Module description
Aims and objectives
Marketing strategy and planning are market-oriented processes in order to establish a profitable and sustainable market position for any organization and take account of all forces that determine industry competition. The way to do this is by continuously creating and developing a competitive advantage from the potential sources that exist in a firm’s value chain.
The core elements of this module within a marketing planning framework are:
- Where are we now? (Audit)
- Where do we want to be? (Strategy)
- How will we get there? (Translation)
- Did we get there? (Evaluation)
Looking at the marketing strategy and planning ‘picture’ in an organisation is something everyone can do to some degree, but seeing the picture quickly and extracting the important elements out of it to incorporate into analysis is something that comes from practice and experience. By frequent and varied application, it is anticipated that a critical understanding of the marketing planning and strategy process will be gained.
Assessment details
Coursework/Group Work (30%)
Examination (70%)
Educational aims & objectives
On completion of this module, students will be able to:
- Develop appropriate marketing strategies.
- Distinguish between the core marketing strategy and their sub-sets (e.g. pricing).
- Assess available environmental scanning tools and their relevance.
- Make an informed choice of the most appropriate organisational framework to implement a marketing strategy.
- Appreciate the role of marketing strategy & planning.
- Critically evaluate the various stages and processes of marketing strategy and planning.
- Understand the various tools to monitor and evaluate the success or otherwise of a specific strategy.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module you should be able to:
- Appreciate the role of marketing strategy and planning.
- Assess available environmental scanning tools and their relevance.
- Critically evaluate the various stages and processes of marketing strategy and planning.
- Develop appropriate marketing strategies.
- Distinguish between the core marketing strategy and their sub-sets.
- Make an informed choice of the most appropriate means to implement a marketing strategy.
- Understand the various tools to control via monitoring and evaluation of a strategy.
Teaching pattern
- 30 hours combination of lectures, cases and in-class exercises
You will also be expected to spend time preparing for classes and working on the assessment tasks each week. The combined hours of classes and independent learning should equate to at least 15 hours a week.
Suggested reading list
- Hanssens, Dominique M. and Koen H. Pauwels (2016) “Demonstrating the Value of Marketing”, Journal of Marketing, 80 (November), pp. 173–190.
- Berger, Jonah, Ashlee Humphreys, Stephan Ludwig, Wendy W. Moe, Oded Netzer, and David A. Schweidel (2020), “Uniting the Tribes: Using Text for Marketing Insight”, Journal of Marketing, 84(1), pp. 1–25.
- Porter, Michael E. (2008) “The Five Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy” Harvard Business Review, (January), pp. 78-93.
- Kim, W. Chan and Renee Mauborgne (2005), “Blue Ocean Strategy: From Theory to Practice”, California Management Review, 47(3), pp. 105-121.
- Lemon, Katherine N. and Peter C. Verhoef (2016) “Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey”, Journal of Marketing, 80 (November), pp. 69–96.
- Dawar, Niraj and Charan Bagga (2015), “A Better Way to Map Brand Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, 93(6), pp.90-97
- Reichheld, Frederick F., (2003) “The one number you need to grow” Harvard Business Review, (December), pp. 46-54.
- Keiningham, T., Cooil, B., Andreassen, T.W. and Aksoy, L. (2007) “A Longitudinal Examination of Net Promoter and Firm Revenue Growth”, Journal of Marketing, 71(3), pp. 39-51.
- Christensen, Clayton M., Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan (2016)“Know Your Customers' ‘Jobs to Be Done’”, Harvard Business Review, September, 94 (9), pp. 54-60.
- Dibb, Sally (2002) “Marketing Planning Best Practice” Marketing Review, 2 (4), pp. 1-19.
- Bonoma, Thomas V. (1984) “Making your Marketing Strategy Work” Harvard Business Review, (March-April), pp. 69-76.