Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Master in management (120 ECTS) | 5 crédits | |||
| Extra courses intended for exchange students (Erasmus, ...) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
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 successful global marketer needs to develop the empathy, knowledge and skills required to successfully operate in a constantly evolving global environment. The intercultural marketing course intends to familiarize students with the myriad of decisions to compete outside the "home" country taking into consideration the cultural diversity and how crucially culture affects a firm's competitive advantage and strategic positioning in foreign markets. This course allows students to "decentering" their approach to understand cultural diversity in consumer behavior and marketing management and gain experience in current issues in marketing-related decisions faced by a specific firm entering a foreign market (team assignment requiring systemic, analytical, creative and ethical competences).
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Upon completion of the subject, students will be able to:
- demonstrate a systemic outlook and an understanding of how cultural, social, economic, political, and organizational factors affect the practice of marketing in a globalized world;
- describe how to gather primary and secondary marketing data in an international context and evaluate opportunities for a local company's expansion into a new foreign market;
- formulate effective marketing strategies in response to perceived opportunities in this foreign market knowing the role of culture in an international marketing environment;
- apply knowledge learned by analyzing business cases and suggest creative solutions of problems confronting companies operating in cross-cultural environments;
- exhibit leadership and interpersonal skills working together in teams to obtain creative solutions to international marketing problems.
- Strategy (KLO-1): Establish a strategy to optimize the value chain of a company...
- Implementation (KLO-2): Take charge of the everyday management of a company, and more especially of a project related to strategic marketing...
- Communication (KLO-4): Communicate efficiently about a company...
- Adaptability (KLO-5): Adapt one's managerial practice to the needs of a fast-evolving world...
- (KLO7)- being capable of professional team work
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
The students are required to participate actively during the 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 Course.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course uses the Flipped learning approach in which students are introduced to the learning material before class and classroom time is dedicated to deepen understanding through discussing case studies with peers or problem-solving activities linked to guest speakers presentations. The sessions are therefore interactive and practical. The supporting materials (online recorded lectures) are provided one week before class on Lol@, HEC learning platform.
The sessions begin with an introduction, outlining the learning objectives of the module, agenda, and content of the session. An assessment tool to ensure that students have understood the course content linked to the session is then activated ('Concept Check' multiple choice questions).
Most of the sessions will then be taught in alternating phases of team and collective learning, each about 45mins in length.
Collective learning phases consist in testimonials from contributors from real life companies invited to provide their company and personal experience to link the theoretical aspects covered to the real world.
Team learning phases focus on short, precisely formulated tasks related to the course content previously given to enable students to practice applying concepts, to embed the concepts learnt before class and to consolidate their knowledge. The results of the peer discussions are uploaded (maximum 3-slide Powerpoint Slidedeck) on the LOLA university platform. Selected or volunteering groups are then asked to present their results as a brief in-class presentation challenged by the instructor to facilitate learning through discussion. Students also benefit from direct feedback on their assignment.
Short Case studies feed the understanding of some theoretical foundations. Students are required to read and thoroughly prepare the material prior to class following a 5-step process:
- Get to know the context, the situation in which the company operates: figure out the underlying changes in the company's business environment;
- Identify the issues and research questions the company must answer to solve these problems;
- Justify the use of specific international marketing tools to answer the research questions;
- Explain the different potential solution scenarios
- Give relevant recommendations, based on the previous steps.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Additional information:
The course uses the Flipped learning approach in which students prepare some material before class (case studies and readings) and classroom time is dedicated to deepen understanding through discussing. The supporting materials are provided on Lol@, HEC learning platform. Classes regularly welcome guest speakers who provide students with their experience and intercultural practice.
Recommended or required readings
The content of the course will be along the lines of Usunier, J-C, Lee J.A, (2013), Marketing across cultures, Pearson, 6thedition.
- Part 1 - The cultural variable in international marketing CHAPTER 1 - The cultural process (pp 6-17) CHAPTER 4 - Language, culture and communication (pp69-82)
- Part 2 - The integration of local consumption in a global marketing environment CHAPTER 5 - Cross-cultural consumer behavior (pp 103-118) CHAPTER 6 - Local consumers and the globalization of consumption (pp132-150)
- Part 3 - Marketing decisions for the intercultural environment CHAPTER 8 - Intercultural marketing strategy (pp 220-235) CHAPTER 9 - Product Policy 1: physical, service & symbolic attributes (pp 252-267) CHAPTER 10 - The critical role of price in relational exchange (pp 291-308) CHAPTER 11 - International distribution & sales promotion (pp 316-328)
- Part 4 - Intercultural marketing communications CHAPTER 12 - Branding : managing meaning(pp 343-358) CHAPTER 13 - Intercultural marketing communication - advertising (pp 375-395)
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam ( multiple-choice questionnaire, open-ended questions )
- Remote
oral exam
Written work / report
Additional information:
FIRST SESSION (January):
The overall grading will be based on three different aspects:
- 50% Individual Evaluation (IE): the first session examination (January) consists in a final written (Multiple Choice Questions plus open questions) or oral exam (depending on class size and sanitary conditions). The material covers all the sessions content, selected text book chapters, case studies, articles, AND guest speakers testimonies.
- 20% Class Contribution (CC) - Effective participation means active, substantive, and continuous contribution. CC can take the form of being prepared to discuss the assigned readings and cases, raising or answering questions particularly when classes welcome guest speakers, offering comments, participate constructively, presenting own ideas and critiquing those of others, enriching the class with relevant items of interest from the media or personal experiences or taking part in brief in-class quizzes or other exercises.
- 30% Team assignment (TA) - (teams of 3-4 members based on class size), Analysis and recommendation about a specific topic developed in various steps.
RESIT (August):
Individual Assignment (individual evaluation) - In the first week after the deliberation (beginning of July), each student is appointed a specific topic in case the team assignment was not succeeded in January. In case the first session individual evaluation has not been succeeded in January, the student takes an oral examination (face2face or online) based on all the course material.
Note: All individual parts of the assessment need to be succeeded to pass the course, in first and in second session. In case of a fail in the first session, the failed section needs to be resit in August. The reported grade will be that of the average of the two grades if both assessments are passed, OR the failed one if one of the two assessments is failed.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Students are expected to attend class when they have read the necessary material and have their preparation done. They should actively participate in class discussions and when there is a guest speaker, be active and raise smart questions.
Contacts
For lecture content, please contact GRUSLIN Claire by email Claire.Gruslin@uliege.be
Please note that her office is located:
Rue Louvrex 14 - 4000 LIEGE (N3 - 4th Floor- room 1/26)