MRKT 310 Syllabus Supplement, Fall Term, Session 1, 2008-09, RAF Mildenhall

Grading Information

I prefer to give each student an 'A' in each of my courses. The grade, however, must be earned as I can only reflect the performance I observe. I do understand that students have many other responsibilities, but your own learning is your responsibility. Moreover, I also expect you to assist the learning of others in this class. I will work with every student within reason to help her or him complete this course successfully.

Students concerned with slow progress should seek help before getting into grade trouble. Contact me, your instructor, early. "Incompletes" will not be given unless thoroughly justified and backed up by a contract negotiated with the instructor allowing for completion within four weeks.

Other Information

Put your name, course ID and date on every assignment (and email) submitted in this course.

E-mail Connection: Send me an email by Thursday of the first week to confirm our email connection. Provide me with both primary and alternate email addresses that you monitor. Please make one of your email addresses a non-military address. Place my email addresses (par.uk@btinternet.com and par.uk@mac.com) in your address book so I will be a recognized correspondent by your spam filter. (I do the same for you.) Make the subject of your email "MRKT310 fs1 Initial Contact". I will reply to confirm the connection.

Assignment Policy: Assignments must be completed prior to class so that all students may participate and receive maximum benefit from class attendance.

Attendance Policy : In-class discussion is a vital part of this course. Your active participation and interaction with your classmates is required and your attendance is needed for that to happen. Your lack of participation will lower your grade.

You are responsible for keeping copies of all your work including graded exams and assignments and should be able to produce the same, if needed.

Do not fall behind. Work ahead if possible. Do some work on this course every day or two. Set aside time to do this. If confused, in doubt, or in need of a clarification on any aspect of the course, contact me first.

Further Directions for Textbook Homework Assignments:

  •    Respond to the questions in each exercise, case or discussion item at the end of the chapters. Many exercises have multiple questions or issues raised that you need to address so explore your assignment carefully. Research the exercise assigned to find support for your assumptions and assertions. Share that research with us in class.
  •    There is no set length or limit for your response but it should provide enough information to answer the question fully and completely. Often the questions elicit your opinion on a particular facet of the topic. You are expected to provide supporting details for your response. That support generally comes from the points covered in the readings for the current or previous chapters but you should seek additional support via Internet research.
  •    See also the supplemental guidance on case analysis, oral presentations and working in groups on my web site (links later in this syllabus).
  •    You will typically lead class discussion for the questions assigned to you but you may also be asked to produce a written report for some of the assignments. Be sure to consult UMUC's Guide to Writing and Research, which offers valuable information on the appropriate style for citing written references, footnotes, and bibliographies as well as proper procedure for citing online references from the Web.

Two "Must's":

  •    Attribution:
    •    Give credit in your work to those whose ideas and words you use - and use them well. No one is expected to know everything. Indeed, we need to avoid "re-inventing the wheel". So look around and build on the ideas and words of others. Just take care to give them full credit.
    •    Use footnotes or endnotes where needed and construct a proper "References" page to accompany your work.
    •    Plagiarized papers, reports, projects, or exams will receive a grade of 0 (zero) whether copied in whole or in part. This includes "accidental" plagiarism. See the UMUC European Division Catalog policy on academic integrity.
    •    This includes prior works presented or published by you for other purposes or in prior or other classes.

  •    Good grammar, punctuation, usage and style:
    •    Effective writing is critical to the intellectual life of university students and graduates within the workplace. Effective managers are usually effective communicators. Your work in this course must demonstrate your ability to master and effectively communicate course content.
    •    We must be able to share our ideas with others properly. That means we need to pay constant attention to the way in which we present those ideas. Written and oral work which contains significant errors in English or presentation typically impairs the quality of the message you are trying to communicate.
    •    Use your eyes and brain to check your work -- a mechanical computer can hurt as well as help. Proofread and check your work PRIOR to submission.
    •    Poor English or presentation will reduce my evaluation of your work by one or more letter grades regardless of the brilliance of the ideas therein.

