UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Department of Marketing, Business Economics, and Law MARKETING 472/B2 - PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AND PRICING
WINTER SESSION 2011 COURSE SYLLABUS
Instructor: Webb Dussome Time: TR 12:30 - 13:50 Location: BUS B-09, Business Building Office: BUS 1-29
Phone: (780) 492-0675 Fax: (780) 492-3325
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: https://ulearn.ualberta.ca/webapps/login Office Hours: MWF 12:15-13:30, or by appointment
Course Overview
Marketing 472 is a course that deals with two of the 4 ‘P’s’ in the marketing mix – pricing and product. The importance of these two topics to business is easily
understandable because, put simply, price is what an organization gets from customers in return for product.
Course Objectives
The product management section of this course is meant to give the student considerable understanding of the role of a ‘typical’ product manager in marketing business and consumer goods/services. This role tends to have considerable scope, hence a number of activities relating to the product manager’s job will be discussed.
These activities include the analysis of product categories, customers, and competition, as well as planning product strategy and the use of metrics for planning and control purposes.
Pricing decisions can be complex in today’s competitive business environment, especially when one considers factors such as globalization, complex supply chain management systems that attempt to obtain ever lower prices from suppliers, and the consumer who wants to receive more value in their purchases. So a key objective of the pricing section of the course is to provide students with the tools from which a
systematic process for creating, communicating, and capturing value can be developed.
As a senior marketing course, another key objective is to facilitate the application of course concepts to contemporary market planning and decision making.
Required Texts
There are two required texts as follows:
1)/ Product Management (Fourth Edition), by Donald R. Lehmann and Russell S. Winer.
New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2005 (full textbook) OR Product Management (Fourth Edition), by Donald R. Lehmann and Russell S. Winer. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2005 (reading package)
2)/ The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: a Guide to Growing More Profitably, Second Custom (University of Alberta) Edition, by Thomas T. Nagle, John E. Hogan., and Joseph Zale. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2010.
Other related information will be added during the term, most notably brand
management material from: Strategic Brand Management by Kevin Lane Keller, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Students are not expected to purchase these books.
Evaluation
Assignments – 35% (20% for Product Management, 15% for Pricing) Exams - 65% (30% for Product Management, 35% for Pricing)
In determining the student’s final grade, the instructor will consider the student’s overall individual course performance in an absolute sense, and also each student’s performance relative to his/her peer’s performance.
Exams
There will be one exam for each topic in the course. The exams are not designed to be cumulative in their coverage, but there is likely to be some advantage to recalling and understanding material covered in any previous exam.
Students should familiarize themselves with the University’s guidelines regarding exam deferrals.
Assignments
Please hand in the assignments on the date they are due. If students have not made previous arrangements with the instructor, assignments will be penalized at 50% for each day they are late.
Academic Integrity
The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/governance/StudentAppealsRegulations.cfm) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.
University Policy on Course Outlines
Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.
Course Structure
Class time will be divided between lecture, class discussion, and in-class exercises. To be most effective, students should be prepared to review notes from classes and to keep pace with readings from the texts.
Important point: Notes posted on the course web site make up only one part of the course material. Other relevant course material is handed out and discussed in class throughout the term. The instructor does not post his slides to the course web site.
Course Schedule
The following schedule is provided as a general guideline. Depending on the flow of the course it could change slightly, so students should keep current on in class activities.
Date Topic
Product Management:
January 11/13 Course Introduction, Chapter 1 January 18/20 Chapter 3
January 25/27 Chapter 4, Competitive Intelligence* (pages 1-26 from)
*http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/dir-ect.nsf/vwapj/ci-vc_eng.pdf/$FILE/ci-vc_eng.pdf February 1/3 Customer Based Brand Equity**
