Pitt Business: Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

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Marketing Concentration MBA Courses

BMKT 2411—Marketing Management—3 credits

This course examines the role of marketing in creating value for the firm. The course enables students to answer the central question of a marketing strategy—what value to provide and to whom—using the tools of segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP) of brands. Students will learn how the firm communicates and delivers on its value proposition more effectively and efficiently than competition through the formulation, implementation, evaluation, and control of marketing mix programs. The course shows how central aspects of marketing mix programs—product, place, pricing, and promotion—all follow from an effective STP program, and how marketing support functions such as marketing research, advertising, and new product development can support effective marketing decisions. They will also learn how the marketing context can be analyzed using frameworks such as SWOT analysis and competitive analysis. The course uses a variety of tools including but not limited to lectures, cases, simulation, in-class exercises, and group presentations to develop the necessary marketing knowledge and skills among students.

Prerequisites: none.

BMKT 2509—Marketing Planning and Strategy—1.5 credits

This course is designed to be a capstone experience in marketing analysis, decision making, and planning. The course uses a marketing strategy simulation game to illustrate key aspects of marketing strategy formulation and the construction and design of marketing plan. Course objectives include:

• Applying marketing principles and concepts learned in Introduction to Marketing Management, i.e.:
• Design marketing strategies based on SWOT analyses,
• Develop marketing programs for managing the 4Ps that reflect those strategic decisions,
• Learn to adjust those strategies and programs based on changes in the competitive and macro environments and on performance.
• Developing and practicing skills in marketing analysis and decision making, integrating information on financial performance. Specifically, purchase packaged market research studies; design new products and reformulate existing products using R&D; forecast demand; manage inventory levels; develop proforma marketing budgets; and manage marketing decision variables.
• Developing comprehensive marketing plans. These plans will be focused and based on sound analysis of past performance and future opportunities.
• Developing skills in running business meetings, making persuasive arguments, and thinking on your feet.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2513—Consumer Behavior 1—1.5 credits

• Analyze how targeted consumer needs, wants, and desires change as marketplace marketing variables are adjusted according to cultural and structural lifestyle constraints.
• Evaluate cultural and lifestyle influences on consumer behavior, and design targeted messages to create awareness, interest, and guided action.
• Examine motivation, personality. and emotion and how these factors directly influence consumer behavior.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2514—Consumer Behavior 2—1.5 credits

• Synthesize information taken from secondary data courses and design effective primary data gathering efforts.
• Analyze situational influences impacting motivation, personality, and emotional responses in groups.
• Evaluate the consumer decision process to determine how problems are identified and evaluated, and how products/services are selected to resolve the problem state.
• Analyze port purchase processes, consumer satisfaction, and metrics to evaluate customer commitment.
• Evaluate business to business buying behavior and segment these organizational behaviors into actionable groups with appropriate performance metrics.
• Evaluate strategies to address pre- and post-purchase behavior including outlet selections and information requirements of targeted segments.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2513.

BMKT 2538—Category Management—3 credits

Category Management is a key business function at both retailers and manufacturers and focuses on understanding consumers of products and the stores/outlets in which the products are sold. Key aspects include rationalizing assortment, organizing the physical display, and maximizing the value of the brand portfolio by addressing the shifting needs of different market segments. In this course, students will learn the various components of category management, via hands-on experience with analytical tools (e.g., cluster analysis, market structure analysis, regression) and software (e.g., Nielsen wand data). The course will use a combination of lectures, guest lectures by leading retailers (e.g., Giant Eagle, Dick's, GNC) and manufacturers (e.g., GSK, Del Monte, Smuckers), and projects to equip students for careers in category management, marketing, and retailing.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2522—Sales Management—1.5 credits

The management of today's sales force requires a unique application of management principles. Typical situations confronting the sales manager involving hiring, training, directing, motivating, and analyzing the sales force will be reviewed through real-world case studies and classroom involvement. This course is somewhat unique in that it stresses hiring characteristics that should be sought by the sales manager and various recruiting techniques that have proven effective. The student can use this information to effectively search for positions in the future as well as be effective in their own hiring efforts in future management positions. The entire course will provide assistance to the student in sales positions following graduation and will form the basis for sales management decisions in future years.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2523—International Marketing—1.5 credits

This course introduces the student to a systematic treatment of marketing on a global scale. In addition to examining the problems of performing various market functions in other countries, emphasis will be given to analyzing and understanding the different cultures in which a firm's products might be marketed. The course uses a combination of lectures, case analysis discussion, and guest speakers to convey key aspects of marketing in a global economy.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2526—Product Development and Management—3 credits

This course aims to develop marketing decision-making skills related to the development and management of products and services by providing relevant tools and methods of analysis for product/service-related marketing decisions and applying these tools and methods to make strategic and tactical marketing decisions in real and simulated business situations. The course takes a decision-oriented perspective in presenting relevant concepts and tools, demonstrating their application to managerial analysis and decision making and providing participants "hands-on" experience in applying these skills in business situations.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2528—Advertising—1.5 credits

