• Understand/discuss the increasing importance of the market place and important driving forces, such as societal trends, focus on sustainability and CSR, the importance of considering intercultural differences and how this impact on company options
• Identify relevant overall marketing options for the company while considering implications for the company, its network and supply chain
• Analyze a company’s situation and challenges, internal as well as external, in relation to its current and future marketing efforts – using relevant tools and frameworks for such analyses
• Propose viable marketing strategies solidly aligned with the imperatives identified through analyses of all relevant factors
• Apply their insight from the course in order to develop marketing strategies for companies addressing and incorporating relevant issues
• Additionally, upon successful completion of the course, students will have enhanced their competences through a more holistic overview of societal, cultural and market drivers in relation to marketing options

Overall course objectives
To introduce students to the basics of Marketing as well as the wider context for a company’s marketing efforts. The course will introduce students to a combination of

• the essentials of marketing
• the wider business and societal context in which Marketing Management must navigate.

The course will focus on introducing students to BtB and BtC markets and the factors influencing both markets. Focus will be on the driving forces affecting the company’s options in the marketplace, such as shifting consumer preferences, societal and other trend drivers, and the need for continuous innovation, social responsibility etc.

Highlights of course contents
The course will introduce students to:

• Tools for understanding and analyzing internal and external factors influencing the company’s choice of marketing approach
• The relevance and difficulties of designing best fit between the company’s overall strategies and choice of marketing strategies, including the strategic role of marketing in the company
• The importance of aligning marketing efforts with the company’s overall supply chain and network considerations - i.e. the company’s marketing efforts as part of the company’s overall strategies
• Tools for aligning the company’s marketing efforts with intercultural characteristics of target markets
• An understanding of the importance of customer preferences and how they are affected in both BtC and BtB markets

The focus of the course will be of special relevance to ASP students as central themes will be highlighted - as much as is feasible and relevant – through cases and material aiming for a better understanding of Chinese, Japanese, Korean etc. consumers, trends etc.
Emphasis will be on ongoing reference to ASP-specific countries and areas and heavy student participation allowing for references to ASP specific countries.

Literature:
1) Hooley, Piercy and Nocoulaud: Marketing Strategy & Competitive Positioning (Prentice Hall, 5th ed., 2012) 
2) Ibsen: Real Negotiations (Samfundslitteratur 2014)
Teaching materials also include hand-outs, slidepacks, articles, cases etc. - all of which will be uploaded on Learn