Emerson College

Masters in Integrated Marketing Communication Program

MH610 Marketing Management Cathy L. Waters, Lecturer

Schedule and Syllabus
Fall, 2008
Mondays 6:00 – 9:45 P.M.
Tufte Building, Room 1014
Office Hours: Mondays/Tuesdays
4:00 – 5:30 and by appointment
120 Boylston Street, Room 910
617 824-3496
cathy_waters@emerson.edu
To set up appointments:
Georgette Petraglia, Staff Assistant
824-8127

Required Texts (2):

1. Marketing Management, 12th edition (2005) or 13th edition (2008) Prentice Hall
Authors: Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller
Students can purchase the E-book for this text at a discount at www.coursesmart.com
2. Cases: Nine from Harvard Business School Publishing can be ordered for $6.95 each
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/case_studies.jsp
Case numbers, for ordering purposes, are listed on the schedule below.

Reserve Copies: Both the Kotler text and the HBS cases are on reserve in the library.
An earlier edition of Kotler’s book can be used as long as newer material in the reserve copy is
regularly reviewed.

Schedule for Fall Semester, 2008

Class # and Topic Kotler Case or Assignment to be

Date
Marketing Overview
1 Sept 8 Welcome & Introductions
What is Marketing?
Marketing Management:
Choosing Marketing Strategies and
Developing Marketing Plans
Market Analysis: Discovering Needs
2 Sept 15 Identifying Opportunities by Scanning 3, 21
the External Environment:
National (U.S.) and International
Markets
3 Sept 22 Market Research
Secondary and Primary Sources
Methods for Gathering Primary Data
Chapters prepared for that class
*study group preparation okay
1, 2
(skim) Marketing Stories –
No advance preparation
IKEA Invades America*
9-504-094
25 minute application:
ungraded
4 (stop at Four Products: Predicting
p 119) Diffusion (We use this 3 times)
9-502-045 PB Slices*

4 Sept 29 Analyzing the Competitive
Environment
Understanding how Product Life
Cycle affects Marketing decisions
25 minute application: 5%
11,10 Your Table Is Ready* (WebCT)
IKEA Market Analysis:
Written Brief and
Presentation, with Partner
10%
5 Oct 6 Consumer Behavior 6, 10 Dogs of the City* (WebCT)
Positioning
25 minute application: 5%
Oct 13 No Monday Class – Columbus Day
6 Oct 20 Analyzing Markets and Customers 5, 8 Li Ning: Anything is Possible*
Segmentation Variables 9-507-024
Selecting Target Markets
Customer Lifetime Value 25 minute application: 5%
Marketing Mix Decisions:
Satisfying Needs
7 Oct 27 Business Markets 7, 15, 16 Natureview Farm*
Channel Strategies (skim) 2073

Halfway Feedback (Two Way)

Group Time: Preparation for MFA

8 Graduate IMC Symposium All Graduate IMC Students will
WEDNESDAY Bill Bordy Theatre attend in lieu of regular classes
Nov 5 6:00 – 9:45 P.M. this week.
9 Nov 10 Brand Strategies 9, 12 Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Product Decisions 9-506-027
Packaging Group Case Analysis
Presentation and Brief (20%)
Four Products: Predicting Diff
High Tech Bandage*
10 Nov 17 Pricing Decisions 14 Tiger-Tread*
9-507-077

25 minute application: 5%
11 Nov 24 Promotional Strategies: Integrated 17, 18 Vermont Teddy Bear: Calyx &
Marketing Communication Corolla*
KEL138

25 minute application: 5%
12 Dec 1 Product Development 20 Four Products: Predicting
Diffusion of Innovation Diffusion
9-502-045
Scent of a Kitchen*
13 Dec 8 Personal Selling, Sales Management 19 Alarmforce: The Launch of
Marketing Management AlarmFog* 903A10 Ivey
Wrap Up
Individual Written Analysis
and Elevator Pitch 20%
Dec 15 Final Exam Period Pick up graded cases
Monday 8:00 – 9:45 P.M.

The Foundation of the Course! Your contribution to case

discussions and class learning
environment (25%)
MH610 Course Description and Teaching Objectives

What ? Marketing Management Concepts and Applications

In its simplest form, marketing is the bridge between customers and products or services. Marketers
must know how to study and analyze markets and their environment. Tools include: marketing
research methods, consumer and industrial buying behavior models, competitive strategy principles,
and market segmentation techniques. Based on this market analysis, marketing managers
recommend the appropriate marketing mix, consisting of decisions about product, price, channel,
and promotion (integrated marketing communication). Understanding what options are available
and how to choose is integral to the role of the marketing manager.

To provide value to consumers and businesses, marketers must create offerings that achieve
multiple objectives: satisfy the market, deal with competition, meet the firm’s objectives such as
revenue generation or profitability, and meet societal expectations. While the results of the
decisions made by marketers are seen daily by consumers in retail stores, online, and in their homes,
the decisions made behind the scenes are rarely obvious. Technology has had an enormous impact
on the field of marketing; the average consumer would likely be amazed by how many options were
considered and ultimately discarded before bringing their favorite product to market!