Additional Guidelines for Assignments:

Effective writing

  •    Meets the needs of the reader;
  •    Covers the subject in a clear, concise, complete, accurate and timely manner;
  •    Uses expected conventions of format and organization;
  •    Demonstrates use of credible reasoning and evidence;
  •    Satisfies standards of style and grammatical correctness; and
  •    Requires 100% compliance with UMUC's zero-tolerance policy regarding plagiarism.

Use diagrams, charts, and other graphics to enrich your presentations.

Microsoft Office Software: If your response will be more than 150-200 words, create a document using Microsoft Office®. For the present, this software package is still the 'industry standard.' Hence, it will serve you well to learn more about using it to fulfill a formal, written requirement. If you do not have access to Microsoft Office, use "Save As" in your usual word processor, spreadsheet or office suite program and select the MS Office 1997-2004 document option (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .mdb, or .pub as appropriate) . (Our UMUC computer lab has MS Office installed.) In MS Word, format your sheet as follows:

  •    Use Page Setup in the Printer to configure it.
  •    Set page size to A-4.
  •    Use 1" margins top, bottom, left and right sides.
  •    Use Times New Roman, size 12.
  •    Use double spacing.
  •    Use appropriate headings and subheadings. Headings and subheadings should be placed at the left margin.
  •    The first word of each new paragraph should be indented 1" from the left margin of the paragraph.
  •    Create a template with these settings and use it as the basis of your written assignments in this course.
  •    Use a header on each page (except the title page) for your name, course ID and date. For chapters or appendices, show the designation.
  •    Number each page (except the title page) in the bottom right corner using a footer.

For spreadsheets, graphic presentations or publications, use compatible settings to create A4-size printable documents or suitable electronic presentations. Remember to use the header to identify both you, the course and the content.

I will make comments electronically on your submission. You will be able to view my comments in MS Office software. If you have problems opening the file directly, open the software first, then from the File menu, open the document.

I reserve the right to make minor changes in assignments and schedules. Changes will only be made if there are unforeseeable circumstances. I will not make major changes without first consulting with the class.

Supplemental Information: See my web site for further guidance on

Course Project:

The Marketing Plan Project:

You may create this plan individually or as a member of an approved small group.

Chapter 2 in your text discusses the development of a typical marketing plan. Chapter 21 takes a more detailed look at the task and should be studied early in the course. Specifying and justifying the targeted market segment(s) and marketing mix, combined with the timing details, gives you the overall plan.

Where to start? I suggest you will have more success with both products and market segments with which you are already familiar. So while your are reading the early chapters, consider products you have wanted to buy in the past but could not find. One of these will certainly present itself as a candidate for your marketing plan. In particular put yourself in the role of the customer and use the customerÕs criteria to judge your product or service and later your performance.

Marketing Plan Project Selection: This comes in the first week of class. You will also need to decide whether to work alone or in a small group. Working as part of a team on this marketing project has been very helpful to students in the past. Products or services are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis on an in-class sign-up sheet. Please check the topics others have selected before you record yours so you do not duplicate any of them. Keep in mind that you will be spending the rest of this session researching your selected topic, so make sure you like your topic.

Record your selection (both for product or service and for group or individual work) on the Marketing Plan Project Sign-up Sheet no later than Session 2, 28 Aug. 2008. For small group work see further instructions below.

You will complete a series of six reports (discussed below) which, taken together, will form your marketing plan. For each part, except Part 6, there will be both a draft and a revision stage. Essentially you will write your plan piecemeal over a period of 6 weeks with the opportunity for feedback and improvement. The draft will be graded only for your information and to aid in your learning. The grade on the revised part will be the record grade. (Students who desire to follow the draft and revision procedure for Part 6 are to arrange turn-in separately with me. This may require the student to take an incomplete to complete the feedback and revision loop.)

Draft Stage: For each part you will prepare a draft written report which will be presented orally to the class for critique and in written form to me, the instructor. The written draft will include a summary statement (on a separate sheet) to be incorporated into the main body of the final plan and a detailed appendix which will provide justification for your choices. You will present orally the alternatives you considered, your selection, your final justification and briefly the background information and logic that led you along that path. Again, your first submission of each part 1-5 is considered a draft.

