Longwood University

MARK 380 Principles of Marketing

Introduction

Welcome to MARK 380, Principles of Marketing. The purpose of this document is to provide you with detailed information about my expectations and course policies, as well as some tips, tricks and suggestions about how to get the most out of this course. In order to make this document more useful as a quick reference, I formatted it using the MS Word outlining facility. To take advantage of the format, switch to the outline view either by clicking on the rightmost icon in the lower right hand corner of the document window, or selecting View>Outline (alt-v>o) on the menu bar. You can then use the plus (+) and minus (-) keys in the nine-key number pad on your keyboard, or the plus/minus icons or the “show level” window on the “outline” menu bar to expand and collapse headings. This will allow you to quickly navigate to a particular subject.

Required Text

Marketing 8^th ed., Kerin, Hartley, Berkowitz and Rudelius;
McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2006;
ISBN (text only) 0-07-282880-3
                ISBN (text plus access code for study materials) 0-07-308015-2.

 I have been told that the text plus access code for online study materials would be the same price as the text only, if purchased new. If you buy a used copy, or from a source other than the bookstore, you may not get the access code. In any case, the code will not be required to complete the course. If you get the code, you will be able to access additional study materials, which you may find useful.

Catalog Description

An introduction to the functions of marketing in our economy with particular attention to the influence of social, economic, ethical and technological forces on marketing activities.  Problems and policies involved in the marketing of goods and services.

Prerequisites

ACCT 242, ECON 217 and permission of the instructor.

Course Objectives

·         Introduce the “marketing concept” and its implementation in the world of business.

·         Generate an in-depth awareness of the basic elements of the “Four Ps” (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) of the Marketing Mix.

·         Develop an understanding of general strategic marketing issues such as opportunity analysis, market segmentation and target market selection.

·         Develop various analytical skills relating to the marketing process.

·         Apply theory to practice through a simplified marketing plan.

·         Integrate ethical and international business considerations into all discussions.

·         Compare and contrast the application of marketing principals to goods, services, for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises.

Course Content

The course consists of 8 learning modules plus a course project. Each module will consist of a reading assignment, one or more topics to be discussed on the Discussion Board (DB) in Blackboard, and one or two module projects (MP) consisting of one or more short essay assignments. All supplemental material will be online, either in downloadable documents or links in the learning module folder.

There will be two regularly scheduled one-hour opportunities for real-time interaction online each week. These will be open discussion in the chat facility. I will have some proposed talking points for each session, but we will discuss whatever you all want. I also will be available to discuss any topic, course related or not, in one-on-one private chat sessions, by appointment. Participation in any of these sessions is purely voluntary and will not be graded. The lecture sessions are scheduled initially for 7:00p on Wednesdays and 9:00a Saturdays. All times are Eastern Time, and we will confirm or adjust them as necessary to accommodate as many participants as possible.

In order to provide you the maximum flexibility in managing your time, however, each module will open two days before the scheduled start of the module, and close midnight of the last scheduled date of the module. All postings and deliverables are due by midnight Eastern Time of the last day of the module unless prior arrangements have been made in writing (e-mail will suffice).

General Grading Criteria

My expectations and grading approach are based on my philosophy. There is no “curve” in this course. Each student’s work will be graded against a fixed set of standards, and so each student will get the grade s/he earns. If everyone earns an “A,” everyone gets an “A.” This also applies to the other end of the scale and every point in between. When I grade assignments other than objective quizzes or exams, I ask “Which of these statements best describes what I see before me relative to what I should see (i.e. the assignment)?”

The grade is the letter that corresponds to the phrase that best describes the work. I assign and report fractional grades (plus or minus) as appropriate.

While I do not normally explicitly penalize spelling or grammatical errors, I expect all deliverables to present a neat, professional appearance. I provide templates for all course assignments. The assignment length guidelines assume 8.5” by 11” paper, 1” margins top, bottom and both sides, single spacing and 12 point proportional font (e.g. Times Roman). If you prefer a different format, you can adjust the assignment length accordingly. If you prefer to double space text, for example, you should double the number of pages allowed for each assignment.