**The required reading for this week is at:
http://vig.pearsoned.co.uk/catalog/uploads/STBM_C02.pdf
February 8/10 Sustainable Branding***, Chapter 7
Product Management Assignment Due on Feb. 10
***You may wish to read this document as a backgrounder to this class.
http://209.83.147.85/publications/files/Capturing_Green_Advantage_Consumer_Comp anies_Jan_2009.pdf
February 15/17 Chapter 8
February 22/24 Reading Week, no classes
March 1 Chapter 16
March 3 Product Management Exam
Pricing:
March 8/10 Product Management exam review, Ch. 1 and 2 (start) March 15/17 Chapter 2 (finish) and Chapter 9
March 22/24 Chapters 3, 8 March 29/31 Chapters 4 and 5
Pricing Assignment Due on March 31
April 5/7 Chapters 6 and 7 (begin)
April 12 Chapter 7 (finish)
The two hour final (pricing) exam will be held on the date and time specified by the University of Alberta.
MARK 472-PRODUCT MANAGEMENT ASSIGNMENT–WINTER 2011
This assignment is due at the start of class on February 10, and is worth 20% of your overall course mark. Successful completion will require an in depth use of the applicable course readings and your product management class notes, and relevant secondary research sources.
Find a magazine or newspaper advertisement for one brand of your choosing, and then answer the following questions:
1./ Analyze the brand’s current position in terms of its key differentiating attributes and current market position. Ensure your answer is based on the product/brand in the ad, and not the overall brand/parent company. (2%)
2./ Develop a customer based brand equity management plan for this brand.
Ensure you use the frameworks discussed in this course. (10%)
3./ Could this brand’s category be considered attractive? To complete this question, you will need to complete a category attractiveness analysis (see figure 4.11), and to provide a summary based on this analysis. (8%)
Notes:
(a)/ You are to work independently of others on this assignment. Secondary data that supports your analysis is expected, and students are required to carefully reference all of their sources in this assignment (improper referencing will result in a loss of at least 1% in your mark). For a guide to referencing format, students can find guidance on APA (American Psychological Association) formatting at
http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/apa/index.cfm
(b)/ You are limited to five pages, double-spaced (12 point font) for your write-up, ignoring exhibits (exhibits should include your ad, and a completed figure 4.11 from the text). Please note that the instructor will not read information beyond the five page maximum, and will penalize papers where the font is less than 12 point and/or the spacing is less than double.
MARK 472 - PRICING ASSIGNMENT – WINTER 2011
This assignment is due at the start of class on March 31, and is worth 15% of your overall course mark.
1./ Please read the article “Big grocers facing pricing pitfalls” from
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/big-grocers-facing- pricing-pitfalls/article1798940/
and then answer the following questions.
a./ What are the key factors that grocery stores have to consider when setting their prices? (3%)
b./ What recommendations do you have that would help the grocers deal with the key factors you identified in (a)? (3%)
c./ Can the grocery stores use a segmentation strategy to increase their profits?
Support your answer. (2%)
d./ How could the grocers better utilize transfer pricing to increase their profitability?
(2%)
2./ Ajax Manufacturing has developed a new type of seat belt that is easier to install and more comfortable to wear than the seat belts now in use. Standard seat belts sell to automobile manufacturers for $5.00 each. The labour cost to install them is $3.00 each.
The new belts take 10% less time to install with the resulting labour cost of $2.70 per belt. Marketing research performed by Ajax has determined that car buyers would be willing to pay $50.00 more for a car equipped with the new belts. Since car
manufacturers normally earn a 50% mark-up, this equals an added profit of $25.00 per car. The cost to Ajax of the new belt is $10.00, and the current strategy calls for a price of $15.00 each. A typical car requires five seat belts. (8% total, two pages maximum) a./ What is the economic value of the new seat belt to automotive manufacturers?
Justify your answer. (3%)
b./ Would you charge your customers a price equal to the economic value calculated in part (a)? Why or why not? (2 %)
Notes:
(a)/ You are limited to four pages, double-spaced (12 point font) for your write-up.
Please note that the instructor will not read information beyond the four page maximum, and will penalize papers where the font is less than 12 point and/or the spacing is less than double.
