement effective marketing strategies.

Skill objective:
- Analyze customers, market, competition and marketing
- Identify key strategic marketing issues
- Formulate objectives and strategic initiatives
- Obtain support to implement plan

Knowledge objectives:
- What is a market, what is marketing and what is market orientation?
- What are the drivers of market dynamics and the key principles in segmentation theory?
- How a customer centric organization enhances the value of a customer portfolio?
- How companies innovate and develop a strong portfolio of products?
- How companies create value for customers and develop sustainable competitive market positions?

Attitude objectives:
- Critical reflection and thinking
- Appreciation for the complexity of marketing decisions and business in general

Prerequisites
Prior knowledge of marketing management.

Compulsory reading

Collection of articles:
A number of scientific and managerial articles are compulsory literature. In addition students need to acquire a set of HBS cases.

Other:
A list of compulsory readings will be provided on it's learning or in class.
During the course there may be hand-outs and other material on additional topics relevant for the course and the examination.


Recommended reading
Books:
Larréché, Jean-Claude, Hubert Gatignon, Réme Triolet. 2003. Markstrat online : student handbook. StratX International

Course outline

· The purpose of Marketing and Market Orientation
· Customer Centric organization
· Value Positioning and Creation of Customer Value
· Service innovation

Computer-based tools
Markstrat simulation

Learning process and workload
The class will be organized around discussing selected topics illustrated by theoretical articles and cases. The students are expected to be well prepared and highly involved in the discussions. An application of the discussion topic will be the use of the Markstrat simulation, where student teams compete against each other in a fictional marketing environment. Students will work in groups but also evaluated for their individual performance.

Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/It's learning or text book.

Examination
Your course grade will be based on the following activities and weights:

25 % - Markstrat (groups formed by instructor)
25 % - Case assignments (individual or in groups of 2-3 students)
25 % - Class participation
25 % - Two-Hour Written Exam (individual)

Five case assignments and Markstrat are carried out during the course.
All parts of the evaluation need to be passed in order to get a grade in the course.
Case grades are based on both a case write-up (individual or group) and class participation (individual).

Specific information regarding student evaluation beyond the information given in the course description will be provided in class. This information may be relevant for requirements for hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several elements of the overall evaluation.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam elements) and one final exam code. Each exam element will be graded using points on a scale (e.g. 0-100). The elements will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course.

Examination code(s)
GRA 64091 continuous assessment accounts for 100% of the final grade in the course GRA 6409.

Examination support materials
A bilingual dictionary.
Exam aids at written examiniations are explained under exam information in the student portal @bi. Please note use of calculator and dictionary in the section on examaids

Re-sit examination
It is only possible to retake an examination when the course is next taught.
The assessment in some courses is based on more than one exam code.
Where this is the case, you may retake only the assessed components of one of these exam codes.
Where this is not the case, all of the assessed components of the course must be retaken.
All retaken examinations will incur an additional fee.

Additional information
Honor Code
Academic honesty and trust are important to all of us as individuals, and represent values that are encouraged and promoted by the honor code system. This is a most significant university tradition. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the ideals of the honor code system, to which the faculty are also deeply committed.

Any violation of the honor code will be dealt with in accordance with BI’s procedures for cheating. These issues are a serious matter to everyone associated with the programs at BI and are at the heart of the honor code and academic integrity. If you have any questions about your responsibilities under the honor code, please ask.