Course 2010-2011 a.y.

Course Objectives

The course has two main purposes: first, it drives participant to understand the basic principles of marketing; second, it offers attendees with models and tools to manage the exchange process between firms and customers.

The course provides students with a learning experience reflecting the true marketing management process existing within firms.

Consistently, the first part of the course is dedicated to the diagnostic nature of marketing activity. Here, the course is a walk through the main strategic decisions falling under the marketing domain: choice of the target markets, product and service positioning, competitive intelligence, etc.

The second section of the course is focused on the implementation side of the marketing, where main strategic policies are concretely realized and oriented to the market: it mainly regards product, pricing, distribution, and communication decisions.
Since the course belongs to an international degree program, attention is placed to some topics that are typical of international marketing and decisions that are peculiar to multinational firms, such as the role of consumer culture, market rules and regulation, and the decision to enter a new country market.
Teaching activity is complemented by the discussion of cases and the presence of guest speakers.

Course Content Summary

• Consumer behavior analysis and measurement
• Competitive intelligence
• International context: culture, market rules and regulation
• Entry strategies in foreign markets
• Segmentation and positioning
• The marketing mix
• Branding and product policies
• Management of distribution channels
• Organization and management of the sales-force
• Pricing decisions
• Communication policies

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

Attending students
Final written exam on selected parts.
Two group assignments for a maximum of 6 points groups of maximum 5 students

Non attending students
Final written exam on both textbooks.

Textbooks

Attending students

• LAMB, HAIR, McDANIEL, MKTG4, Cengage Learning, Mason OH, 2010.

Non Attending students

• LAMB, HAIR, McDANIEL, MKTG4. Cengage Learning, Mason OH, 2010.
• HARVARD BUSINESS ESSENTIALS,Marketer's Toolkit, Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA, 2006.