As in business communications, more than a minimal number of errors reflects poorly on the quality of the work, and can undermine the credibility of the writer’s message. Poor writing can also make the writer’s meaning less clear and unclear communications leads to misinterpretation. Poor writing will be implicitly penalized to the extent that it undermines my ability to understand what you are trying to say. I will also penalize sloppy work that violates basic rules of punctuation, capitalization, and grammar because it reflects a lack of respect for the reader, and a lack of self-respect on the part of the writer. MS Word provides excellent tools in the form of a spell checker and grammar checker. Use them, but remember they can be fooled. The spell checker, for example, will not detect using “there” in place of “their” or “they’re.” Careful personal proof reading is still essential. Providing a thorough, well supported response to the assignments within the allowed, somewhat limited space is an advanced assignment, so I also take a great deal of offense at signs that the writer padded his/her response by expanding white space, increasing font size, etc. rather than put forth the appropriate effort.

Although it is critical for many reasons that you keep up with your school work, sometimes things come up in real life that are unavoidable. I will accept any assignment any time before the end of the course, but there will normally be a fractional grade per day penalty, capped at five fractions. As long as you contact me before the due date of the assignment, I can usually be fairly flexible in providing extensions, but the situation changes significantly once grades and feedback have been posted. Bottom line: do everything you can to keep up with your work because you can’t afford to let things back up on you. But if something comes up, contact me as soon as possible so that we can have maximum flexibility to deal with it.

Due to University deadlines, I cannot accept any work after the end of the course unless prior arrangements have been made for an incomplete. Regardless of these policies or those of the University, please do not assume that nothing can be done to help you in the case of a bona fide emergency. Please contact me immediately if any sort of problem arises. I can be reached via University e-mail or voice mail at my office phone number. I check both contact points at least once each day, so if you don’t hear from me within 24 hours, assume the message did not get through and try again.

Discussion Board

The purpose of the Discussion Board is to provide an opportunity for you to apply the concepts presented in an interactive discussion. Ideally, each participant would post an initial response to the topic(s) early in the assigned time frame, and then we would spend at least a few days responding to and refining the most promising threads. In order to have time for at least a couple of rounds of responses, we would need to do the initial postings on Day 1 or Day 2 of the module. Before that, of course, comes the reading and course materials. While real life tends to interfere with the ideal, we should come as close as we can.

Grading

I grade Discussion Boards (DB) holistically; that is, I evaluate the totality of each person’s postings in the discussion as a single performance. That means that you can start off slowly, but still score top points by developing your contribution over a series of postings. Quality, as usual, is more important than quantity, so you can also score top points with minimum postings (an initial short essay and two responses to a classmate). As a practical matter, the minimum posting strategy puts all of your eggs in one basket. Those three postings have to be excellent, whereas the multiple postings approach provides an opportunity to recover from a weak early entry. More importantly, the multiple posting approach is more consistent with the Board as an ongoing discussion. The more you participate, the more you get out of it.

Similar reasoning applies to the timing of your postings. As long as you meet the posted deadline, appropriate credit will be given. You should try to post as early in the week as you can, however, because posting late in the week limits your ability to participate fully in the discussion. My quality expectations also increase as the week goes on. Since those who post later in the week have the benefit of both more time to prepare their posts, and the opportunity to observe other people’s posts, it seems only fair to expect more. It is still possible to get top scores with minimum postings immediately before the deadline, but the quality would have to be amazing, and I do take the patterns of timing into consideration: participation throughout the time that we are working on the module gets more credit than 3 postings on one or two dates.

My criteria for grading discussion boards are the same as outlined earlier. Specifically:

·         The depth of the analysis: how well you EXPLAIN your reasoning is much more so than the "answer" that you come up with. A bare answer without a persuasive explanation of the reasoning doesn’t earn many points. Remember that I emphasize the use of conceptual frameworks to guide analysis and decision making.

·         The responsiveness of the answer to the question: do you stick to the point, or do you get lost on tangents, personal opinions, political observations, etc.? One advantage that the Discussion Board has over face-to-face discussion is that you can carefully reread the problem and the question it poses after you’ve drafted your posting AND BEFORE you actually post!

·         The skill with which the answer applies the important material from the reading to the questions asked in the assignment: this means you need to spot the issue raised by each discussion board problem, then be able to associate that issue with the correct rule or principle you need to analyze the issue.

·         The effectiveness of the expression of the reasoning (writing skill).

·         And the coherence of the development of the answer (communication skill).

·         Are you demonstrating independent thought, or are you latching on to what your classmates have already said? A response to a posting that you agree with should include either a counterpoint to or elaboration on some aspect of the posting, the idea being to add materially to the content of the discussion.

