Department of Marketing

Marketing : MBA : Spring Description

Spring 2003 MBA Course Descriptions

This is a list of the IB 395 and MKT 382 courses that are expected to be offered in the Spring of 2003. This list is intended to make your elective course selections easier by giving a description of the content of MBA elective courses offered by the Marketing Department.

IB 395

MKT 382

IB 395 - GLOBAL STRATEGY & MARKETING

Instructor:	Gillespie
Times:	TTh 2:00 - 4:00
Location:	UTC 4.110
Unique No.:	04380

This course is designed to present an overview of strategic marketing in an increasingly global marketplace. It provides frameworks for understanding global industries, assessing foreign markets, and determining strategic actions. In addition it explores global organization and culture.

Grading:
Midterm I: 35 %; Midterm II: 35 %; Class Participation: 30%
A > 90; 90 > B > 82; 82 > C > 72; 72 > D > 62; 62 > F

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS FELLOWS SEMINAR

Instructor:	Dodd
Times:	W 4:00 - 8:00
Location:	CBA 4.328
Unique No.:	04185

The purpose of the Seminar is (i) to help further students' understanding of the major cultures, political systems and economic structures that exist throughout the world and of the social forces bringing change to those structures and systems, and (ii) to assess how the interaction of such cultures and systems and forces will shape the world in which our individual, corporate and national aspirations must be pursued. In exploring those issues, the seminar will pursue such questions as:

Will the events of September 11th be the flashpoint for a clash of civilizations which brings an end to the recent expansion of global activity between and among countries, or will they be a catalyst for a new era of international cooperation?
In the new world that is emerging, can we expect the political, economic and social structures that exist in the United States to continue to spread around the globe, or will other nations and cultures necessarily evolve in ways distinctly different from the U.S.?
In so far as other countries do proceed differently from the U.S., are there ways countries and cultures can learn to associate with one another productively, fueling an era of cooperation, or must we remain in separate universes and in perpetual tension, perhaps reinforcing a clash of civilizations?
What impact will this new era have on corporations, corporate executives, financial markets, business managers, and other people who rely on jobs and financial support from these enterprises?
What about other trends, other issues, other crises? What will become of Africa? What about the AIDS pandemic? What of the homeless? The starving? Is the climate truly warming? Will water become a new source of conflict? What other forces of change are in the offing?

Michael Howard, in his book The Lessons of History, wrote that the real lessons of history are not so much about "pride and folly," as about

"people, often of masterful intelligence, trained usually in law or economics or perhaps political science, who have led their governments into disastrous miscalculations because they have no awareness whatever of the historical background, the cultural universe of the foreign societies with which they have to deal. It is an awareness for which no amount of strategic or economic analysis, no techniques of crisis management or conflict resolution...can provide a substitute."

The seminar will endeavor to bring such historical and cultural factors into our discussions.

MKT 382 - CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Instructor:	Irwin
Times:	TTh 8:00 - 10:00
Location:	UTC 4.132
Unique No.:	04360

This course centers on the role of the consumer in the marketing process. Studying consumer behavior enhances understanding of what marketing strategies are likely to be effective, how humans operate in the marketplace, and what sorts of social and cognitive mechanisms you, as a consumer, bring to your purchasing decisions. Thus, consumer behavior has managerial, psychological, and personal implications.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Instructor:	Cunningham/ Carter
Times:	TH 4:00 - 8:00
Location:	GSB 3.130
Unique No.:	04370

Senior executives - CEO's and their business unit, functional and regional direct reports - must consistently balance their time between achieving quarterly performance targets and building strong companies that can sustain above market financial performance in the future. As the business environment grows more complex, senior executives have to simultaneously manage business and political relationships, initiate and integrate acquisitions, create/change corporate culture, continually align the organization structure to the business strategy, deal with issues of corporate governance and succession planning, and learn to navigate through potential PR disasters. In addition, regardless of the size of a company, the senior management team must continually grapple with the question of how to allocate resources to competing programs and disciplines in support of the corporate strategy.

This course will examine the roles and responsibilities of corporate leadership in a wide variety of settings - large and small companies, startups and established century old companies, global and single country/region companies - as all companies face slightly different versions of the issues discussed above.

The normal format of the class will be to invite one or more guest speakers to address the students for the first half of the class period. The guests will be encouraged to provide ample opportunity for questions during their presentations. The second half of the class will focus on in-class discussion of assigned reading material. The individuals that will be invited to class will include senior executives from major corporations and entrepreneurs, elected officials, corporate lawyers and venture capitalists.

Students' performance will be evaluated based on a combination of in-class participation and a term paper.

