UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Department of Marketing, Business Economics, and Law MARKETING 472/B2 - PRODUCT MANAGEMENT AND PRICING
WINTER SESSION 2012 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: TR 9:30-10:45, 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
For the product management section of the course, the objectives are as follows:
1./ To gain an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of a ‘typical’ product manager, including an online environment.
2./ To develop the tools that allow a product manager to be successful, including:
brand equity – what it is, why it is important, how to develop and manage it, how to measure it
customer analysis
competition analysis
category analysis
forecasting
3./ To consider the implications of managing sustainable products (‘green marketing’).
4./ To be able to develop sound product strategies.
5./ To understand the key metrics associated with measuring the performance of products.
For the pricing section of the course, the objectives include:
1./ To understanding the concept of value in pricing – how to create, communicate, and manage it
2./ To understand what costs are relevant in pricing decisions.
3./ To calculate economic value, and understand its role in making informed pricing decisions.
4./ To develop pricing policies, keeping in mind the relationship between pricing and the other relevant issues facing the organization.
5./ To understand the key segmentation issues that pricers should consider in their pricing strategies.
6./ To understand the process of setting prices, as part of an integrated framework.
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
There is one assignment for each topic in the course. There is one assignment for each topic in the course. The product management assignment is included in this syllabus, and the pricing assignment will be available after Reading Week.
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 10/12 Course Introduction, Chapter 1 January 17/19 Chapter 3
January 24/26 Chapter 4, Competitive Intelligence* (skim pages 2-24 from)
*http://www.exinfm.com/training/pdfiles/course12-1.pdf January 31/February 2 Customer Based Brand Equity**
**The required reading for this week is at:
http://vig.pearsoned.co.uk/catalog/uploads/STBM_C02.pdf
February 7/9 Sustainable Branding***, Chapter 7
Product Management Assignment Due on Feb. 9
***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 14/16 Chapter 8
February 21/23 Reading Week, no classes
February 28 Chapter 16
March 1 Product Management Exam
Pricing:
March 6/8 Product Management exam review, Ch. 1 and 2 (start) March 13/15 Chapter 2 (finish) and Chapter 9
March 20/22 Chapters 3, 8 March 27/29 Chapters 4 and 5
Pricing Assignment Due on March 29
April 3/5 Chapters 6 and 7 (begin)
April 10/12 Chapter 7 (finish), course summary
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 2012
This assignment is due at the start of class on February 9, 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.