Strategic and Operational Marketing

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

• 5. Gender equality
• 8. Decend work and economic growth

Objectives

The objective of this course is to understand, apply and integrate strategic and operational marketing concepts and techniques for companies and organizations. These marketing fundamentals are necessary in various professions related to business management: managers, entrepreneurs, technicians, consultants, teachers or researchers.

In addition, the course also aims to enable students to practice key management skills and competencies, such as networking, teamwork, negotiation, entrepreneurship and leadership, and to gain a personal appreciation for the nature of the work of a director or marketing analyst.

Learning outcomes

Applies knowledge, understanding of these and problem-solving skills in complex or professional and specialized work environments that require the use of creative and innovative ideas.
Assume different responsibilities in individual collaborative work and evaluate the results obtained.

Manage the different techniques that make up the marketing mix, allowing you to make diagnoses, formulate strategies and apply them efficiently.

Develop skills for innovation in global markets by developing strategic marketing and business plans.

Solve problems and situations related to professional performance with entrepreneurial and innovative attitudes.

Assume different responsibilities in individual collaborative work and evaluate the results obtained.

Competencies

General skills

• Be able to analyze and summarize.
• Be able to make reasoned and coherent presentations.
• Be able to organize and plan.
• Be able to put basic knowledge of the profession into practice.
• Be able to use information: seek, analyze, select, organize and exploit information effectively.
• Be able to work in a team and a multidisciplinary network.
• Be skilled at adapting to new situations.

Specific skills

• Be able to analyze and understand the operation of the market and its influence on the activities of a company.
• Be able to apply market research theory and instruments to implement business strategies.
• Be able to critically evaluate business situations, and manage an organization effectively and efficiently.
• Be able to devise and implement integrated marketing plans.
• Be able to learn and apply knowledge and skills to strategic marketing management.
• Be able to plan decisions and product management for commercial distribution channels.
• Be able to plan sales activities focused on customers, and lead and manage sales teams.
• Display leadership skills in strategic decision-making in general, and in marketing and communication, in particular.

Basic skills

• Students can apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional manner and have competencies typically demonstrated through drafting and defending arguments and solving problems in their field of study.
• Students can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialists and non-specialists.
• Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field of study) in order to make judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific and ethical issues.

Content

1. Introduction to marketing
   1. Marketing concept and definition
   2. Core concepts about the customer and the market
   3. Designing a business strategy
   4. Business Management Philosophies
   5. Building customer relationships
   6. Capturing value from customers
2. Marketing Environment Analysis
   1. Marketing environment
   2. Microenvironment
   3. Macroenvironment
   4. Responding to the marketing environment
3. Marketing Information Management
   1. Marketing information and customer understanding
   2. The marketing information system
   3. The market research process
   4. Analysis and uses of marketing information
4. Consumer and organizational purchasing behavior
   1. Final consumer behavior model
   2. Characteristics that affect the behavior of the final consumer
   3. Final buyer decision process
   4. Decision making process for new products
   5. Industrial markets
   6. Purchasing behavior of industrial buyers
5. Market segmentation, target audience definition and product positioning
   1. Market segmentation, target audience definition and product positioning
   2. Consumer market segmentation
   3. Industrial market segmentation
   4. Determining the target market
   5. Positioning strategies
6. Product decisions
   1. Concept and classification of products and services
   2. Decisions on individual products and on product lines and portfolios
   3. Brand development strategy
   4. Service Marketing
   5. New product development
   6. Strategies throughout the product life cycle
7. Pricing decisions
   1. Price concept
   2. Factors affecting pricing
   3. Pricing new products
   4. Pricing product combinations
   5. Strategies for price adjustment
   6. Changes in prices
8. Distribution decisions
   1. Nature and importance of distribution channels
   2. Channel behavior and organization
   3. Channel design decisions
   4. Channel management decisions
   5. Type of retailers and wholesalers
9. Decisions on promotion
   1. The marketing communication mix
   2. Integrated marketing communication
   3. Establishing the overall promotion mix
   4. Advertising, sales promotion and public relations
   5. Personal selling and direct marketing

Evaluation

The evaluation activities and their respective weights are as follows:

40% Analysis and presentation of practical cases

30% Final knowledge assessment test

10% Participation in classes through the forum

20% Final project

The final grade for the course is the sum of the grades obtained in the previous assessment activities. The activities are assessed continuously during the regular class period and cannot be retaken, except for the final exam, provided that the rest of the parts have been passed (>5).

Methodology

The content of the syllabus is acquired through various educational activities. As regards the lectures, their purpose is to analyse, understand, discuss and apply the key concepts of the subject, rather than to gather information on the content of the syllabus (take notes). The information is practically all available in the written documents that the teacher provides to the students and in the textbook (see bibliography).

During classes, students carry out various educational activities individually and in teams. In all activities, students must actively participate in solving and discussing practical cases, making presentations of their own and of other teams, carrying out class debates and actively participating in the practical cases discussed in class.

The student dedicates his/her personal work hours to reading and studying the textbooks, solving the practical cases in writing and carrying out the various tasks that the teaching activities of the subject entail.

Bibliography

Key references

• Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H., y Setiawan, I. (2017). Marketing 4.0. New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
• Kotler, Philip; Armstrong, Gary (2018). Principios de marketing (17 ed.). Pearson.
• Kotler, Philip; Armstrong, Gary (2018). Principios de marketing. Retrieved from https://ucercatot.uvic-ucc.cat/view/action/uresolver.do?operation=resolveService&package_service_id=355146810006718&institutionId=6718&customerId=6705

Further reading

Teachers will provide complementary bibliography and compulsory reading throughout the course via the Virtual Campus.