Revision Stage: You will take the comments from the class and me and revise your written report as you see fit. The revised plan part is due one week after you have received my comments back on your written work (which will typically be the class period after your oral presentation). The written revision will include a summary statement (on a separate sheet) to be incorporated into the main body of the final plan and a detailed appendix which will provide justification for your choices. At the end of the course you should be able to (but are not required to) take the separate summary sheets from each of the six parts, collate them as the main body of your marketing strategy plan, add a title page, table of contents, executive summary (if length required), the detailed appendices and thereby create a workable marketing strategy plan.

Submission dates are in the schedule below. Create your documents using MS Office software where possible; if not possible, you must change your document to MS Office 1997-2004 format (.doc) by using the "Save As" function. Only MS Office documents are acceptable as discussed above.

The six parts of your report are as follows:

  1.    Product Market and Target Market: This is your introduction, background and exploration of the product-market opportunity. Your appendix will analyze the demographic and behavioral dimensions of your target market and briefly cover both environmental opportunities and threats as well as your real or fictitious firm's strengths and weaknesses. You may make realistic assumptions (please state them). Perhaps the best setting for this project is the here and now. I suggest you keep the scenario simple.
  2.    Product: Present a summary statement for the main body of the plan and a detailed appendix which addresses the Product issues raised in your text plus any others your deem relevant to your specific product and target market.
  3.    Place: Present a summary statement for the main body of the plan and a detailed appendix which addresses the Place issues raised in your text plus any others your deem relevant to your specific product and target market.
  4.    Promotion: Present a summary statement for the main body of the plan and a detailed appendix which addresses the Promotion issues raised in your text plus any others your deem relevant to your specific product and target market.
  5.    Price: Present a summary statement for the main body of the plan and a detailed appendix which addresses the Price issues raised in your text plus any others your deem relevant to your specific product and target market.
  6.    Integration, Implementation and Control: Present a summary statement for the main body of the plan and a detailed appendix which addresses the integration, implementation and control issues raised in your text plus any others your deem relevant to your specific product and target market. This appendix must include a time-phased implementation schedule with appropriate checkpoints and milestones built in for progress to be assessed and adjustments made.

Again, you will prepare each of the six parts of your marketing strategy plan as we go through the course to meet the due dates set below. Turn in each part electronically formatted as a double-spaced narrative on A-4 paper for grading (no minimum or maximum length, just clear, concise, complete, accurate and on time). Keep the report in a single file with different sections starting on new pages for the title page, the summary statement (for the basic plan) and your detailed appendix (remember to include your name, date, title of the appendix in the header). Use computer spreadsheets, graphic presentation and desktop publishing software where appropriate. Each report will be graded separately.

All submissions except Project Selection are electronic by email attachment. Files must be virus-checked before posting. If a virus is detected on any communication, it will not be opened or graded. All electronic mail will be acknowledged so that you know it was received. If you do not receive an acknowledgment within 24 hours, retransmit your submission.

Use as many of the marketing planning tools you already know or will learn in this course as possible. However, the intent of the project is for you to demonstrate what you will have learned from the methods and techniques presented in your text.

In your analysis weigh the facts and take a stand with respect to your product-market (or place, promotion, etc.) and the goals of your marketing plan. This should lead naturally to a preferred course of action.

At each follow-on stage (Reports 2, 3, etc.) confirm the consistency of decisions made thus far and demonstrate the congruency of your approach (provide examples of how the market segment, marketing mix and eventually, timing fit together as a whole.) [Do not repeat extensively material provided in prior reports; merely reference it.]

Second or third revisions to (or versions of) the first revision are allowed as the team sees fit. These revisions will not normally be graded but will hopefully provide an improved basis for future plan development. In addition, they may be needed to have a coherent final plan once part 6 is added.

Where sources other than your text are used, please include a complete bibliographic reference and Reference List. I should be able to find any quote or paraphrase with relative ease in the original source. Just as importantly, unless the idea, details, graphics, etc. are uniquely your own (and presented for the first time in this report) or in that body of knowledge termed 'general' by a non-specialist in marketing, make sure you cite your sources. If you use some else's idea, exact words, graphics, etc., give them credit. If you use a paper you or someone else has written for a prior class or purpose, include it in your references. Be careful. Do not unintentionally plagiarize what has been called 'intellectual property.'