The specific rubric I use to grade the DB is:

The two most common errors are 1) stating unsupported personal opinions as fact and 2) failing to engage fully in the discussion by not responding to other students’ postings. Though some of the assignments do not explicitly require response to other students, such a requirement is implied in the term “Discussion Board.” If two-way give and take weren’t required it would be called something like “Bulletin Board.” Opinions are indeed called for, but the purpose of the course is to provide you with concepts that you can use in real life. This means that you should practice and demonstrate your ability to apply Marketing concepts to support your opinions in specific instances. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with the concepts. Demonstrating a thorough understanding of a concept in the process of disagreeing with it is also valuable input to the discussion.

How to turn in Discussion Board postings

You can type postings directly into the input window, but if your online time is limited, or if your connection is too slow, you may want to prepare your primary posting in MS Word, apply the spelling and grammar checkers, then copy and paste the text into the DB input window. This technique might be especially useful for your initial posts, which tend to be longer than responses to the other participants. In either case, be sure to use spell-check and proof read your postings. Yes, the DB is informal, but sloppy work, egregious misspellings and punctuation errors etc. communicate a lack of respect for the readers and so should be avoided even in an informal setting. You might also consider using a CRT friendly font like Tahoma or Verdana rather than the considerably bulkier Times Roman that is the default on most systems. Do NOT post DB inputs as attached files! Not only are they a hassle for other participants to read (especially those with slower connections), but they slow down the grading process tremendously.

Another difficulty arises when someone posts to the DB after the learning module closes. I pick up all work for each module on the morning after the deliverables are due. Searching a DB for new postings is very difficult and time consuming. Furthermore, it is unlikely that anyone ever goes back to a previous DB, so there is no point to posting input there after the fact. That discussion is over! For all of these reasons, I will not revisit any DB after I download that DB’s content. If you failed to make the midnight deadline for some reason, send a file containing all DB input to me as an e-mail attachment.

Module Projects

Like the DB assignments, the purpose of the Module Projects (MP) is to let you practice and demonstrate your ability to apply Marketing concepts (primarily the ones in the Module’s learning materials) to specific situations. One to three questions will be posed about the major topics in the readings and learning materials, to which you are to provide a short essay answer of three to five paragraphs.

Grading

I will grade the responses holistically, using the general criteria described earlier. Focus on explicitly applying one or more relevant concepts in developing responses to the questions posed about each situation. The most common errors include simply listing passages from the text without applying them to the situation laid out in the assignment or trying to include every possible concept from the book. It is far better to apply a few concepts in a thorough well-integrated manner than to merely mention a half a dozen concepts. The mere mention of a concept provides no evidence that you understand the concept or apply it in real life decision making.

Some procedures and tips

In contrast to Discussion Board, I advise you to take as much time as possible to complete Module Projects. There is no benefit to turning in an MP before the deadline. Quite the contrary, providing a thorough, well supported response within the allowed space is an advanced assignment, and will require careful thought and more than one revision by all but a very few extraordinarily articulate people. Winston Churchill is supposed to have said, “If you want me to speak for two minutes, it will take me three weeks of preparation … If you want me to speak for an hour, I am ready now.”

I suggest either of two approaches to the MPs. One is to write an initial response before you read the text assignment or view the online learning materials, then revise the response in light of what you learn from the learning materials. The other is to write your response after completing the learning materials. The first option can help you focus better on the learning materials, while the second is likely to result in a better first draft. In either case, you should complete your first draft at least a day before you have to prepare your final draft. You should also complete the final draft at least a few hours before it is due, and then reread it one last time just before you turn it in. Putting your thoughts down on paper is an excellent tool for sharpening your critical thinking and communications skills, and repeatedly revising successively better drafts is the secret essential ingredient.

How to turn in Module Projects

A document or template is provided for each MP using the Assignment function of Blackboard. Download the document, complete the assignment, save it as a MS Word file and turn it in using the Assignment feature. I suggest you develop a simple naming convention that causes Windows directories to sort all of your deliverables in a way that makes sense to you. I use the two letter abbreviation for the type assignment (MP, DB, CP) followed by the module number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and the student’s name. For modules with more than one assignment of a given type I add “a” or “b” for each assignment of that type. So I would name the second MP of module 2 turned in by John Smith “MP2aSmith”. So when I look at the folder in which I keep everyone’s assignments, all of the MP2As are together, sorted in alphabetical order by author’s name. You may find a different sorting scheme more suitable for your purposes (e.g. with the name of the assignment in the file name), but following a consistent convention will help you keep track of what you have done.

