Course Syllabus

Course Information

MKT 6301.502– Marketing Management

Thursday 7 – 9:45 pm, SOM 1.107, Fall 2010

Professor Contact Information

Instructor: Prof. Ashutosh Prasad TA: Parneet Pahwa

Tel: (972) 883-2027 Tel. 972-883-6271
E-mail: aprasad@utdallas.edu E-mail: pxp030100@utdallas.edu
Office: SOM 3.221 Office: SOM 3.604
Office Hours: Tuesday 4-7pm or by appointment Office hours TBA

FYI, please use the above and not eLearning for sending us email.

Course Pre-requisites, Co-requisites, and/or Other Restrictions

N/A

Course Description

The objective of the core marketing course is to provide a thorough understanding of

contemporary marketing theory and practice. It will offer insight into the manner in which
consumer wants and needs are transformed into a firm’s strategies and tactics, and prepare
students for the marketing challenges of the 21st century presented by rapid globalization and
technology advances. We discuss consumer behavior and cover the segmentation, targeting and
positioning strategic framework. Attention is devoted to specific marketing mix decisions to help
execute a marketing strategy effectively. Topics covered include marketing strategy, ethics,
advertising, product development, pricing, channels and retailing. Several HBS cases are
analyzed to explore the application of course concepts and tools. Teamwork is emphasized.
Students will form groups at the beginning of the semester and working as a group, complete a
project report and present it.

Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes

- Students will learn to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the strategic
business unit, and how to leverage these in strategy formulation. Assessed by test questions.

- Student will be able to explain with examples how marketing actions can influence the consumer decision
making process. Assessed by test questions.

Course Syllabus Page 1

- Student will be able to identify competitors and formulate contingent strategies to respond to competitive
actions. Assessed by test questions.

Required Textbook and Materials

Textbook
Marketing Management, Russell S. Winer, Pearson Prentice Hall, 4th Edition, 2011.
The textbook release has been delayed by a few days, so the publisher has offered online access
to the first four chapters. Information to access the chapters will be given in class.

Cases
The UTD bookstore and off campus bookstore will have a case packet with the five HBS cases
assigned for the class. The cases are:
Colgate-Palmolive Co: The Precision Toothbrush
Clocky: The Runaway Alarm Clock
Mary Kay Asian Market Entry (A)
Virgin Mobile USA: Pricing for the Very First Time
Marketing James Patterson

Overheads
Overhead slides in MS PowerPoint are available for download from www.utdallas.edu/~aprasad.
The instructor will explain how to access the materials in class.

Content Management System

The university provides eLearning for secure communication of grades. We will use it for the
grade book and discussion functionality.

Assignments & Academic Calendar

Date Topics Readings / HW Due

Session 1 Introduction to Marketing Ch. 1

Thu, Aug 19 Syllabus review

Session 2 Strategic Marketing Framework Ch. 2

Thu, Aug 26

Session 3 Consumer Behavior Ch. 4

Thu, Sep 2 Instructor discusses case: Colgate- Form groups
Palmolive Read Case

Session 4 Market Structure & Competitor Analysis Ch. 6

Thu, Sep 9 Discuss project ideas with
instructor & finalize

Session 5 Product Decisions Ch. 7

Thu, Sep 16 Half of even numbered groups present Read Case. All even
case: Marketing James Patterson numbered groups submit
case report.

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Session 6 Ch. 8
Thu, Sep 23 New Product Development

Session 7
Thu, Sep 30 Exam I (Ch, 1,2, 4, 6, 7, 8)

Session 8 Pricing Ch. 9

Thu, Oct 7 Half of odd numbered groups present Read case. All odd numbered
case: Clocky groups submit case report.