CUSTOMER INSIGHTS

Instructor:	Raghunathan
Times:	MW 2:00 - 4:00
Location:	GSB 3.138
Unique No.:	04375

Instructor:	Walls
Times:	W 6:00 - 10:00
Location:	GSB 3.130
Unique No.:	04380

Customer Insights is the foundation course in the Center for Customer Insight (CCI) specialization. The focus of course will be on honing the ability to discover novel aspects of consumer decision-making and to develop these insights into profitable marketing propositions. Tools and techniques for developing Customer Insights and for becoming more customer-focused will be provided in the context of recent advances in technology, especially with regard to the internet. A combination of lectures, guest speakers and assignments will be used to achieve the course objectives.

DATA MINING

Instructor:	Saar-Tsechasky
Times:	M 2:00 - 6:00
Location:	UTC 4.132
Unique No.:	04390

Data Mining is the single most sought-after set of skills in business today. Converting data into information that guides marketing, planning, budget allocation, investments and a host of other critical decisions is a rare skill set that this course develops. Taught by a professional practitioner, this class develops a broad understanding of the applications that businesses require today, and links the statistics classes you've already had into that world of practical application. Heavy on solving decision-making problems with information, this class includes numerous case studies, lab practicals and will provide excellent preparation for your career, whether it be in MIS, strategic planning and consulting, advertising or marketing.

MARKETING ANALYSIS/DECISION MAKING IN AN INFORMATION AGE

Instructor:	Mahajan
Times:	MW 12:00 - 2:00
Location:	GSB 3.130
Unique No.:	04400

This course is designed for MBA students who have some background in or understanding of marketing principles, and who have exposure to spreadsheet programs such as MS Excel. The course deals with concepts, methods and applications of decision modeling to address such marketing issues as segmentation, targeting and positioning, new product design and development, advertising, and sales promotion planning. Unlike conventional capstone marketing courses that focus on conceptual material, this course aims to provide skills that translate conceptual understanding into specific operational plans - a skill that is in increasing demand in today's organizations. Using market simulations and related exercises incorporating PC-based computer software, students will develop marketing plans in various contexts.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Instructor:	Hoyer
Times:	MW 2:00 - 4:00
Location:	GSB 2.122
Unique No.:	04435

The objective of Integrated Marketing Communications is to provide an overview of the components and considerations involved in marketing communications strategy decisions. In order to accomplish this goal, one must first understand the consumer (or the recipient of the communication efforts). Thus, the first part of the course will consider the basic principles underlying consumer information processing and how marketing efforts can influence this process. The second part of the course will focus on the individual elements of the marketing communications mix (advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, and public relations) and how these elements are combined into an integrated promotional campaign. The class will revolve around lectures, discussions, and projects. The grade will be determined by a midterm exam, a major project, several small projects, and class participation.

MARKETING AND CUSTOMER INSIGHTS PRACTICUM

Instructor:	UTC 4.112
Times:	Mackie
Location:	T 6:00 - 10:00
Unique No.:	04395

Marketing and Customer Insight Practicum is a projects-based course. Students are assigned to teams and work on projects sponsored by businesses. The projects can be focused on a wide-range of marketing topics. Each semester the projects available will be advertised via e-mail to all MBA students in the week before the semester begins. Students who wish to participate in a practicum must apply for one or more of the projects offered for the relevant semester. Applications require submission of a resume and a statement about reasons for interest in and suitability for the project. Students may apply for more than one project, but may only participate in one for each semester, although it is possible to participate in different projects in different semesters. Student selections are made during the first week of the semester and "accepted" students are permitted to enroll in the Practicum course. Every attempt will be made to accommodate all students who wish to participate in a practicum.

Although there may be substantial variation in the nature of projects from semester to semester, most practicum projects require an initial research phase - often requiring a report of research findings, followed by an implementation phase in which specific business problems and solutions are addressed. All projects will require a final group report and/or the presentation of results to the corporate sponsor. Evaluations are based on the quality of the teamwork and assessment of individual contributions to the project.

Recent projects have included new product introductions, post-merger marketing systems integration, brand positioning studies, product feasibility studies, competitive positioning, and benchmarking studies. Project sponsors have ranged from small technology start-ups, to major corporations such as 3M, Frito Lay, Dell, Accenture, Verizon, and Nortel Networks.

MARKETING RESEARCH

Instructor:	Alpert
Times:	MW 10:00 - 12:00
Location:	UTC 4.132
Unique No.:	04420

Working with corporate sponsors including General Mills, Dell, and other key UT employers, we have designed a project-based "real-world" look at the use of market research to guide marketing management decisions. We will cover the key topics of decision analysis, problem identification, and all areas of marketing research methods from the viewpoint of managerial decision support. Industry guest speakers, cases, and group projects will involve students in all aspects of applying marketing research tools and methods to identify and help solve marketing problems.