Course Project

The Course Project (CP) is an abbreviated marketing plan using a template that I will provide you. In essence, the template provides you a set of cues to which you are to write very brief (1 to 3 sentence) responses that, when taken together, outline a viable plan of action. The purpose of the assignment is to give you the opportunity to make a set of marketing decisions about a product that you chose. As in the other assignments, the decisions you make are less critical than your reasoning and how well you apply the concepts from the learning materials.

Grading

I look for a Marketing plan that includes 1) a complete set of decisions that are 2) consistent with one another and 3) with the situation you lay out at the start of the project, and 4) for explanations that indicate that you understand the issues and concepts involved. One of the most common errors is to merely provide fragmentary decisions without using material from the text and discussions to explain why you made those decisions. Options for each decision point and the criteria for selecting each option are discussed in the book. Every option is valid under some circumstances and questionable in others. In order to receive full credit for a decision, you must provide a sentence or two explaining why you think the option you chose is appropriate given your objectives, the situation and your other decisions.

Procedures and tips

You may choose any product you wish as the subject for your plan. People whose family has a business, or who have ideas for products they are considering making and selling often write marketing plans for those things. Others take the point of view of the brand manager of an existing product as their plan in a sense says “if I were in charge of this product, this is how I’d market it.” If you decide to take this approach, you can do it the way you think the company is actually doing it, take a totally different approach, or some combination of the two. Remember, the key is not just what you do, but why you do it. So if you are marketing an existing product, you have to explain why you would or would not do it the way the current managers are doing it. The third approach is to make up a product. For the purposes of this project, it doesn’t matter whether the product is even possible, as long as you focus on how you would market it if it were possible to make it. I once had a student write an excellent plan for an electronic helmet that could be used to help students learn (among other things) Marketing! The most important thing is to pick a product in which you are interested, and about which you have some knowledge. That will help you stay involved and enthusiastic as you work on the project.

A number of the Module Projects will consist of filling out the portion of the Marketing plan template that corresponds to the topic for that module. The process of making the decisions for the Marketing plan should help reinforce the learning that comes from doing the other work, especially by helping uncover any questions or misunderstandings you may have. While you are not required to write these assignments on the same topic as your Course Project, I encourage you to do so. It will help unify the course material for you and make it more “real.” If you use the MPs to draft your CP, however, be sure to revise those sections of CP to resolve any inconsistencies and to apply concepts you learned later in the course. Merely copying and pasting the MPs into the CP will almost certainly result in a poorly developed plan with many inconsistencies between sections, even if the individual pieces got good grades on their own.

How to turn in Course Project

The procedures for downloading and turning in the Course Project are the same as for the MPs.

Course Grades

The means of the quality points for the Discussion Board and Module Projects will be averaged with the quality points for the Course Project to assign the overall course grade. In other words, I will calculate the average quality points for the Discussion Board grades (rounded to 1 decimal place), the average quality points for each set of Module Projects (rounded to 1 decimal point), then average those three values with the quality points corresponding to the grade for the Course Project, and round the result to the nearest value corresponding with a letter grade in the table in the section on the DB grades. Before calculating the DB and MP averages, however, I will drop the lowest grade in each.

Numerical example

Let’s say that you got 4 “A”s and 3 “B”s and a “C” in the DBs. The overall DB grade would be ((4 x 4.0) + (3 x 3.0)) = 25 divided by 7 or 3.57 which rounds off to 3.6 (remember the “C” would be dropped). Let’s also say that the same calculation for the “a” MPs resulted in a 3.4, for the “b” MPs a 2.0 and the grade for the CP was “A-“ or 3.7. The overall course average would be (3.6 + 3.4 + 2.0+ 3.7) = 12.7 divided by 4 which is 3.17, which is closer to 3.3 than to 3.0, so you would get an “B+“ for the course.

Grade disputes

In case of a grade dispute, the University policies will be followed as outlined in the current University Catalog. Since the grading process essentially a communication device, though, the logical first step is to discuss any apparent discrepancy with the instructor who assigned the grade. I will be happy to discuss and clarify any aspect of your grade at any time. Save all in-class exercises and graded materials.