Session 9 Communications & Advertising Strategy Ch. 10

Thu, Oct 14 Half of even numbered groups present Read case. All even
case: Virgin Mobile numbered groups submit
case report.
Session 10 Sales Promotion Ch. 11
Thu, Oct 21

Session 11 Channels of Distribution Ch. 12

Thu, Oct 28

Session 12 Guest lecture Read case. All odd numbered

Thu, Nov 4 Half of odd numbered groups present groups submit case report.
case: Mary Kay
Session 13 Direct Channels Ch. 13
Thu, Nov 11 Guest lecture

Session 14 All even numbered groups do Project All groups email Project
Thu, Nov 18 Presentations Reports by the start of class
Synopsis & Review Return peer evaluation form

Nov 25-28 is Thanksgiving

Session 15 All odd numbered groups do Project
Thu, Dec 2 Presentations

Dec 7-8 Reading Days. No class.

Thu Dec 9 Exam II (Ch. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)

Grading Policy

Activity Score
Exam I 30%
Exam II 20%
Project report (1) 10%
Project presentation (1) 5%
Case Report (2) 10%
Case Presentation (1) 5%
Peer evaluation 10%
Attendance & CP 10%

Course Syllabus Page 3

 Grades will be posted online. Any grade dispute should be submitted in writing within one week of
the assignment of the grade. Reports are due at the beginning of class. Late submissions will not
be accepted. Project report grades will be available within about a week of their submission.

The grading scale is applied after rounding the total score to the nearest integer. The cutoffs are:
A+=90, A=87, A-=84, B+=81, B=78, B-=75, C+=72, C=69, C-=66, D+=63, D=60 and below
that is F.

Course & Instructor Policies

Exams:
The exams consist of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks and short answer questions. If it is
necessary to miss an exam (e.g. for emergencies), we may double the other exam’s score and
subtract a penalty. Makeup exams will not be given.
Attendance and Class Participation
Class time will be spent on especially important, interesting or difficult topics. However,
students are responsible for all of the information in the chapter whether it is explicitly
covered in class or not. You are expected to attend all sessions and to have read and
reflected on the material to be covered in class. You are encouraged to raise discussion of
current issues that are relevant to the topics discussed. Three absences are allowed without
penalty. Else, subtract a point for each absence. Class participation scores will be based upon
the quality of input, responses, questions and in-class activities. Please avoid annoying others
by being noisy or surfing the web.
Project report:
Each group and the instructor will agree on a new product idea. The group will develop a
marketing plan for it over the course of the semester. The write-up should not exceed 10
pages. Appendices may be attached if necessary. It should be sent to the instructor by email
in MS Word and PDF formats. The project reports will be graded as A (100%), B (80%), C
(60%) or, if the report is not timely submitted or reveals a cursory effort, F (0%). The
following is a possible way (but not necessarily the only way) to organize the report:
1. Title page and Table of contents
2. A one page executive summary.
3. A description of the company, its goals, its core competencies. It may be assumed
that the firm is a startup with $200,000 initial budget.
4. An introduction to the product (or service). What is the need that you aim to
satisfy? How does the proposed product satisfy this need?
5. Situation analysis
a. Summarize with a SWOT table. What are the costs like? What is the
environment – competition, PEST factors.
6. The customer
a. Is the market segmented? What is the product-market the firm is seeking to
enter?
b. Describe the target market.
c. Provide a positioning statement. Make clear what the point of difference, or
differentiating attribute, is for the product vs. competition.

