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Course Overview and Objectives
This course is designed to provide you with an opportunity to integrate the material that you have been exposed to in you Marketing courses and other business courses. In this course we will explore how firms develop and implement marketing strategies to ensure their long term survival and growth. In essence, this is an applications course. The course focuses on business-level marketing strategy, rather than corporate strategy or business policy. It is intended to help you to develop new perspectives for creating innovative marketing strategies. We will explore the process of decision making, strategy development, elements of competition, and the tools that assist in decision analysis. The course aims to help students achieve the following objectives:

• Understand the role of strategic planning in marketing management
• Be able to go through the process of developing an integrated marketing plan for an organization
• Learn marketing decision analysis and its tools
• Develop, improve and use written and oral communication skills
  

Teaching Method

A variety of methods will be used to accomplish the above objectives including instructor's lectures, guest lectures, case discussions, exams, videotapes, group presentations and papers, and most importantly class discussion. The course is designed to clarify the material in the textbook and outside material, stimulate your thinking about key issues related to marketing, and relate the covered material to real world situations. Emphasis will be placed on active student participation and discussions. You are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the relevant issues. I strongly suggest reading current business press and staying abreast with the latest happenings in the corporate world. Ideally, I will like to create an open atmosphere in which we can creatively and imaginatively anaylze ideas and concepts. In the process we will add to our intellectual skills and become more analytical in our thinking about daily events.

Collaborative Learning
Teamwork and collaborative learning are the essence of the "new economy". We will try to simulate a similar environment in the classroom to enable learning and to provide you with an "on-hands" experience. The class will be divided into small groups or teams for assignments and project purposes. Each team will comprise of 3-4 students. Your first step towards this project should be to form a group. Starting from day 1, you should interact extensively with your fellow classmates and get to know them as much as possible. Remember, DO NOT wait till the last day to contact your classmates. As per my experience, such "urgently_made_groups" produce low quality work and subsequently low grades. Subsequently, your group would turn in a one-page group profile containing the following:

a) Name of the group (be creative !!)
b) Name of the team members and their Student id,
c) Strengths and Weaknesses of each member and explicitly state as to why do you think it makes a good team. (Clue: A good group comprises of people whose strengths and weaknesses balance out).
d) Paste a group photograph with the writeup (write the members name from L - R at the back)

The groups will work closely for all assignments and term projects. You might also get together as study groups for the tests and the exam. You will soon notice how important it is to choose a good group. More than 30% of your grade depends on how good/bad your group performs. Each member will be held responsible for the performance of the whole group. Towards the end of the term you might want to fill out the following Team Member Evaluation Form to inform me about the effort put in by each of your group members. I reserve the option to differentiate in assignment of grades if the evaluations provide enough evidence that such action is warranted. Incase of conflict during the term, the entire team should set up an appointment to see me and we will try to resolve the issues by open dialogue.