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BUSI1271: Foundations of Effective Marketing

Please ensure you check the module availability box for each module outline, as not all modules will run in each academic year. Each module description relates to the year indicated in the module availability box, and this may change from year to year, due to, for example: changing staff expertise, disciplinary developments, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback. Current modules are subject to change in light of the ongoing disruption caused by Covid-19.

Type Tied
Level 1
Credits 20
Availability Available in 2023/24
Module Cap None.
Location Durham
Department Management and Marketing

Prerequisites

  • None.

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None.

Aims

  • This module is designed to enable students to understand the key principles of marketing theory and its application in both commercial and non-commercial sectors.
  • This module also aims to provide an introduction to marketing practices, where students will begin to appreciate a critical engagement with relevant academic research and case study material. We will go beyond the sole interest of developing knowledge that enables marketing practitioners to maximise the sales of products and services. Students will critically assess marketing principles and concepts in order to develop critical thinking in Marketing and a deeper engagement with Marketing studies. As such the module will provide a foundation for further study, and expose students to marketing concepts through the application of case studies as well as up-to-date academic research and practice.
  • The module also aims to provide students with an understanding of how marketing works in practice, taking into account the context (domestic or international), culture, market characteristics and trends.

Content

  • Consumer behaviour and decision-making
  • Market segmentation, target marketing and consumer profiling
  • Marketing strategy and planning
  • Brands, branding, and positioning
  • Marketing of products, services and experiences.
  • Distribution channels, retailing, and the retail environment
  • Marketing communications: Communications Theory; integrated marketing communications campaigns.
  • Pricing
  • Sustainability and ethics in marketing

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • Understanding of core marketing concepts and principles
  • Gain knowledge and understanding of the relationship between marketing and consumer behaviour and evaluate how these are affected by new technology
  • Gain knowledge and understanding of planning aspects of marketing and evaluate the effects of various contexts
  • Development of critical perspective towards standard marketing concepts and principles, to be able to reappraise their effectiveness and relevance in the light of contemporary marketing issues, such as the digitisation of communications technology, the fragmentation of consumer markets, and the increasingly consumer-driven character of digital marketing activity.

Subject-specific Skills:

  • Ability to analyse market opportunities and select and justify appropriate marketing approaches.
  • Ability to describe and evaluate marketing tools
  • Ability to evaluate the role marketing plays in supporting a brands marketing objectives
  • Ability to identify and analyse social and ethical issues relating to marketing policies, procedures and practices.

Key Skills:

  • Effective written and oral communication skills
  • Planning, organising and time management skills
  • Problem solving and analytical skills
  • The ability to use initiative.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Lectures are used to underpin the knowledge requirements of the module providing students with a sound conceptual and empirical base for further study and will follow a pre-planned syllabus.
  • Workshops will allow students to experience a broader range of thinking on a topic. They will provide an opportunity for smaller-group discussion and exploration of selected topics in greater depth. They may include case studies and presentations and are intended to develop students discursive and interpersonal skills. They will also be used as a focus for student-led material to be provided to the module cohort.
  • Independent study, research and analysis underpin students written and presented work and develop their ability to think independently, discriminate and use judgment, and assess the relevance and validity of others views.
  • Structured reading, in conjunction with lectures, underpins the knowledge requirements of the programme.
  • Case studies provide students with an opportunity to consider and apply what they have learnt in the context of a particular example. They are intended to develop students analytical skills.
  • Reports (whether in written examinations or as assessed coursework) develop students ability to communicate clearly, in writing, a coherent argument based on relevant subject-specific knowledge under constraints of length and/or time and (in the case of written examinations) without access to study aids.
  • Group presentations provide students with an opportunity to consider and apply what they have learnt in the context of a particular issue or problem. They are intended to develop students analytical, presentational and interpersonal skills, including working with others.
  • The summative assessment is an individual assignment of 3000 words.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Lectures101 per week2 hours20 
Workshops (scheduled in TEAL classrooms; students should be arranged into groups of approx. 60 people for these workshops) 4Fortnightly2 hours8 
Preparation and reading172 
Total200 

Summative Assessment

Component: AssignmentComponent Weighting: 100%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
Individual Assignment3000 words100Same

Formative Assessment

Formative group project.

More information

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