Yeditepe Üniversitesi

Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences-Department of Business

Administration

Marketing Management - Fall2008

Dr. Elif Yolbulan OKAN
eokan@yeditepe.edu.tr
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mbamarketingmanagement2008

Course Objectives: This course examines the process of strategic marketing management and
considers its role within organizations. It presents the fundamentals of the marketing concept and
considers the relationship between the marketing concept and other concepts. The course considers
tools and methods used to examine marketing environments, understand consumer and
organizational buying behavior, segment markets and position products, develop new products,
manage existing products and promote price and place products.

Learning Objectives
Following the successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
· Understand the process of strategic marketing management;
· Identify and know when to apply tools used by marketing managers undertaking analyses of a firm’s
external and internal environment;
· Be able to prepare product-market specifications;
· Understand key decisions related to the four P’s of marketing (product, price, place and promotion);
· Consider how current issues, such as entrepreneurship, innovation, e-commerce and
internationalization affect strategic marketing management;
· Be aware of some of the current academic debates relevant to this course.
Text Book: :
P.Kotler, G.Armstrong Principles of Marketing 12th EditionPrentice-Hall International, Inc.

Besides the textbook, the instructor will announce assigned materials during classes. These may
include cases, articles and other texts.
Please Join the yahoo group that will be announced by the instructor as soon as possible to
receive other documents.
Course Requirements:
The course will be covered with the help of lecturing and active class participation. Therefore the
course will be interactive and based on continuous information exchange between the lecturer and the
students.
Students will achieve the course objectives by following rules: 1) careful reading and study of the
assigned reading, and 2) attending class, participating in classroom discussions, and reviewing and
reflecting on what you learned from classroom lecture and discussion
Each student is expected to read the article assigned for the specific week and write one
page double space discussion for the article.
Class Participation
Class attendance is required and all students are expected to contribute to class discussions, preparing
in advance for the readings and assignments, and asking questions. 80% attendance is compulsory
according to our University rules.
Grading Policy:
There will be a mid-term exam and a final exam. In the exams, there will be essay type questions,
based on class discussions and the questions asked at the end of each chapter in your book. Questions
will not be given to students beforehand. You will only be responsible from a given number of
chapters covered in the class. There will not be any make-up exams for mid-term or for the final.
Cheating in the exams will not be excused and will be reported to the Department straight away.
Mid-term 20 %
Article discussions (written) 10%
Assignment 1 10%
Term Project 20%
Final 30%
In class exercises 10%
Bonus assignment 10%
TOTAL 110%

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Important note:
 Asking for extra credit is forbidden by the instructor. If you really need see the
bonus assignment.
 If a student does not complete and present his term project, no matter his other
notes, his final grade will not be more than CC

Assigment 1
Packaging Exercise (10%)
Go to a store (grocery store, drug store, Target, etc.) and spend some time looking at the packaged
goods. Choose a product that you think has either a very bad or very good package, in terms of
marketing communications. Write no more than a 2-page (single spaced, ¾ inch margins all around,
12 point font) analysis of the package and what you think makes it either good or bad. What does the
package communicate about the product/brand? How does it do this (executional elements)? Is that
message consistent or inconsistent with what youthink the overall marketing
communication/branding objectives are for the product? Your evaluation should suggest more
effective packaging in the future. As with the ad critique, above, it should be both of great practical
relevance and it should also demonstrate a familiarity with relevant concepts and methods covered
thus far in the course. Your analysis and your package are due at the beginning of class. Be prepared to
discuss your package choice in class. In some cases, I may ask to keep your packaged good for use as
an example in future courses.
Source: Professor Patti Williams

Term Project
This is a team project. Each team will be assigned a case and each team will be expected to prepare
both a report and a presentation. Case analyses should be no longer than five (5) single-spaced
type-written pages. Do not use a cover sheet. The case project will be evaluated on the following
criteria: quality of analysis, adequacy of recommendations, writing clarity, and organization.
The Situation Analysis*

The first thing you need to do with any case analysis is develop a detailed review of the internal and
external environments. You won't have enough information in most cases to answer all of these
questions, but you should do your best to find as many answers as possible. Be sure to go beyond just
the facts given in the case to make educated analyses and assumptions.

The 20 Key Questions:

1. What is the company's mission? Is it a good mission statement?

2. What is the essential company background information?
3. What environmental forces are most critical?
4. Describe the key environmental threats and opportunities. Be specific.
5. What is the composition of the competitive environment?
6. What product or service does the company market? How deep is its product
line?
7. What type (classification) of product does the company market?
8. Who is the target market for the product(s)?
9. Describe how the typical consumer buys the product -- and how much he or
she buys.
10. Describe how the typical consumer uses the product.
11. What are the strengths and weaknesses of competing products/services? Be
sure to examine obvious competing products as well as substitute products/services.
12. What is the sales history for the company's product/for the industry?
13. What is the sales forecast for the company's product/for the industry?
14. What is the current (and historical) market share for the product?
15. What is the financial health of the company? Be specific. Review key financial
ratios/analyses -- and complete analyses yourself if not done in the case.
16. Describe the current positioning strategy of the product/service. Be sure to
analyze success of current positioning.

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 17. How are competing products positioned? Again, be sure to examine a wide
range of competing products.
18. What is the company's pricing strategy for the product? Does it make sense?
19. What is the company's distribution strategy for the product? Does it make
sense?
20. What is the company's promotion strategy for the product? Does it make
sense?

*Once you've completed this worksheet, the information from it needs to be condensed into about a 2-
page summary for the written case analyses.

