Key concepts, practice and principles of marketing, the role of marketing for an enterprise and its relation and interaction with other functions. Methods used to explore and define customer needs and aspirations, in order to effectively meet these through the appropriate choice of products and services. The effective communication of these to the appropriate market segments. Teaching through cases takes those key concepts and applies them to examples in an international context in both product and in services marketing. Students are advised to read extensively, especially the prescribed texts as the class sessions will focus more on casework.
The course will address the question: what makes the firm successful? Success is defined in this context in terms of creating shareholder value over the long-term. The strategy of a firm is the set of decisions it makes concerning how it will achieve superior performance, and therefore create value for its shareholders. The course will present the tools and techniques for formulating successful strategies, by analyzing industries, sources of profitability available to firms and designing the strategies to access these sources of profitability. We will look at strategy as a link between the firm and its industry environment. A central topic of the course is the analysis of industry structure and the strategies for building competitive advantage for superior profitability. The course is concerned not just with analysis but with decisions. We will therefore concentrate on discussions on industries and individual companies. You will be asked to analyze industries and structures and positions, and make decisions concerning key issues and indicate how your decisions will be implemented.