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 7. Marketing program:
a. Product: brand name, package, etc. Provide a drawing (does not have to be art
quality)
b. Promotion: Message, targeted to?, media (TV, Radio, Print, Internet).
c. Distribution
d. Price: Including discounts, incentives, etc.
8. Estimate the market potential and forecast what market share your product would
capture in a 3 year time period: Give a brief description of how you arrived at these
numbers. When will break-even be achieved? Summarize the information with a
table of financial projections showing sales in units and dollars, costs and profits.
9. Time frame for national or regional rollout (show with a table).
10. Evaluation and Control – a brief comment about what might change in the plan if
sales vary from projections.
11. References and Appendices, if any are needed.
Project presentation:
Each group will present its project to the class. The amount of time per presentation
depends on enrollment and hence TBA. Please provide each group member with some
speaking role. The scoring will be A (100%), B (80%), C (50%) or, for no-shows or obvious
lack of effort, F (0%). Evaluation of the presentation is based on content and style:
Content:
1. Is the plan presented in a structured and comprehendible manner? Are the visuals
clear?
2. Is the plan well thought out, based on an understanding of the customer’s needs and
strategic analysis, providing a clear point of difference of the product or service to
the target market, fully detailed about the 4Ps, and consistent?
3. Do the projections on the size of the market, the breakeven demand, and the profit
potential appear reasonable?
4. Does it make a compelling case? (for action, such as investment)
Style:
1. Was the presentation interesting and engaging?
2. Did speakers come across as smart, practiced, confident, polite in addressing
questions?
3. Was there clarity of communication – speed and loudness of talk, able to finish in
time, no distracting habits.
Peer Evaluation
To ensure that each group member performs responsibly, a portion of the grade will be
based on a peer evaluation conducted at the end of the semester. The peer evaluation form
is included here. It should be filled out and returned to the instructor on the last day of the
class.

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 Confidential
Peer Evaluation Form for Group Project

The purpose of this evaluation is to measure the contribution of each member to the group effort.
Each member will rate the relative contribution of all members in the group on a 10-point scale.
The average of these ratings will be the peer evaluation score. For example, if you rate your
contribution 8, and other members rate you 9, 8 and 9, then your peer evaluation will be 8.5. You
should be honest and impartial in your evaluations. The instructor reserves the right to correct
and/or discard evaluations that are questionable. Please use the scale shown below:

No contribution Contributed
at all a lot
┌───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┐
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Enter the name of each Rate the member’s Please provide some justification for your rating
group member, yourself contribution on the below. Use back of form if required.
first, below. 1 to 10 scale:
1. Your Name:

2.

3.

4.

5.

Please seal and return this form to the instructor

Course Syllabus Page 6

Student Conduct & Discipline

The University of Texas System and The University of Texas at Dallas have rules and regulations
for the orderly and efficient conduct of their business. It is the responsibility of each student and
each student organization to be knowledgeable about the rules and regulations which govern
student conduct and activities. General information on student conduct and discipline is contained
in the UTD publication, A to Z Guide, which is provided to all registered students each academic
year.

The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the procedures of
recognized and established due process. Procedures are defined and described in the Rules and
Regulations, Series 50000, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, and in Title V,
Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures.
Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of
Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and
regulations (SU 1.602, 972/883-6391).

A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the responsibilities of citizenship.
He or she is expected to obey federal, state, and local laws as well as the Regents’ Rules,
university regulations, and administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for violating the
standards of conduct whether such conduct takes place on or off campus, or whether civil or
criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.

Academic Integrity

The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and academic honesty. Because
the value of an academic degree depends upon the absolute integrity of the work done by the
student for that degree, it is imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of individual
honor in his or her scholastic work.

Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, statements, acts or omissions related to
applications for enrollment or the award of a degree, and/or the submission as one’s own work or
material that is not one’s own. As a general rule, scholastic dishonesty involves one of the
following acts: cheating, plagiarism, collusion and/or falsifying academic records. Students
suspected of academic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary proceedings.

Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other classes, and from any other
source is unacceptable and will be dealt with under the university’s policy on plagiarism (see
general catalog for details). This course will use the resources of turnitin.com, which searches the
web for possible plagiarism and is over 90% effective.

Email Use

The University of Texas at Dallas recognizes the value and efficiency of communication between
faculty/staff and students through electronic mail. At the same time, email raises some issues
concerning security and the identity of each individual in an email exchange. The university
encourages all official student email correspondence be sent only to a student’s U.T. Dallas email
address and that faculty and staff consider email from students official only if it originates from a
UTD student account. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence in the
identity of all individual corresponding and the security of the transmitted information. UTD
furnishes each student with a free email account that is to be used in all communication with
university personnel. The Department of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas provides a method
for students to have their U.T. Dallas mail forwarded to other accounts.

