MKTG 3177

Fall 2013

Retail Management
Professor: Dr. Anshu Saxena Arora
Room # 236, Jordan Building, COBA, SSU

Class Meetings:
Tuesdays and Thursdays – 12:30 to 1:45 pm

Office Hours:
Tuesdays and Thursdays – 8:30 to 9:30 am; 10:45 am to 12:30 pm; 1:45 pm to 2:45 pm
Wednesdays – 1:30 to 3:30 pm

Phone: (912) 358-3387 (office) FAX: (912) 358-3888

Email: aroraa@savannahstate.edu

One illusion is that you can industrialize a country by building factories. You don’t. You industrialize it by building
markets. – Paul G. Hoffman
In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. - T.S. Eliot

Course Description

This course provides the student with a comprehensive view of retailing, an analysis of the retail
environment and exposure to issues and developments in the industry. Retailing is changing
today, and the successful business will know how to identify, adapt, and plan with these
changes.

The course is divided into four (4) sections:

 Retailing Environment
 Retailing Strategy
 Merchandise Management
 Store Management

Course Objectives

To familiarize students with the decisions involved in running a retail firm and the concepts and
principles for making those decisions. While the course focuses on the retail industry including
retailers of consumer services, the content of the course is useful for students interested in
working for companies that interface with retailers such as manufacturers of consumer products
or for students with a general management or entrepreneurial interest.

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Overall, there are five major objectives for this course. Upon successfully completing the
course, you should be able to:

1. Understand the impact of retailing on the economy.

2. Comprehend retailing’s role in society and, conversely, society’s impact on retailing.
3. See how retailing fits within the broader disciplines of business and marketing.
4. Recognize and understand the operations-oriented policies, methods, and procedures used
by successful retailers in today’s global economy.
5. Know the responsibilities of retail personnel in the numerous career positions available in
the retail field.

Essentially this will be done through analysis of retail cases and accompanying readings, field
assignments, individual and group reports and presentation of a retail plan at the end of the term.
Specific student learning outcomes are to develop an understanding of:
 the contribution of retailers to the product value chain;
 consumer motivations, shopping behaviors, and decision processes for evaluating retail
offering and purchasing merchandise and services;
 corporate objectives, competitor analysis, and competitive strategy;
 the traditional bases for segmentation and how segmentation can inform retail strategy;
 how retailer’s differentiate their offering as an element in their corporate strategy;
 factors affecting strategic decisions involving investments in locations, supply chain and
information systems, and customer retention programs;
 how retailer’s communicate with their customers; and
 tactics (pricing, merchandise assortment, store management, visual merchandising,
customer service) for extracting profit from a retail offering

Pre-requisites

The pre-requisite for this course is MKTG 3175. Students who are not in full compliance with
the prerequisites policy must drop the course without exception.

Required Text

Retailing Management (8th ed.) by Michael Levy & Barton A. Weitz, 2012, McGraw-Hill Irwin.
ISBN-13 9780073381046.

Course Website: www.mhhe.com/levy8e OR http://highered.mcgraw-

hill.com/sites/0073530026/information_center_view0/

Course Assessment

Component Points
Class Group Presentations for Chapters and/or Assignments before and 200
after Mid Term – 100 + 100 = 200 points
* Sometimes Presentations only; Sometimes Report and both

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*Please submit your PowerPoints to the Professor and they’ll

be uploaded on the e-learning
* Each group will make two presentations covering at least 4
chapters for 20 minutes each – one before and one after the
mid term
* Choose your chapters today
* Professor will assign the presentations time to each group –
the class attendance and participation is marked
Class Participation and Attendance – 50 + 50 = 100 points 100

Two Case Presentations and Report – Before the Mid Term 200
Two Case Presentations and Report – After the Mid Term 200
Final Project – 200 points 200
Total 900

Grading Scale

A – 90% and above; B – 80 – 89 %; C – 70 – 79%; D – 60 – 69 %; F < 60 %

Plus/minus grades will apply to the low/high ends of each grade level, and also be adjusted to
percentage.

Peer Evaluations

It is expected that every member of a team will participate fully and appropriately in the
research, analysis, preparation, and delivery of team assignments. As mentioned above, you will
complete a peer/self-evaluation for team assignments. I pay a lot of attention to these in
assigning final grades for the course.