Professionals in integrated marketing communications have even more decisions, as IMC tools have
proliferated with changing technology. Making sound recommendations for Integrated Marketing
Communications requires a strong foundation of marketing strategy and marketing management.
Finally, marketing managers interact with many functions in the organization, and must understand
what drives the priorities of their functional counterparts, to successfully convert marketing
strategies into implementation plans.

How? Case Method

The three paragraphs above summarize what students will learn in this course. How students will
learn is defined by the teaching approach: cases will be used to focus on specific aspects of
marketing, supported by lectures, application exercises, and textbook readings. Since case
discussions will occupy a majority of classroom time, students should spend adequate time
preparing each case. (Usually, up to four hours is required to thoroughly prepare to discuss a case.)

Each class will consist of a combination of: case analysis and discussion, a brief lecture to elaborate
on the case, and exercises to apply class topics. Generally, each case will illustrate the assigned
marketing topic for the week, related to the assigned textbook chapters. The case should be
prepared by: skimming the Kotler Marketing Management chapters assigned for the case, and
answering the case questions. Each class will have a set of “Big Concepts and Key Terms,”
available via WebCT, which can be used to guide your reading in the text.

The Textbook
How to use Kotler’s Marketing Management: first, focus on the topic/s of the week! Most of the
cases encompass many areas of marketing, but time constraints require us to focus on how the topic
of the week applies to the case. Skim the relevant Kotler chapters, to identify important principles
that relate to the case (and can help answer case questions). Kotler’s text is a marketing classic, and
should be the foundation of your permanent marketing library. It will be a reference for future
courses in the IMC program, and for your professional lives too. The text is too comprehensive to
memorize, but key concepts are clearly explained so you can apply them to class cases.
The text, in addition to practical applications for marketing managers, includes theoretical work
(models, studies, etc.) by marketing academicians. It is worthwhile to read these pieces, if you are
interested in future academic work. (For example, independent study projects, or students
considering advanced degrees in marketing, or market research specializations.)

Expectations for Case Discussion

Come to every class, on time, prepared, and don’t hesitate to dive in and participate.
Attendance matters: students can not pass the course if they miss two or more classes.
If an unavoidable conflict arises, email or phone me before class begins.

Make it a priority to devote adequate time to case preparation. With the exception of the written
case and group oral presentation, students are encouraged to form discussion groups to analyze and
discuss cases. Write down your answers to case questions for easy reference during class
discussions. Appropriate numbers should be crunched too. (Expectations will be set early in the
semester) No outside research is necessary, or should be done.

Case discussions can feel uncomfortable, a natural response in an “immersion” environment. By

the end of the discussion, it is my goal to transform the discomfort to understanding, and even
enjoyment! Dive in and comment on something that interests you. Learning depends heavily upon
alert participation with an emphasis on quality, not quantity. The more students take an active role
in case discussions, the more we will all learn from a case.

While perfect attendance is admirable, perfect attendance with no contribution to class discussion
will result in a class contribution grade of “C.” Students will be evaluated at mid-semester
regarding their class contribution grades. Class contribution will be judged based on quality and
consistency of effort. There is no way to make up "missed" class contribution opportunities. We
will talk about this more at the beginning of the semester to set expectations.

Assignment Notes: All written assignments are due by 6:00 P.M. on the due date, on paper!

The written case analyses will be structured around a set of questions which will be provided for
each assigned case, at least two weeks before the due date. Generally, the written analysis should
be about five to seven pages. The group presentation will be similarly structured, and will require
students to make decisions and defend their choices in a stand-up presentation. Audio visual aids
should be used to help the audience absorb the group’s remarks. Groups will be randomly assigned,
with three or four members each. (Fewer, in small classes)

The 25 minute applications will each focus on one aspect of the course, based on one of the cases
and big concepts from the text. Open book, open notes. These applications are in lieu of a weighty
mid-term and final exam, giving us a better way to pace learning, application, and evaluation.
Academic Honesty
The Emerson College Policy on Plagiarism is thoroughly explained in the Graduate Handbook.
There is a delicate balance between relying on study groups to prepare cases for class discussion
and writing your own case analyses. Simply put, when an assignment is due, the work must be
done only by the person or people who submit it. If unauthorized assistance is used to prepare
assignments, or if there is evidence of plagiarism, students will be referred to the academic integrity
committee for resolution.

Disability Accommodations
Students who have a disability that requires accommodation in class should register with the
Disability Services Office at 216 Tremont Street on the fifth floor.

Assessment scale: A= 93-100%, A- = 90-92%, B+ = 87-89%, B = 83-86%, B- = 80-82%, C+ = 77-

79%, C = 73-76%, C- = 70-72%, D = 69-60%, F = 59% and below.