MARKETING IN A DIGITAL WORLD - 2023/4

Module Overview

To be competitive in today’s increasingly difficult and digital markets it is vital for companies to identify markets opportunities and challenges and react accordingly. Companies that aim to remain or enhance their competitiveness need to find ways to offer superior value to customers. This is where Marketing plays a vital role.

The module contains following main areas within Marketing:

1. Marketing is a function within the company and one session is aimed to define and locate Marketing within the organisation and discuss the common misconceptions about Marketing from other actors within the organisation. Further Marketing and the Marketing Strategy needs to align with the Corporate Strategy, therefore part of a session is devoted to Marketing strategy.


2. To develop and implement a Marketing strategy companies need knowledge about the market. This will be covered by first explaining its roots in microeconomics and then explaining and discussing ways to gather and analyse data. To support decision making in Marketing and deliver superior value knowledge about the two main actors is vital: customers and competitors. (understanding markets, market research, data-driven Marketing and consumer behaviour)


3. Based on this market knowledge companies can design and implemented offerings that have the potential to create superior customer value. Decisions on the Marketing instruments are the second core are within Marketing. The decision that have to be made are: 1) create a value proposition for a product or service and the brand around it, 2) determine an appropriate price or pricing model, 3) manage the communication to shape the brand, 4) select the sales channels and manage the sales process, 5) create a suitable environment at the customer contact points, 6) manage customer contact employees and 6) the processes and customer experience so that they add to creating superior value. (Marketing instruments)


4. The third core area of Marketing adds a time dimension to the above Marketing instruments, which is to create, maintain and enhance profitable relationships to customers. (Relationship Marketing)


5. Marketing is more and more under scrutiny to prove that above activities are effective and generate a return on investment. Therefore, one session within the module is devoted to presenting instruments to monitor and assess the success of Marketing activities. (Marketing Metrics)

Some contexts require the adaptation of Marketing activities. Many Marketing activities need adaptation if the target is not a consumer, but an organisation, e.g. a business or the government. The adaptation of Marketing towards B2B and non-profit settings will be blended into the other sessions

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

BENOIT Sabine (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Locating Marketing within the General Management, e.g. Development of the Marketing understanding 


• Understanding markets and customers, e.g. markets, consumer behaviour and segmentation


• Creating value propositions, e.g. products and services


• Price decisions, e.g. willingness to pay, price demand functions and price elasticity


• Sales and channel decisions, e.g. sales entities, multichannel management and channel integration


• Communication decisions, e.g. communicating superior value and communication channels


• Relationship Marketing, e.g. customer satisfaction and loyalty, complaint and recovery management


• Marketing Metrics, e.g. market share, margins and profit, customer lifetime value

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Group work: A new equivalent assignment / small project will be provided.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge of strategic and tactical methods and approaches, and the application of methods and knowledge in the form of applied group work projects. Students will run a simulation mimicking the scope of tasks of a marketing manager. Based thereon, they will delivery a piece of coursework reflecting on the simulation. Beyond the group work the students will also write an individual assignment.

Formative assessment

Different pieces of the group work focusing on different aspects in Marketing are part of the formative assessment. Students receive peer feedback during the group discussion, feedback from the module leader and feedback from the managerial co-teacher.

Summative assessment

Students submit a group presentation (50%) and one individual assignment (50%). The assignment builds on the theoretical knowledge and understanding of marketing as a subject. Students are asked to describe based on academic literature and critically discuss one theoretical concept and show how it is applied in the managerial world. 

Feedback

Feedback will be provided in the following forms: Written feedback on the group work and the individual assignment will be given on by the first marker and the moderator in the context of the marking grid uploaded on Surreylearn.

Module aims

• provide students with a rigorous foundation and tools for analysing and understanding the core decisions that have to be made in Marketing
• enable students to integrate theoretical concepts and models with practical application to business situations
• ensure that students discuss and share their ideas and insights with professionals in business as a basis for good business practice
• enable students to understand the contribution marketing can make to business success

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to provide a range of delivery methods in a blended way to facilitate the development of skills in the areas set out above.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Presentations, discussions


• Discussion of readings, group work


• Practical sessions with business and business leaders


• Group problem solving using a simulation / group project

The teaching delivery is structured as follows:





In-class: Lecture, seminar, case discussions, guest speakers 


Outside classroom study: readings, homeworks and working independently in groups on the projects


Guided group work: working in groups on the tasks with possibility to discuss with module leader




Theory and briefing for problem-solving activity


Accumulating knowledge and problem-solving activity


Applying knowledge, present thoughts from group work, discussion of tasks and peer feedback





In the guided group work sessions, the students will be given group work task that is a Marketing simulation, e.g. a business game. The group will make Marketing decisions throughout the simulation. At the end of the module/ session the students will prepare a presentation reflecting on their performance. The presentation reflecting on the simulation is an assessment component and counts for 50%. The assessment strategy is designed to ensure the learning outcomes are assessed on different levels. The module is assessed by means of an individual assignment (knowledge and application) and a group work of a Marketing tasks (mainly application).

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM365

Other information

Digital Skills: The theoretical content, the examples and cases discussed throughout the module focus on digital services and hence increase digital skills of the students. Beyond this the business simulation integrated into the module in which student teams are tasked to mimic a marketing department and make decisions in a virtual environment further develops the participants digital proficiency.  

Global and cultural capabilities: The Surrey MBA cohorts are regularly very international with various cultural backgrounds. During the in-class discussions students develop their global and cultural capabilities by being exposed to and discussion different perspectives. Since group work is a core part of the module and at least for some of the group tasks I randomly allocate groups, the students develop their cultural capabilities during the group work in these multicultural teams.  

Resourcefulness and resilience: During the regular group work students develop their resourcefulness and resilience by working in heterogenous teams. This applies particularly during the simulation for which a certain amount of time pressure and information overload is built in to mimic a realistic environment. This strengthens decision making capabilities, prioritization, and resilience. 

Employability: During the module the students will gain a broad overview of different elements of marketing and the skills needed to start a role in a Marketing department or to better collaborate with a Marketing department. Both pieces of assessment are targeted at applying the gained theoretical knowledge to managerial marketing contexts and as such further increase their applied marketing skills. Since Marketing is one of the core functions of organizations this increases their employability. 

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.