Part 2: The Marketing Problem and Alternative Solutions*

Once you've completed the detailed situation analysis, the next step for marketing managers is to
examine symptoms -- indicators -- of the problems facing the company. Once problems are identified,
then alternative solutions have to be developed. And finally, a recommended solution must be brought
forth.

Solving the Case:

1. What is the underlying fundamental problem facing the company? Be specific.

2. What are the symptoms that led you to the main problem?
3. What are the causes of the symptoms and problem?
4. What other problems does the company face? Show your brilliance.
5. What are two alternative solutions to the main problem? Be detailed, specific,
and comprehensive in your development of these two alternatives.
6. What criteria will you use to evaluate the alternatives you developed?
7. What are the expected outcomes of each alternative solution?
8. What is your final recommendation?
9. Describe your decision-making process in coming to your recommended
solution.

*Once you've completed this worksheet, the information needs to be condensed into about the final
three pages of your written case analysis.

How to Write a Strategic Marketing Management Case

THE CASE ANALYSIS (within 5 pages)
Executive Summary:
This section discusses the relevant points of the case, including the main problem and
proposed solution. No longer than one paragraph.

Company/Product Audit:

This section of the case write-up examines the company's strengths and weaknesses, company
history and background, and critical elements of the product or service featured in the case.
Several paragraphs.

Environmental Analysis:

This section investigates the external environment in which the organization operates,
examining key environmental forces, environmental opportunities and threats, and the
structure of the competitive environment. Several paragraphs.

Problem Statement and Underlying Symptoms:

This section should be no longer than -- as it says -- a statement. You should address the
fundamental problem of the case in one sentence. If there are sub-problems you feel you

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 should identify, feel free to do so, but make sure you clearly identify the main problem in the
case. Remember that strategic marketing problems are long-term, involve large sums of
money, and affect multiple aspects of the firm.

You should be on alert for symptoms parading as key issues and underlying problems, as case
writers often present false clues. Identify the symptoms that led you to the main problem.
Several paragraphs.

Alternative Solutions:

This section is the most important section of the case write-up and should clearly identify and
develop two independent alternative solutions to the problem in the case. You need to fully
develop each alternative, including details about the alternative, implementation of each
alternative, potential outcomes of implementing each alternative, as well as discussing
advantages and disadvantages of each alternative.

This section shows your creativity, your ingenuity, and your marketing strategy expertise,
which is why this section is the most important section of the case write-up. Be as thorough as
possible in your development of each alternative. Each alternative should be fully developed
and analyzed in a total of no more than one page for each.

Recommended Solution:

This section should state which of the two alternatives you developed in the previous section
should be implemented by the company. The key is to match the internal resources (strengths)
of the firm to the opportunities and threats in the external environment in a way that
addresses (and resolves) the key marketing problem(s) you've identified.

Be certain to describe the decision-making process that led to your recommended solution.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Week Topic & Assignment
st
1 week:
Introduction to Course and Syllabus Review

Chapter 1

2nd week: O'Cass, Aron , Political marketing - An investigation of the political marketing
concept and political market orientation in Australian politics, European
Journal of Marketing; Volume 35 No. 9; 2001
OR
Houston, F.S. (1989), The Marketing Concept: what it is and what it is not.
Journal of Marketing, Vol. 50, 81-87.
Chapter2
3rd week:

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 Chapter 3
Johnson, Douglas B; Macy, Granger, Using environmental paradigms to
understand and change an organization's response to stakeholders , Journal of
Organizational Change Management; Volume 14 No. 4; 2001

4th week: Or
McKenna, R. (1995) "Real-Time Marketing," Harvard Business Review, July-
Aug., 87-95.
Or
Prepare one page analysis for generational marketing

Chapter4
5th week:
Carneiro, Alberto How does knowledge management influence innovation and
competitiveness? , Journal of Knowledge Management; Volume 4 No. 2; 2000

Chapter5
th
6 week:
Dolan, R. (1999) "Analyzing Consumer Perceptions," Harvard Business School,
1-13.

7th week:
Mid Term
th
8 week:
Chapter6

Chapter7
Chin-Feng Lin , Segmenting customer brand preference: demographic or
psychographic.; Journal of Product & Brand Management, , Vol. 11 ( 5),
th
9 week: 2002
Hassan, Salah S; Craft, Stephen; Kortam, Wael , Understanding the new bases
for global market segmentation , Journal of Consumer Marketing; Volume 20
No. 5; 2003

10th week:
Chapter 8

Chapter 17
Simoes, Claudia; Dibb, Sally. Rethinking the brand concept: new brand
11th week: orientation , Corporate Communications: An International Journal; Volume 6
No. 4; 2001

12th week:
Chapter18

13th week:
Chapter 19

14th week:
Revision

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ADDITIONAL COURSE POLICIES
• Students are expected to act in a courteous and respectful manner while in class. Rude and disrespectful
behavior will not be tolerated.
• Cheating, forgery, and plagiarism are serious offenses, and students found guilty of any form of academic
dishonesty are subject to disciplinary action. Students found to have committed any form of academic
dishonesty (e.g., cheating on exams, plagiarism, and collaborating with another student on individual course
assignments) will have a grade of “F” imposed in the subject course.
• Make-up examinations will not be given unless you both furnish proof of exceptional illness or
hospitalization, and notify me prior to the scheduled exam.
• Students are responsible for reading the syllabus and knowing its content.
• The instructor can change the content of the syllabus at any time by informing the related department’s
head.

BONUS ASSIGMENT (10 points)

Prepare an internet site for the instructor. If you decide to do this assignment, detail
will be provided by the instructor.

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