Other Considerations and Requirements

Honor Code

I strongly support the Longwood University Honor Code and the College of Business Academic Dishonesty Policy which reads:

“Cheating in any form will not be tolerated in the College of Business and Economics. If the instructor determines that a student has cheated on an assignment, the grade of “F” may be assigned for the assignment or the entire course. ‘Cheating’ is the provision and/or use of unauthorized resources and/or work of another, including but not limited to, homework, tests, papers, presentations and exams. Unless specifically instructed otherwise, students are to assume that all course work is to be the work of the individual student alone. If a student is unsure as to whether collaboration is permitted, the professor should be contacted in advance of performing the work.”

There are no group assignments in this course. I encourage you to discuss course materials and assignments with one and other (as in a study group), but all materials presented to me for credit must be the work of that person alone. Once a charge of academic dishonesty has been upheld in the honor code process, grade of zero or “F” will be recorded for the assignment in question.

All papers submitted in this course are subject to evaluation using plagiarism detection software. Plagiarism is a violation of the honor code. While I am very opposed to plagiarism and other forms of cheating, it has been my experience that most apparent episodes of theft of intellectual property are due to a lack of understanding about how to properly use sources. As long as enough information is provided so that the reader can easily find the original source, the requirements of academic honesty are usually met. Please feel free to consult with me any time you are in doubt about matters of academic honesty. I will be more than happy to help you use outside sources properly.

Ethics will be integrated throughout the course, to include the conduct of the class members. Any inappropriate behavior, to include threatening or belittling the instructor or another student, inappropriate language or other disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Only one warning will be given. A second episode will result in the student leaving the class until s/he receives written permission from the instructor to return.

Attendance

Traditional notions of attendance have little relevance in the online environment, but you encounter a situation that will keep you from meeting course deadlines, you should contact me as soon as possible. Any request for an excused absence must be accompanied by documentation. If the situation is due to participation in a University sponsored activity, a clear emergency or serious illness, it will normally be considered an “excused absence,” and the student should coordinate with me as soon as possible to make up any missed assignments. If a legitimate conflict with another scheduled graded exercise (normally in another course) exists, report it at the earliest possible time before the event, so that alternative arrangements can be worked out. Anyone who misses a graded exercise without communicating with me in advance, or providing documentation of a bona fide emergency, will not be allowed to complete the exercise for a grade. Failing to turn in 10% of graded assignments (DBs and MPs) will result in the course grade being reduced by one full letter grade. Failing to turn in 25% of MPs and DBs or the Course Project will result in a failing grade for the course.

Add/Drop

Add/Drop will be in accordance with University policy and the current semester schedule. Due to the compressed schedule, the add, drop and withdraw dates are very close to the start of the term, so you need to make your decisions and act quickly. The specific dates are:

Course start:                                                Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Last day to drop:                                Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Last day to submit work for grade:      Saturday, April 28, 2007 by midnight

Accessibility

Any students who have particular learning needs are encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Support Services (434.395.2391), and to confer with me at the earliest convenience. Any accommodations that are arranged with the Office of Disability will be handled in the most matter of course and in as confidential a manner possible.

Suggested work routine

I suggest you establish a routine similar to the following:

Day 1 – Read the text and complete the online learning materials and activities. Review the Module assignments; drafting an initial response to the MP is optional at this time. Start by reading the table of contents, then the detailed table of contents, and then skim the chapters, paying special attention to tables, figures and exhibits. Once you have a firm sense of the way the material is organized, read the text in detail. Don’t forget the “Chapter in Review” and “Building Your Marketing Plan” at the end of each chapter.

No later than the day 3 of the module – Complete your initial DB posting.

No later than the day 5 – Complete the first draft of the MP deliverables.

No later than the day 5 – Complete at least one response to a classmate’s DB posting.

No later than the next to last day – Complete at least one revision of the MP deliverables

Last day of the module – Finalize MP deliverable and turn it in via the Assignment process. Complete at least one response to a classmate’s DB posting. This is essential if you have not already provided at least two responses by Saturday, recommended if you have.

Conclusion

Although these guidelines are pretty stringent in some instances, they are intended to help you keep up with the course, and to get the most out of your efforts. Having been a working student myself, I am well aware that things happen, so I am prepared to work with you as long as you work with me. If anything whatsoever arises, please contact me, or have someone contact me on your behalf at the first possible opportunity. You can contact me via University e‑mail (gaskinsjn@longwood.edu) or University voice mail (1-434-395-2216). I check these points of contact about once a day, so if you don’t hear back from me after 24 hours, try again, because the message has not gotten through for some reason. Good luck. I am looking forward to working with you.

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