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UNC—CH Kenan-Flagler Business School |
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Girish Mallapragada’s Courses |
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BUSI 569 Business Marketing
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Section 1: Tuesday and Thursday 11.00 AM-12.15 PM Section 2: Tuesday and Thursday 12.30-1.45 PM Course Description The objective of the course is to introduce students to strategic marketing issues that are important in B2B relationships. Almost 60% of the US economy involves B2B transactions – e.g., Walmart purchasing from P&G, General Motors purchasing from Dana, Apple’s relationships with Solectron, The US Government with Lockheed Martin, Fannie Mae with EDS etc. For example, we would be hoping to answer questions such as: How are B2B relationships different from the other kind? What types of industries are they more widely prevalent? What are the important aspects of relationship management in the B2B world? How is performance measured? What makes great companies in the B2B context? Many undergraduates start their first jobs in advertising, purchasing, marketing where they primarily deal with B2B relationships. The aim of the course is to offer insights on the B2B context so that students are well-trained in their understanding of the marketing discipline. The course will incorporate a good number of case studies, group projects and lectures. Course Expectations It is very important that you come to class prepared. The primary class format will be a mixture of lecture and discussions. We will also use the assigned readings as part of the in-class learning. These are very general business press readings that touch upon the subject matter for that class session. I also welcome you to participate actively by citing relevant examples that might occur to you during our discussions. Required Materials Textbook We will be using the book, “Business Marketing: Connecting Strategy, Relationships and Learning ” by Robert F. Dwyer and John F. Tanner (McGraw-Hill/Irwin; ISBN: 0072865784). It is the best book available on this topic and you will find it very useful as a practitioner as well. You are expected to read the assigned chapters thoroughly before class. Cases I have decided to purchase the usage rights for the cases and you do not have to bear this cost. I will distribute the cases well in advance. It is your responsibility to do this, as I have done my part by eliminating an expensive course packet. Other readings To reduce your financial burden, I have provided the internet links of the assigned readings for the sessions on the syllabus page. Clicking on them will take you to the UNC library system and after logging in you can either read them online or take a printout. It is your responsibility to do this, as I have done my part by eliminating an expensive course packet.
Grading Your grades will be determined at the end of the semester after taking into consideration the following: Class participation 10% Individual Case Write-up 15% Team case write up 20% Short Quizzes (Announced & Average of two) 20% Team project 15% Final Exam 20% Total 100% Team & Individual Work From the grading weights above, 40% of your grade will be based on team efforts and 60% on individual work. Since team contributions are important in today’s marketing workplace, individuals will have an opportunity to assess each team member and their performance. Note that individual grades will be adjusted as appropriate. Class Participation · I expect our class sessions to be very interactive. · True learning occurs only through two-way communication and therefore I encourage you to ask questions and also comment on other students responses to my questions. · None of us know answers to everything, so asking questions that raise the important issues is very important. · As our class sessions do not involve use of the Internet directly, I advise you not to bring your laptops to class. · If for some reason, you feel uncomfortable talking in class, please send me an email or see me outside of class early in the semester. One of the best ways for you to feel comfortable participating in our class discussions is to think about the material before class, especially the examples in the text, readings as well as your related experiences. The written assignments and small-group case discussions (described below) should also help you do this. You are also encouraged to contribute by posting discussion threads on the class blog if you feel comfortable doing so.
Case Studies The objective of case studies is to learn and apply concepts learnt in class by studying stylized problems that have been created for this purpose. I have consciously chosen short cases to keep the reading burden low. However, this does not imply that the discussion needs to be brief. In addition to meeting as teams prior to the sessions on which the case studies are scheduled, I require you to prepare: 1) one team case write-up before the mid-term and 2) one individual case write-up after the mid-term. As we will be doing four cases in all, as a team you need to pick one of the two cases in the first half of the semester for the team case write-up and one in the second half for the individual case write-up. Case write-ups should be no longer than 2 pages ( 12 point font, 1 inch margin). Please use the thought questions as a broad template for the write-up. Your case write-up should not be a mere restating of the facts and answers to the thought questions. Briefly, your write-up should: 1) Identify the problem 2) Assess various strategy options for addressing the problem 3) Recommend an alternative and 4) Suggest an implementation plan.
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