Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Claire Gruslin, Jonas Heller
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The content of the course will closely follow the comprehensive book of Palmatier & Shridhar (2017) "Marketing Strategy: Based on First Principles and Data Analytics". The book is based on four marketing principles, that we will follow in the course, namely:
- Marketing Principle #1: All Customers Differ
- Marketing Principle #2: All Customers Change
- Marketing Principle #3: All Competitors React
- Marketing Principle #4: All Resources Are Limited
- Introduction: Recap of basic marketing principles & introduction to marketing strategy (Day 1)
- Part 1: All customers differ - Customer Heterogeneity (Day 2)
- Part 2: All customers change - Customer Dynamics (Day 3)
- Part 3: All competitors react - Competitive advantage (Day 4, 5, 6
- Part 4: All resources are limited - Resource trade-offs (Day 7 & 8)
- Conclusion: Implementing marketing principles & analytics (Day 9)
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of the seminar, students shall be able to apply key frameworks and theories to analyze marketing-related issues in a strategic and analytical way to support the decision-making process of Chief Executives of any organization. The course focuses on designing strategies from the market back to create, deliver, and sustain customer value in competitive and dynamic markets. To do so, this course deals with a comprehensive investigation and analysis of all major components of marketing strategy and their integration.
- Strategy (KLO1): Establish a strategy in order to optimize the value chain of a company... ... based on the analysis of its financial and economic context. ... taking into account its political, social, and societal context. ... taking into account its legal constraints. ... adopting the position of a marketing specialist. ... demonstrating a critical mind and scientific precision.
- Implementation (KLO2): Take charge of the everyday management of a company, and more especially of a project related to strategic marketing... ... working efficiently in an international and multidisciplinary team, among others in a leading position. ... analyzing one's managerial practice with a critical and ethical mind.
- Communication (KLO4): Communicate efficiently about a company... ... in at least two languages, including English and French. ... taking into account the multicultural and international features of their environment.
- Adaptability (KLO5): Adapt one's managerial practice to the needs of a fast-evolving world... ... being conscious of its societal, economic, political, and environmental issues. ... showing curiosity and a scientific precision of academic level. ... showing creativity, autonomy, and entrepreneurial spirit. ... developing one's expertise in a lifelong learning perspective.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
The students are required to participate actively during the group sessions. Accordingly, they need a good proficiency level in spoken and written English.
Each student should have followed at least one course of Basics/Principles in Marketing prior to taking the International Marketing Seminar.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The sessions will follow a "sandwich-architecture".
The first of the nine 3-hour sessions will begin with an introduction, outlining the overall objective, agenda, and context of the entire course. It will then proceed with the contents of the upcoming first session.
Most of the sessions will then be taught in alternating phases of collective learning and individual learning.
- In the collective learning phases, the foundational theoretical inputs will be delivered by the lecturer in traditional lecturer-centered, frontal teaching.
- For the individual learning phases, the students will be given short, precisely formulated tasks related to the input previously given in the collective learning phase, which they are then supposed to fulfill either individually or in small groups within the following 10-20mins.
The lecturer provides a recapitulation of the content of the session and the results towards the end of each 3-hour session. Since a focus of the course is on implementation, this recapitulation will include short group assignments, for which the students have 30mins to 1 hour to complete at the end of the session, during which the instructor is available for questions. For these assignments the students will be divided into groups of 5-6 persons in the first session, which are final for the whole duration of the seminar.
Within the assignments, the groups will have to complete a long-term strategy for a start-up company. The instructor will provide students with a set of 10 different startup companies to choose from. The process of coming up with this strategy is divided into several steps (assignments of each day) over the two consecutive weeks of the International Fortnight Program. The complete marketing strategy of each group (for details, see section 5.2) will also be the group evaluation part of the final grade and account for 30% of the overall grading.
For peer instructions in the next sessions, and to provide feedback on the group assignments of each day, the instructor is free to randomly chose one group for in-class presentation of their results of the assignment in the next session, or groups are free to volunteer. In order to be able to do so, students are required to upload the results of their daily assignment as a maximum 3-slide PowerPoint-Presentation to the university system by the end of the day. The instructor will then ask the selected or volunteering group specific questions related to the assignment. The instructor's role is to challenge the students' answers and facilitate learning through discussion. Students on the other hand also benefit from direct feedback on their assignment, which they can in turn implement in the final version of their marketing plan.
Additionally, a conclusion of the day is provided, by which the students will be able to give immediate feedback on the session (e.g. what was the most important part? What remains unclear? What was the muddiest point of the session?), to which the lecturer will respond to at the beginning of the next session, before a brief outlook at this next session will be given.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
This course will be taught fully online, using the software "Lifesize". All scripts and assignments will be provided to the students in electronical form.
Organisational adjustments related to the current health context
Recommended or required readings
The content of the course will closely follow the comprehensive book of Palmatier & Shridhar (2017) "Marketing Strategy: Based on First Principles and Data Analytics".
Assessment methods and criteria
Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.
First session of examination (January 2021)
YELLOW CODE
- Individual evaluation (70%) - The Strategic Marketing Seminar examination in January is a written individual exam with Multiple choice questions covering the above-mentioned relevant parts of Palmatier & Shridhar (2017) "Marketing Strategy: Based on First Principles and Data Analytics", and specifically focused on the topics covered in the sessions. To prepare for the exam, carefully review the relevant chapters of Palmatier & Shridhar (2017) "Marketing Strategy: Based on First Principles and Data Analytics" as well as the academic articles that you had to read, specifically the topics covered in the sessions. Exam questions will be multiple choice questions with only one correct answer out of four answer possibilities.
- Group evaluation (30%): Sample marketing plan developed in group work based on the assignments at the end of each class, to be submitted by September 31, 2020. The marketing plan will be the result of the group work assignments given at the end of each session.
Second session of examination:
Oral exam (individual evaluation) (100%) - The Strategic Marketing Seminar examination in September is an oral individual exam with questions covering the above-mentioned relevant parts of Palmatier & Shridhar (2017), and specifically focused on the topics covered in the sessions. The exam in second session accounts for 100% of the final grade.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
(See the document available on Lola for all guidelines related to the organization of the seminar)
The course is organized within the context of the International Fortnight program of HEC Liège - Management School of the University of Liège that aims to welcome visiting faculty from highly reputed foreign academic institutions to teach in their area of expertise and collaborate with HEC Liège faculty, staff, and students in research and other academic activities.
The course consists of 30 class hours and will be held in 10 sessions of 3 hours programmed over two consecutive weeks: September 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 from 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM. The course is given in English.
Attendance is compulsory; it is important to participate in every session.
We only excuse your absence to the class in case of an imperious reason (such as sickness, family emergency). We need an original and official proof such as a medical certificate.
IMPORTANT: Given the importance of taking part in every session, the Article 37(§2) from the 'Academic and Examination Regulations' of the University of Liege (available here: http://bit.ly/2bMA71B) is applicable. According to this article, the teaching staff may declare students inadmissible for exams if they did not (i) physically participate in the seminar, or (ii) submitted their work in due time. Students who did not attend the seminar AND did provide an official proof may be considered eligible for the second session exam, but additional work is first required.
Contacts
Instructors:
Jonas Heller (j.heller@maastrichtuniversity.nl)
Course coordinator:
Claire Gruslin. Should you have any questions with regard to the seminar, please do contact the coordinator first.