MG512      Half Unit
Marketing I: Consumer Behaviour and Quantitative Modelling

This information is for the 2020/21 session.

Teacher responsible

Prof Amitav Chakravarti NAB 5.13 and Prof Om Narasimhan NAB 5.06

Availability

This course is compulsory on the MRes/PhD in Management (Marketing). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Course content

This course covers both consumer behaviour and quantitative modelling.



In the area of Consumer Behaviour the course objective is to familiarize students with research in cognitive psychology, social psychology, and marketing on information processing and judgment and decision making related topics to better understand and develop marketing strategies that affect consumer behavior. There are two main aims of this course: (1) to give students a strong foundation for critical thinking in the area of consumer behavior, and (2) to enable students to conceptualize, develop and operationalize research ideas. Therefore, the focus is on understanding current theoretical and methodological approaches to various aspects of consumer behavior, as well as advancing this knowledge by developing testable hypotheses and theoretical perspectives that build on the current knowledge base. This means that students have to actively read prior research in different areas – try to understand the authors’ ideas and develop the habit of constructive criticism of the research. To encourage this habit, the role of author of certain papers may be assigned to some students in the class and the role of reviewer assigned to others.

In the area of quantative modelling the course is designed to develop the quantitative foundations for marketing decisions. Both theoretical models which help analyse marketing issues, and decision-support models will be covered. Thre is a requirement for students to already have some understanding of calculus, probability, statistics and matrix algebra, Features of the course include a focus all marketing decisions: product, pricing, advertising, salesforce and distribution. All necessary analysis tools from resource allocation models to NEIO (New Empirical Industrial Organization) models will be discussed. A comprehensive set of exercises will enable students to test their knowledge of models and their understanding of the material discussed in class. The course will also incorporate recent research findings in all aspects of marketing including online marketing and social media marketing.

Teaching

30 hours of seminars in the MT.

There will be two 1.5 hour seminars per week over 10 weeks of the MT. This year, some or all of this teaching will be delivered through a combination of seminars online and/or physically distanced settings.

Formative coursework

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the MT.

Indicative reading

 - Higgins, E. T., & Kruglanski, A. W. (Eds.). (2007). Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

• Cognitive Psychology: Mind and Brain, Edward E. Smith, Columbia University, Stephen M. Kosslyn, Stanford University, 2007  | Pearson

• Bazerman, Max H. (1994), Judgment in Managerial Decision Making, John Wiley & Sons.

• Russo, J.E. and P.J.H. Shoemaker (1989), Decision Traps, Doubleday.

• Thaler, Richard H. (1992), The Winner’s Curse: Paradoxes and Anomalies of Economic Life, Princeton University Press.

-  Lilien GL, Kotler Ph, Moorthy KS. Marketing Models. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, 1992

• Leeflang PSH, Wittink DR, Wedel M, Naert PA. Building Models for Marketing Decisions. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht / Boston 2000.

• Hanssens DM, Parsons LJ, Schultz RL. Market Response Models: Econometric and Time Serie Analysis. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston 2001.

• Lilien GL, Rangaswamy A. Marketing Engineering, 2nd edition. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2003.

• Little JDC. Models and Managers: The Concept of a Decision Calculus. Management Science 1970; 16: B466-B485.

Assessment

Essay (100%, 4000 words) in the LT.

Important information in response to COVID-19

Please note that during 2020/21 academic year some variation to teaching and learning activities may be required to respond to changes in public health advice and/or to account for the situation of students in attendance on campus and those studying online during the early part of the academic year. For assessment, this may involve changes to mode of delivery and/or the format or weighting of assessments. Changes will only be made if required and students will be notified about any changes to teaching or assessment plans at the earliest opportunity.

Key facts

Department: Management

Total students 2019/20: Unavailable

Average class size 2019/20: Unavailable

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills

  • Leadership
  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Problem solving
  • Application of information skills
  • Communication
  • Application of numeracy skills
  • Commercial awareness
  • Specialist skills