Marketing Foundations (2215.YR.004255.1)

General information

Type:	OBL	Curs:	2	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	5 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group	Teacher	Department	Language
Year 2	Mònica Casabayó Bonás	Marketing	CAT, ESP

Workload distribution:
Lectures: 36 hours
Participatory sessions: 9 hours

Each ECTS credit represents 25 hours of independent study for students. These 25 hours include lecture sessions and the amount of work students have to do outside of class.

The course introduces students to the fundamenal Marketing concepts and the methodologies and knowledge they need, representing a solid base upon which to make appropriate decisions.

We have designed this course for students to be able to experience situations which not only serve to acquire knowledge but to also develop their social and personal skills.

The Introduction to Marketing course thus helps students to primarily develop the following personal traits: creativity and innovation as well as professional social responsibility.

Upon successfully completing this course, students will have:

- Acquired a global view of the Marketing function and its application to the diversity of activities, companies and organisations that comprise markets;
- Become familiar with the basic concepts and decision-making techniques in the marketing field.
- Be capable of relating the concepts they've assimilated with a practical marketing approach, just as occurs in firms.
- Gained in experience and proactivity, undertaking a Marketing project
- Be prepared to successfully complete marketing classes in the coming years which have a more strategic component

1. UNDERSTANDING Block objectives: after completing this block, students should: -Have a global vision of this course within the framework of the programme. -Have a historical perspective on the evolution of Sales/Marketing in firms over time. -Understand the importance of having people as the centre of attention and not products/services. -Understand that markets are people. -Be able to identify and manage diversity. -Understand the role subjectivity plays in consumer perceptions. Content: -Business focuses. -Supply and demand view. -Strategic and operational marketing concepts. -The 3 Cs framework. -Consumer studies.

2. CREATING Block objectives: after completing this block, students should: -Understand segmentation. -Be able to segment (at the Marketing level, not statistically). -Be familiar with segmentation and targeting strategies. -Differentiate between strategies to capture clients and those to retain them. -Understand the positioning strategy concept. -Be capable of defining a position statement. Content: -Segmentation concept. -Segmentation variables. -Targeting concept. -Positioning concept. -Dimensions/attributes.

3. EXECUTING Block objectives: after completing this block, students should: -Be able to define a competitive proposal for the market. -Be familiar with and know how to manage the different variables that affect Marketing Management. -Define a coherent Marketing mix proposal for a specific case (product/service category).. Content: -Product/service concepts and strategies. -Pricing concept and strategies. -Communication concepts and strategies. -Commercialisation and sales concepts and strategies.

4. CLOSURE Block objectives: after completing this block, students should: -Understand the role Marketing plays in the organisation as a whole. -Have a holistic view of the elements involved in Marketing plans. Content: -Organisational structures and functions. -Marketing plan structure.

In-class activities:

Lectures: faculty combine the discussion of theoretical issues with their practical application, inviting guest executives to some of the sessions. Students are required to complete the assigned readings (case studies, articles, and/or recommended bibliography) before these sessions.

Group project: The Marketing Project represents the implementation stage of the learning process through a conceptual but real scenario. The ultimate aim is to familiarize students with the decision-making process in line with the course structure. Students will work in teams and develop a market research proposal, consisting of research, analysis and a final proposal.

Participatory sessions: Students will be divided into work groups in the first session. Faculty will also explain the final project and general norms governing the latter. Before participatory sessions, groups will have to carry out the programmed activities and turn in written reports when specified. In some sessions groups will provide preliminary presentations of their projects.

Guest executives With the aim of furthering students' knowledge of very concrete marketing areas, the programme may include participation by guest executives specialised in different fields within the industry. The aim is to illustrate the practical application of marketing principles in their different facets.

Course website: the website on the Moodle platform includes material to complement the in-class sessions.

Participation can be in-class or via Moodle.

Recommended bibliography:

Santesmasses Mestre, M. (1996): Marketing: Conceptos y Estrategias. Ediciones Pirámide.
Kotler, P. Marketing Management, 14th edition. Prentice Hall.
Lambin, Jean-Jacques et al (2012), Market-driven Management. Strategic and Operational Marketing. 3rd edition. Palgrave Macmillan

Group	Teacher	Department
Year 2	Mònica Casabayó Bonás	Marketing