Advertising is a critical tool for both consumer and business marketing programs. The approach to this course is pragmatic and participative with an emphasis on critical thinking in developing and evaluating advertising and promotion campaigns. This course emphasizes both theoretical underpinnings of advertising as well as real work application of theory. Topics covered include managing outside resources (ad agencies), media planning and buying, advertising budgeting, role of research, impact of consumer behavior theories, measuring the effect of advertising, and advertising messages.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2530—Services Marketing: Strategies and Tactics—1.5 credits

The service sector has increased dramatically in importance over the last decade, where it now accounts for more than half of the economy by income and jobs. Deregulation of services, growing competition, fluctuations in demand, and the application of new technologies are presenting considerable challenge to service companies. Banks, insurance companies, airlines, and retail telecommunications companies, as well as professional service firms such as accountants and lawyers, need new approaches to address the challenge. The nonprofit sector, government, and newly privatized utilities are increasingly aware of the need to improve their performance. The intention of the course is to provide a managerial framework of services marketing for managers and students with an interest in the services sector. Its focus is primarily on service businesses but much of it is relevant to services in manufacturing businesses.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2531—Marketing Research—3 credits

This course is designed to give you the ability to critically evaluate and use the results of a research study for the purpose of strategic and marketing decision making. Students will not only learn the different types of marketing research methods (focus group, survey research, experimentation) but also the analytical tools necessary to draw actionable conclusions. The use of statistical tools such as regression analysis in marketing research techniques such as conjoint analysis, sales estimation, and attribute-importance elicitation will be emphasized through cases, projects, and class discussions. However, this is not a course in statistics, though it will build on the knowledge you acquire in the introductory statistics course. The course will develop your ability to gain actionable insights from the analysis and to present those insights as actionable recommendations orally as well as in writing.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411 and BQOM 2401.

BMKT 2533—Business-to-Business Marketing—1.5 credits

Most MBA graduates will join organizations that market their products and/or services to other businesses, institutions, or government agencies. Such marketing is referred to as business-to-business (B2B) marketing. In this class we will look at those management activities that enable a supplier firm to understand, create, and deliver value to other businesses, governments, and/or institutional customers. Marketing of products and services will be covered, with an emphasis on the value concept and business processes. Students should learn critical analytical and problem-solving abilities with respect to business market management. Classes will be conducted in an interactive format with heavy reliance on student interaction, management case analysis, and group presentations with potential guest speakers.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2537—Advanced Marketing Strategy—1.5 credits

This course offers simple analytical frameworks based on which firms' marketing strategies are formulated and developed. The fundamental principle overriding this course is an emphasis on how practical marketing decisions can be viewed within such frameworks so that an assessment of real-world marketing activities can be made as well as how marketing efforts can be optimally designed in meeting the firms' objectives of profitability and/or other market performances. Among the major topics addressed are product life cycles, market segmentation and product positioning, market share competition, new product development, product-line management, and digital marketing. To accomplish these tasks, we will analyze a number of cases and a group project will be undertaken. Case write-ups, the group paper, class participation, and discussions, as well as a final exam, will determine the overall grade for the course.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2548—Consumer Behavior—3 credits

Studying consumer behavior lies at the crossroads of the marketing, psychology, economics, and anthropology disciplines. Consumer behavior attempts to understand the consumption activities of individuals as opposed to markets. The course will focus on consumer behavior although much of the theory we will cover applies to industrial settings. One class will be devoted to industrial consumer behavior and from time to time we will discuss the application of this discipline to business to business settings. We will study consumer behavior processes, decision-making theories, and external (i.e., families) and internal (e.g., attitudes) influences on consumer behavior. Special emphasis is placed on understanding how all of these issues impact the formulation of marketing strategies and programs.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2549—Pricing Strategies and Tactics—3 credits

While many marketing activities focus on creating value for consumers, the purpose of pricing and (sales) promotion is to create value to the firm in the form of profits. Pricing and promotional practices are changing dramatically in light of emerging trends in high technology, e-commerce, and globalization. The course places considerable emphasis on such current and emerging issues. The course takes an integrated view of pricing and promotion as they often work in tandem. The course makes a distinction between strategies and tactics. Strategies are broad plans intended to meet medium-to-long-term goals. Tactics are characterized as nimble actions with a short-term focus. Whereas pricing can be both strategic and tactical, promotion typically serves a tactical role. The course will treat promotion as a central element of pricing tactics.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2060—Independent Study in Marketing—variable credits

An independent course of study in marketing may be arranged with a faculty member and a student advisor.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.

BMKT 2569—Brand Management—1.5 credits

This is a new course that explores the role played by brands in influencing consumers' choices, and investigates how to more effectively manage such brands. Course objectives include:

1. Understanding the relationship that exists between consumers' brands.
2. Assessing the value of a brand.
3. Developing and practicing skills that relate to brand building, maintenance, repositioning, and retrenchment. Determining an appropriate brand strategy critically depends on an objective assessment of the brand's strengths and weaknesses as well as a clear understanding of key competitors' offerings.
4. Examining the roles played by logos, packaging, and Web sites, as well as more traditional forms of marketing communication in influencing consumers' attitudes and choices.
5. Evaluating the appropriate roles to be played by individual brands in a company's portfolio of brands.

The course uses a variety of tools including lectures, cases, simulations, in-class exercises, hands-on exercises, industry visitors, and individual projects.

Prerequisites: BMKT 2411.