GRA 2418 Understanding the Consumer

GRA 2418 Understanding the Consumer

Course code: 
GRA 2418
Department: 
Marketing
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Erik Olson
Course name in Norwegian: 
Understanding the Consumer
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Strategic Marketing Management
Semester: 
2020 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

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Learning outcomes - Knowledge

This course is designed to expose students to the research work of the marketing faculty and other issues and research streams that comprise the field of consumer behavior. The course is article based, with selections from some of the most well-known and respected journals covering marketing issues.

Learning outcomes - Skills

Students will learn how to critically analyze consumer behavior research, by uncovering the weaknesses and limitations of existing literature,  and determining how further research might address existing knowledge gaps on the topics.

General Competence

The course will expose students to various consumer behavior topics and research methods that might be applied to the development of their theses.

Course content

The design of the course is meant to encourage discussion of the issues, theories and methods that are used and tested in the study of consumer behavior. While topics for this course can change from year to year depending on the research currently being done in the marketing department and other factors, some examples of past topics include the discussion of:

  • Branding - alternative means of measuring the impact of brand knowledge on behavior
  • Culture - how do cultures differ in terms of reactions to humor, materialism, pressure to conform?
  • Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty - alternative definitions and measures, do loyalty programmes work?
  • Internet - impact of Internet as a source of product information, Electronic Word of Mouth, as a sales channel, and a marketing research tool
  • Risk - objective versus subjective risk and its impact on behavior
  • Sources of Deviant Consumption Behavior - can we get people to stop smoking, taking drugs, etc?
  • Sponsorship Effects Measurement - how do firms know they are getting what they paid for?
  • Market Orientation - how do you get an entire organization to focus on customers and competition?
  • Cause Related Marketing - marketing good things for society while promoting your own firm
Teaching and learning activities

Each session of the course will offer discussion and critical review of the latest research on important and emerging issues in marketing.  Students are expected to be well prepared for each discussion by reading the assigned article list. Students will also be responsible for developing a research design paper on a topic of their choosing which may also prove to be an excellent way to develop a thesis topic. This research design will also be the basis for a short student presentation to the class, where feedback from the instructor and classmates can help in improving the final paper.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

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.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.

At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.

Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Covid-19

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Activity
Form of assessment: 
Class participation
Weight: 
30
Grouping: 
Individual
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Exam code: 
GRA 24181
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
50
Grouping: 
Group (2 - 3)
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Research Proposal Paper
Exam code: 
GRA 24181
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Activity
Form of assessment: 
Presentation
Weight: 
20
Grouping: 
Group (2 - 3)
Duration: 
15 Minute(s)
Comment: 
Proposal presentation
Exam code: 
GRA 24181
Grading scale: 
Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade
Resit: 
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.