We shall work with companies and non-profit organizations to identify strategic marketing challenges that they face, and will recommend actions based on our analyses of their competitive environments. The experience gained in working with management, as well as the research and analysis that these consulting projects will entail, will help to gain valuable work experience and position students for rewarding careers upon graduation. Students groups will select a client and problem area from a list of those topics submitted by organizations seeking our help as consultants. As an option, student groups may work on a business research project of their own choosing.

The course structure will involve formal class sessions covering topics such as problem definition, information needs assessment, secondary (including Internet) and primary data analyses, questionnaire and experimental design, and quantitative analysis of marketing data. We will work together as consulting teams on a series of target dates, as the projects progress throughout the semester. Students will be evaluated primarily on the basis of the written report and oral presentation to be completed near the end of the semester, their ability to meet deadlines, and their contributions made in discussion in the classroom and group-instructor meetings. In that sense, the work and its evaluation will parallel that which will be encountered in the full-time jobs for which students are preparing to take upon graduation.

This course is recommended for students interested in careers in customer insights, marketing research, packaged goods marketing, marketing management, industrial and technology marketing, financial management, and other fields where the ability to interact with research specialists and apply their recommendations may be enhanced by knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of market research.

NEW PRODUCT DESIGN

Instructor:	Jain
Times:	MW 12:00 - 2:00
Location:	GSB 3.130
Unique No.:	04405

New products and services are critical to successful growth and increased profits in many industries. In this course, we take the marketing philosophy that new products and services will be profitable if the extended product provides customers with highly valued benefits. Customers evaluate products relative to their perceived needs. They purchase those products that provide the best value; e.g., the product benefits compared to the price. If a firm can deliver these benefits effectively and efficiently, then long-run sales at a fair price should be profitable for the firm.

Our goal is to help you learn how to use state-of-the-art management techniques to identify markets, develop new product ideas, measure customer benefits, and design profitable new products. Our focus is marketing; thus, we concentrate on market measurement and the use of that information to develop the benefit targets for the new product. We provide techniques to interface the marketing function with the functions of R&D, design engineering, and manufacturing, but it is beyond the scope of the course to emphasize these functions per se. The course will be relevant to students who expect to work directly in brand or product management as well as those whose interests are in general management and consulting.

The principal objective of this course is to develop students' skills in two areas:

the new product development process; and
formulating strategies for building and managing products and brands

This objective will be achieved via a mix of lecture/discussion sessions, and a term project (to be done in teams).

PRICING DECISIONS

Instructor:	Chien
Times:	TTh 4:00 - 6:00
Location:	UTC 4.132
Unique No.:	04415

This course is designed to cover both the theoretical foundation of pricing (both strategy and tactics) and industry pricing practices. "The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing" by Tomas T. Nagle and Reed K. Holden is the required textbook for this course, and is used primary for establishing the fundamental pricing knowledge. Additional materials gathered from academic research units, industry pricing practitioners, and pricing oriented associations (e.g. Professional Pricing Society, Harvard Business Reviews, etc.) are also included as complementary to the textbook. In additional to traditional pricing topics, airline/hotel revenue management, distributor/retailer pricing systems, as well as dynamic pricing are also covered in this course. Real-world pricing practices are introduced to the class through several real case studies and guest lecturers. Guest speakers invited to the class are industry pricing experts from McKinsey, Dell computer, Customer Metrics Group, Continental Airlines, Talus Solutions, Hotwire.com, etc. Students' involvement includes readings, in-class discussions, a series of homework, and a group final project.

SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Instructor:	Fitzsimmons
Times:	MW 12:00 - 2:00
Location:	UTC 4.122
Unique No.:	04425

This case course explores the dimensions of successful service firms. It prepares students for enlightened management and suggests creative entrepreneurial opportunities. Outstanding service organizations are managed differently than their "merely good" competitors. Actions are based on totally different assumptions about the way success is achieved. The results show not only in terms of conventional measures of performance but also in the enthusiasm of the employees and quality of customer satisfaction. Beginning with the service encounter, service managers must blend marketing, technology, people, and information to achieve a distinctive competitive advantage.

STRATEGIC MARKETING

Instructor:	Moe
Times:	2:00 - 4:00
Location:	UTC 3.130
Unique No.:	04430

The primary objective of this course is to help you develop skills and gain experience in formulating and implementing marketing strategy. The course will focus specifically on issues such as the selection of businesses and segments in which to compete, how to allocate resources across businesses and segments, and elements of the marketing mix.

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The University of Texas at Austin

Spring 2003 MBA Course Descriptions