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SMALL GROUP WORK

For those in groups, every member of the group who has contributed equitably will receive the same grade (see below). Each member of the group will be responsible for submitting directly to the instructor a peer evaluation form (linked above) unless she or he is satisfied with the equitable distribution of work among members and equitable contribution to the group effort. Each group member will be responsible for presenting at least one of these project reports to the class as a whole but will not present a report he or she has exclusively written.

Your division of responsibilities within your group is up to you, but fair and equitable apportionment of tasks is required. [You may benefit from forming sub-project teams with different leaders for different phases of the marketing plan depending upon interests, abilities, other commitments, etc.]

SUBMIT A LIST TO ME OF THE TASK ASSIGNMENTS WITHIN YOUR GROUP BY MONDAY, 1 SEP. KEEP IT CURRENT DURING THE TERM, PLEASE.

[IF A GROUP SHOULD DECIDE TO HAVE A SINGLE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR PREPARING A SINGLE REPORT, THAT SAME PERSON MAY NOT MAKE THE CLASSROOM PRESENTATION OR TAKE QUESTIONS ON THE REPORT. THIS IS NECESSARY TO PRECLUDE THE POOR PRACTICE OF NOT SHARING INFORMATION WITHIN THE GROUP SUFFICIENTLY WELL SO THAT ALL MEMBERS UNDERSTAND AND CAN TEACH THE MATERIAL.]

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR EACH REPORT

1. WRITING QUALITY

Grammar, Verb Tenses, Pronoun Use, Spelling, Punctuation, and Writing Competency. Remember:

  •    Spell-check, then proof read your work. Better yet, have a friend or colleague read it before submitting it. Read it out loud to yourself.
  •    "There" is not "Their", "your" is not "you're", "its" is not "it's", "too" is not "to" or "two", "site" is not "cite", and "who' should be used after an individual, not "that". For example, "the person WHO made the speech" not "the person THAT made the speech."
  •    In a professional paper one does not use contractions (doesn't, don't, etc.) and one does not use the personal "you" or "your". Use the impersonal as I have in the previous sentence. It is more professional than saying, "Also in a professional paper you don't use contractions."

A minimum of one letter grade will be deducted for significant problems related to organization, grammar, verb tenses, pronoun use, spelling, punctuation, and writing competency and other requirements including following directions. This is in addition to any penalty for late submission.

2. REFERENCES

Use the APA format for your references. (Reference List = same as a Bibliography) If you use MS Office 2007 (or Word) or 2008 for Mac, you have a built in facility for entering your sources in the Toolbox Citations area. Office will then format your citations and references in APA (or MLA) style - very useful for writers.

As you develop support for your ideas, you will need to correctly reference your sources within the body of your report. Where possible, include a page number. Here are two examples referencing a source within the text of a paper:

Mossman (2001, p. 452) described the research design more clearly, " When developing a marketing proposal, one should always ...... "
" Marketing research is a requirement before any new product is introduced to the market. " (Gomez and Breegle, 1999; pp. 27-28)

3. COVER (TITLE) PAGE

Use a cover page for each report submission 1 through 6. Double spaced, centered horizontally & vertically on the page, put the following in the order shown (replace the brackets and bracketed instructions with your report's specific information):

  • [ Your Name ]
  • MRKT 310
  • Marketing Plan
  • [ Your selected Product or Service ]
  • [ Report Sub-Title / Area ]
  • Part [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 ] of 6 Parts
  • Fall Term, Session 1, 2008-2009
  • UMUC European Dvn., RAF Mildenhall, UK
  • [ date ]
  • Instructor: Phil Richardson

Nothing else needs to be added to the cover page. Section break to a new page for the start of your report or appendix.

4. PROTECTING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from Internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the UniversityÕs contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism.

See also my instructions regarding written assignments in general in the 'Other Information' section above.

Schedule

** Notes **
1. Class times are 1800-2100, Tuesday & Thursday.
2. Assignments: Throughout this course be prepared to discuss in class the main topics as well as the sidebar items and end-of-chapter material for the assigned chapters.