Session Summary

The schedule is tentative. Instructor reserves the right to make adjustments to the schedule as
necessary during the semester. All adjustments will be announced in advance. Another reason
not to miss class – if you miss a class, you are responsible for finding out what happened during
your absence.

Week Tuesday Thursday

Week 1 Classes start Tuesday, August 14
Week 2 Class introduction DIS: CH 1
READ: CH 1 Intro to Retailing READ: CH 2 Types of Retailers

Week 3 DIS: CH 2 DIS: CH 3

READ: CH 3 Multichannel READ: CH 4 Customer Buying Behavior
Retailing

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Week Tuesday Thursday

Week 4 DIS: CH 4 DIS: CH 5
READ: CH 5 Retail Market READ: CH 6 Financial Strategy
Strategy
Week 5 DIS: CH 6
DIS: CH 6 READ: CH 7 Retail Locations

Week 6 DIS: CH 7 DIS: CH 7

READ: CH 8 Retail Site Location

Week 7 DIS: CH 8 DIS: CH 9

READ: CH 9 Human Resource
Management
Week 8 DIS: CH 9 DIS: CH 10
READ: CH 10 Information READ: CH 11 Customer Relationship
Systems and Supply Chain Management
Management
Week 9 DIS: CH 11 DIS: CH 12
READ: CH 12 Managing
Merchandise Assortments
Week 10 DIS: CH 12 DIS: CH 13
READ: CH 13 Merchandise READ: CH 14 Buying Merchandise
Planning System

Week 11 DIS: CH 14 DIS: CH 15

READ: CH 15 Retail Pricing PROJECT mid-term review

Week 12 Oct 25 Oct 27

DIS: CH 15 DIS: CH 16
READ: CH 16 Retail
Communication Mix
Week 12 DIS: CH 16 Nov 3
READ: CH 17 Managing the DIS: CH 17
Store READ: CH 18 Store Layout, Design, and
Visual Merchandising

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Week Tuesday Thursday

Week 13 DIS: CH 18 Nov 10
DIS: CH 18
READ: CH 19 Customer Service

Week 14 DIS: CH 19 Nov 17

DIS: CH 19

Week 15 PROJECT: Team Thanksgiving Break

Presentations

Week 16 PROJECT: Team Dec 1

Presentations Final Presentations
PEER EVALUATION: due by
before class
FINALS
FINAL PROJECT DUE

Method of Instruction and Course Policy

The course is highly interactive between the class and the instructor. Through case
studies/presentations, problems, and specific company client activities, students will have the
opportunity to use the concepts, ideas, and strategies presented in class. Problem-solving
sessions occur in both individual and team/group settings. The advanced level course of
advertising will incorporate classroom lectures, e-learning based (narrated presentations of
chapters, discussions, chats, announcements) and project-based approach to retail management.
Students are encouraged to read and inculcate the major principles found in the textbook. Note
that occasionally, changes in the schedule of the course, or in the assignments, are announced
during class. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have received all of the changes and you
will still be responsible for this information.

Please turn off everything that beeps, buzzes, rings, whirs or otherwise distracts the people
around you.

Academic honesty: The University is committed to a policy of honesty in academics. Conduct,

which compromises a breach of this policy, may result in academic and/or disciplinary action.
Cheating is a violation of student academic behavior standards. Any student who violates or
knowingly helps another student violate academic behavior standards will be pursued through
the Office of the Dean of the College of Business Administration.

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If academic dishonesty (as defined in the Code of Student Conduct) is established, then the
minimum penalty for the offending student will be a grade of ZERO for the assignment (as per
university policy). However, students should be apprised that the instructor may well assign a
penalty grade of F for the semester and request that the student be expelled from the
university. In all cases, students are apprised that all incidents of academic dishonesty will be
reported to the Office of the Dean of the COBA, the COBA Student Services Office (for
inclusion in the student’s academic record) and to the Vice President for Student Affairs.

Students are expected to adhere to the standards of academic integrity that govern students
registered at Savannah State University. The use of unauthorized material, plagiarism, failure
to cite relevant work (through relevant APA style references), communication with fellow
students during an examination, attempting to benefit from the work of another student, and
similar behavior that defeats the intent of an examination or other class work is unacceptable to
the University. Where a clear violation has occurred, the instructor may disqualify the student’s
work as unacceptable and assign a failing mark on the paper.

