| Learning objectives |
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the
following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or
errors:
- The mini-project must provide a convincing argumentation with
regard to the chosen setup of both the qualitative and the
quantitative analysis
- The analyses must not contain any flaws of importance.
- The application of methods must be appropriate
- The interpretation of results must be proper and
forceful/convincing
- Marketing implications need to be credible and realistic
- Formal requirements must be met
- If the student is able to argue compellingly for her/his case
and provide proper answers to the questions of the examiner and the
censor during the oral exam, then the grade 12 may be a realistic
option
|
| Course prerequisites |
| Basic/Introductory Marketing course. |
| Examination |
|
Product
Development and Target Market Segmentation:
|
| Exam
ECTS |
7,5 |
| Examination form |
Oral exam based on written product
In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product
must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The
grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and
the individual oral performance. |
| Individual or group exam |
Oral group exam based on written group
product |
| Number of people in the group |
2-4 |
| Size of written product |
Max. 20 pages |
|
Definition of number of pages:
Groups of
2 students 10 pages max.
3 students 15 pages max
4 students 20 pages max
Note that the exam is a group exam. If you are not able to find a
group yourself, you have to address the course coordinator who will
place you in a group.
Students who wish to have an individual exam might be able to write
a term paper in the course. Please see the cand.merc. rules for
term papers for more information. |
| Assignment type |
Project |
| Duration |
Written product to be submitted on specified date and
time.
15 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade,
and informing plus explaining the grade |
| Preparation time |
No preparation |
| Grading scale |
7-step scale |
| Examiner(s) |
Internal examiner and second internal
examiner |
| Exam period |
Autumn |
| Make-up exam/re-exam |
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Re-take exam is to be based on the
same report as the ordinary exam:
* if a student is absent from the oral exam due to documented
illness but has handed in the written group product she/he does not
have to submit a new product for the re-take.
* if a whole group fails the oral exam they must hand in a revised
product for the re-take
* if one student in the group fails the oral exam the course
coordinator chooses whether the student will have the oral exam on
the basis of the same product or if he/she has to hand in a revised
product for the re- take.
|
Description of the exam
procedure
Selecting a topic:
Each group (consisting of 2-4 students) will select a topic
(i. e. developing a new physical product, repositioning a service
product, redefining a target market etc.)
Students will question a number of customers either by way of
face-to-face interviews or by way of online surveys (social media).
Survey:
Each group must carry out a small empirical survey. Options are a
focus group (required), a face-to-face interview, social-media
surveys etc. Strict conditions of representativeness are not
required, that is, convenience samples are accepted.
Survey results must be analyzed and findings are to be used for
suggesting an appropriate marketing strategy for the next 12
month.
Exam:
A group based miniproject (2-4 persons) and a
15 minutes oral group exam based on the miniproject. The
final grade is a compination of the miniproject and the
student's performance a the oral
exam.
|
|
| Course content and structure |
|
The purpose of the course is to give the student a profound
insight into the methods used by consulting companies and marketing
research agencies (1.) for developing new products, (2.) for
product positioning and (3.) for selecting new target markets. In
an increasingly competitive environment it is of utmost importance
to possess a high level of knowledge with regard to how companies
can use modern marketing techniques for gaining competitive
advantage, for improving target marketing, for benefit bundling and
for developing successful new nice and mass market products.
Methods taught are relevant for consumer and business marketing as
well as for service marketing and marketing on social media.
Earlier, such techniques were within the domain of academic
researchers and agency experts. However, the huge progress within
computerized statistics combined by the increased user friendliness
of software packages makes it possible for today’s marketing manger
to use the methods as a powerful marketing research tool. The
objective of the course is twofold: First, to be able to personally
handle market research data in intelligent ways and second, to get
an appropriate overview of marketing research methods used by
marketing research companies.
The course will cover the following issues: 1. Using focus groups
for investigating the psychological phenomena underlying consumer
decision processes. 2. Investigating tools for systematic product
development (i.e. conjoint analysis), 3. Employing methods for
competitive positioning of products (i.e. psychological mapping).
4. Exploring techniques for effective target market segmentation
and benefit bundling (i.e. cluster analysis). The aim is to provide
the student with insight into a selection of widely used marketing
research methods and to figure out how to transform market research
findings into successful promotional strategies.
|
| Teaching methods |
| Lectures, case study discussions, empirical
investigations, PC-lab sessions (using Excel and SPSS for analyzing
market research data). If possible a guest lecture by a marketing
manager from a marketer that is heavily engaged in product
development and/or target market segmentation. |
| Feedback during the teaching period |
| Feedback to the student is provided immediately
after the 15 minutes oral exam. Students that want a more thorough
feedback are welcome to contact the professor. |
| Student workload |
| Forberedelse |
123 hours |
| Undervisning |
33 hours |
| Eksamen |
50 hours |
|
| Expected literature |
|
Product Development and Target Market Segmentation,
Marcus J. Schmidt and Svend Hollensen, Pearson 2006
Selected publications/papers
|
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