Module 1: Intro to Marketing & Strategy Planning

** Week 1 **

Sessions 1 & 2: 26 & 28 Aug. '08, 1800 - 2100 hours
Marketing's Importance to Consumers, Firms & Society
Marketing Strategy Planning
Focusing Marketing Strategy Ð Segmentation & Positioning
Economics Fundamentals
Creating Innovative Marketing Plans
Study Text, Table of Contents, Preface, Chapters 1-3 & Appendix A.
Preview Text Chapter 21.
Explore the Companion Web Site for your text.
Assignments: TBD.

Marketing Plan Project Selection Due NLT 28 Aug. (First come, first served, no duplicates).
Project Report 1 (Product Market and Target Market) Draft due 2400 hrs local, 1 Sep. by email attachment. (To be presented in class during week 2.)

Module 2: Global Marketing, Change & Consumers

** Week 2 **

Sessions 3 & 4: 2 & 4 Sep. '08
Opportunities in the Changing Marketing Environment
Demographics of Global Consumer Markets
Consumers & Their Buying Behavior
Creating Innovative Marketing Plans
Study Text, Chapters 4-6 & 21.
Assignments: TBD.

Project Report 2 (Product) Draft due 2400 hrs local, 7 Sep. by email attachment. (To be presented in class during week 3.)

Module 3: Buyer Behavior & Product Planning

** Week 3 **

Sessions 5 & 6: 9 & 11 Sep. '08
Buyer Behavior of Business & Organizational Customers
Using Marketing Information to Improve Decisions
Product Planning for Goods & Services
Study Text, Chapters 7-9.
Assignments: TBD.

Progress Test 1, 11 Sep. (multiple choice, short answer & essay questions from Chapters 1-7 & App. A).
Project Report 3 (Place) Draft due 2400 hrs local, 14 Sep. by email attachment. (To be presented in class during week 4.)

Module 3 (concluded) & Module 4: Place

** Week 4 **

Sessions 7 & 8: 16 & 18 Sep. '08
Product Management and New Product Development
Place and Development of Channel Systems
Distribution Customer Service and Logistics
Study Text, Chapters 10-12.
Assignments: TBD.

Project Report 4 (Promotion) Draft due 2400 hrs local, 21 Sep. by email attachment. (To be presented in class during week 5.)

Module 4 (concluded) & Module 5: Promotion

** Week 5 **

Sessions 9 & 10; 23 & 25 Sep. '08
Retailers, Wholesalers, & their Strategy Planning
Promotion & Integrated Marketing Communications
Personal Selling and Customer Service
Study Text, Chapters 13-15.
Assignments: TBD.

Project Report 5 (Price) Draft due 2400 hrs local, 28 Sep. by email attachment. (To be presented in class during week 6.)

Module 5 (concluded) & Module 6: Price

** Week 6 **

Sessions 11 & 12: 30 Sep. & 2 Oct. '08
Advertising & Sales Promotion
Pricing Policies
Marketing Arithmetic
Study Text, Chapters 16-17 & Appendix B.
Assignments: TBD.

Progress Test 2, 30 Sep. (multiple choice, short answer & essay questions from Chap. 8-15); up to 25% of Progress Test 2 will review material previously tested.

Project Report 6 (Integration, Implementation and) due 2400 hrs local, 5 Oct. by email attachment. (To be presented in class during week 7.)

Module 6 (concluded) & Module 7: Integration

** Week 7 **

Sessions 13 & 14: 7 & 9 Oct. '08
Pricing Applications
Implementing Marketing Plans: Evolution & Revolution
Managing Marketing's Link with Other Functional Areas
Study Text, Chapters 18-20.
Assignments: TBD.

** Week 8 **

Session 15: 14 Oct. '08
Ethical Marketing in Consumer-oriented Societies
Study Text, Chapter 22.
Assignments: Review Text and Notes. Bring questions to class.

Final Exam

Session 16: 16 Oct. '08
Final Exam, closed book, closed notes, comprehensive test covering entire text, handouts, homework, and class discussion. (Prepare for multiple choice, short answer, cases & essay questions.)
Phil Richardson, phil.richardson@faculty.ed.umuc.edu, Revised 23 Aug. 2008