Incomplete Grade: Students will not be given an incomplete grade in the course without sound
reason and documented evidence as described in the Student Handbook. In any case, for a
student to receive an incomplete grade, s/he must be passing and must have completed a
significant portion of the course.

Hat Policy: While you are in class, take off your hat.

Disability Accommodations: Savannah State University is committed to providing reasonable

accommodations to students with documented disabilities, as required under federal law. The
purpose of disability accommodation is to provide equal access to the academic material and
equal access to demonstrate mastery of the material. Students with disabilities must meet all the
academic requirements and standards of the class, including the attendance policy. If you have a
disability and need accommodations, please contact Amelia Castilian-Moore, Coordinator of
Disability Services at 912 358 3115 or moorea@savannahstate.edu. The Office of Counseling
and Disability Services is located in King Frazier 233. You will need to meet with Ms.
Castilian-Moore, who can help you gather documentation of your disability or refer you to an
appropriate resource for assessment. Once documentation of the disability is gathered and
approved, Ms. Castilian-Moore will provide you with an Accommodation Letter, detailing the
appropriate, approved accommodations, which you should present to me so we can discuss and
implement your accommodations.
 
Electronic Devices Policy: No electronic devices are to be seen or heard during regularly
scheduled class time, quizzes, tests, or examinations – (note that this includes earpieces and
ear buds). If any are observed or heard during class, the student will be excused from class;
and should such devices be observed or heard during assessment periods, there will be the
presumption of academic dishonesty. Those found to be in violation of this policy will be
subject to the consequences for academic dishonesty under the College of Business
Administration Policy on Academic Dishonesty.

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APPENDIX - A

Summary Outline of ‘Team Term Project’ Template

Each team is required to prepare one comprehensive industry analysis for the class on the diverse
Harvard Business cases given to the groups in advance, including a formal presentation in
addition to the written document. ASSUME THE HAT OF ‘MARKETING ANALYST’ FOR
YOUR COMPANY. The presentations can be as creative as you like so long as they cover the
essential issues required in the marketing analysis. The presenting team will each turn in a
maximum 10-15 page paper (executive summary, exhibits, references, appendices, cover sheet,
and any other material deemed relevant may be added to the above page limit) and will also
deliver a maximum 20 minute PowerPoint presentation, not including Q&A and discussion time.
Available points are 200, which includes 100 points for report and 100 for presentation.

Below is a summary outline of the project template, reflecting key components of marketing
analytical approach. A more detailed document on the project template titled “Team Term
Project” is located on the course Blackboard under Course Documents.

For a particular industry analysis, if there is information in the template that you think is
unavailable or irrelevant, or if there is information you wish to add that is not in the template,
please contact me in a timely manner. Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 can be included in the document in any
order. Part 5 must be the last major part of the paper. Do not duplicate information across the
various sections of the template.

1) Perform an External and Internal Environmental Analysis

a. External environment yields opportunities and threats

b. Internal environment yields strengths and weaknesses - focus on things that
contribute most to market success

2) Perform a Competitor Analysis

a. Identify and analyze the three most important direct competitors

b. Identify other current and potential direct competitors
c. Identify current and potential indirect competitors

3) Perform a Market/Submarket Analysis – current and high potential

4) Perform a Customer Analysis – current and high potential

5) Provide a Comprehensive Strategy Assessment

a. Describe each key competitor’s current positioning/marketing strategy

b. What are each key competitor’s major sources of competitive advantage
c. What additional sources of competitive advantage could each develop in the future

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d. Select one (nearest) competitor for further focus, then provide:

i. New positioning and accompanying new marketing strategies that you
recommend for your company vis-à-vis the competitor
ii. Why you recommend these particular strategies for your company
iii. How these strategies would be implemented
iv. How their success should be measured

6) Disseminate the information given in the Case Study very carefully. Study the data and
present the facts. You may have to use certain deductions from the data.

7) Study the recent and current information about your company – Recent Trends Study.

8) In accordance of all the points covered above, offer Recommendations for your company
and highlight Future Strategies – the strategies and recommendations must be backed
with logical reasoning and substantiation – Make sure all your recommendations and
future strategies cover the e-part of the global business world.

9) References – appropriate references must be provided at the end of your document.

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