Marketing Strategy

Understanding the Marketing Strategy Flexible Core Requirement

MKTG 6120 focuses on helping you refine your skills in developing a marketing strategy and seeing how the marketing tactics selected need to be in alignment with that strategy. We will focus specifically on issues such as the selection of which businesses and segments to compete in, how to allocate resources across businesses, segments, and elements of the marketing mix, as well as other significant strategic issues facing today’s managers in a dynamic competitive environment.

All of these issues will be discussed and couched in the context of the dynamic nature of market evolution that occurs throughout the Product Life Cycle (PLC), pictured above. Students will develop strategic thinking skills and learn to apply analytical tools to help formulate effective marketing tactics in each phase of the PLC.

Marketing 613 is an intensive immersion course designed to develop skills in formulating and implementing marketing strategies for brands and businesses. The central activity will be participation in a realistic integrative product management simulation named SABRE. In SABRE students will form management teams that oversee all critical aspects of modern product management: the design and marketing of new products, advertising budgeting and design, sales force sizing and allocation, and production planning. As in the real world, teams will compete for profitability, and the success that each team has in achieving this goal will be a major driver of the class assessment.

The SABRE simulation is used to convey the two foci of learning in the course: the changing nature of strategic problems and their optimal solutions as industries progress through the product life cycle, and exposure to the latest analytic tools for solving these problems. Specifically, SABRE management teams will receive training in both how to make optimal use of marketing research information to reduce uncertainty in product design and positioning, as well as decision support models to guide resource allocation.

Please note that to fulfill the Marketing Strategy flexible core requirement, students are required to take either MKTG 6120 or MKTG 6130 (students also have the option to take both if they have the interest). A waiver by credential of MKTG 6120 or MKTG 6130 will fulfill this requirement; students do not have to submit credentials to waive both.

Waiver Process

Waiving by Credential

To waive the Marketing Strategy flexible core requirement by credential students must meet one or both of the following criteria:

1. Did you complete a full-term marketing simulation using SABRE or a close parallel (e.g., Markstrat), and receive a grade of ‘A-‘ or better?
2. Did you complete a course at a four-year college that included a minimum of 6 weeks of exposure to cases/lectures on marketing strategy, and receive a grade of ‘A-‘ or better?

Permission to substitute the Marketing Strategy flexible core requirement by taking an upper-level elective marketing course of 0.5 credit units or more (which must be taken for a letter grade – not pass/fail) will be given only to students meeting one or both of the same criteria, except that the required grade is ‘B’ or better.

Documenting Your Credentials

You must highlight/annotate the courses to be considered for waiver by credential on your uploaded transcript, as well as provide supporting documentation (syllabi to identify simulations completed/cases studied, textbook information, etc.) for your request to be considered. Failure to do so will result in your request being declined.