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Withdrawal from Class

The administration of this institution has set deadlines for withdrawal of any college-level courses.
These dates and times are published in that semester's course catalog. Administration procedures
must be followed. It is the student's responsibility to handle withdrawal requirements from any
class. In other words, I cannot drop or withdraw any student. You must do the proper paperwork
to ensure that you will not receive a final grade of "F" in a course if you choose not to attend the
class once you are enrolled.

Student Grievance Procedures

Procedures for student grievances are found in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities,
of the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures.

In attempting to resolve any student grievance regarding grades, evaluations, or other fulfillments
of academic responsibility, it is the obligation of the student first to make a serious effort to
resolve the matter with the instructor, supervisor, administrator, or committee with whom the
grievance originates (hereafter called “the respondent”). Individual faculty members retain
primary responsibility for assigning grades and evaluations. If the matter cannot be resolved at
that level, the grievance must be submitted in writing to the respondent with a copy of the
respondent’s School Dean. If the matter is not resolved by the written response provided by the
respondent, the student may submit a written appeal to the School Dean. If the grievance is not
resolved by the School Dean’s decision, the student may make a written appeal to the Dean of
Graduate or Undergraduate Education, and the deal will appoint and convene an Academic
Appeals Panel. The decision of the Academic Appeals Panel is final. The results of the academic
appeals process will be distributed to all involved parties.

Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of
Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and
regulations.

Incomplete Grade Policy

As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work unavoidably missed at
the semester’s end and only if 70% of the course work has been completed. An incomplete grade
must be resolved within eight (8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If the
required work to complete the course and to remove the incomplete grade is not submitted by the
specified deadline, the incomplete grade is changed automatically to a grade of F.

Disability Services

The goal of Disability Services is to provide students with disabilities educational opportunities
equal to those of their non-disabled peers. Disability Services is located in room 1.610 in the
Student Union. Office hours are Monday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday and
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The contact information for the Office of Disability Services is:

The University of Texas at Dallas, SU 22
PO Box 830688
Richardson, Texas 75083-0688
(972) 883-2098 (voice or TTY)

Essentially, the law requires that colleges and universities make those reasonable adjustments
necessary to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability. For example, it may be necessary
to remove classroom prohibitions against tape recorders or animals (in the case of dog guides) for

Course Syllabus Page 8

 students who are blind. Occasionally an assignment requirement may be substituted (for example,
a research paper versus an oral presentation for a student who is hearing impaired). Classes
enrolled students with mobility impairments may have to be rescheduled in accessible facilities.
The college or university may need to provide special services such as registration, note-taking, or
mobility assistance.

It is the student’s responsibility to notify his or her professors of the need for such an
accommodation. Disability Services provides students with letters to present to faculty members
to verify that the student has a disability and needs accommodations. Individuals requiring special
accommodation should contact the professor after class or during office hours.

Religious Holy Days

The University of Texas at Dallas will excuse a student from class or other required activities for
the travel to and observance of a religious holy day for a religion whose places of worship are
exempt from property tax under Section 11.20, Tax Code, Texas Code Annotated.

The student is encouraged to notify the instructor or activity sponsor as soon as possible regarding
the absence, preferably in advance of the assignment. The student, so excused, will be allowed to
take the exam or complete the assignment within a reasonable time after the absence: a period
equal to the length of the absence, up to a maximum of one week. A student who notifies the
instructor and completes any missed exam or assignment may not be penalized for the absence. A
student who fails to complete the exam or assignment within the prescribed period may receive a
failing grade for that exam or assignment.

If a student or an instructor disagrees about the nature of the absence [i.e., for the purpose of
observing a religious holy day] or if there is similar disagreement about whether the student has
been given a reasonable time to complete any missed assignments or examinations, either the
student or the instructor may request a ruling from the chief executive officer of the institution, or
his or her designee. The chief executive officer or designee must take into account the legislative
intent of TEC 51.911(b), and the student and instructor will abide by the decision of the chief
executive officer or designee.

These descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.

Course Syllabus Page 9