Marketing for Managers

Aims of this Unit

Marketing stands alongside the other functional areas in an organisation whose central role is to marshal the organisation’s resources so that its customers’ needs and wants are fulfilled ethically.

This course aims to provide the student with the foundations of marketing where you will be introduced to a series of frameworks that will enable you to identify your customers, analyse the nature of the competitive and industrial environment and develop or evaluate the specifications of a marketing plan based on market research and analysis. In this course, we will develop these frameworks in relation to the academic literature, with reference to audiovisual materials, your own company examples and other materials, which you will be given.

Knowledge and Understanding

This unit is designed to provide students with an understanding of:
• Both the theory and practice of marketing in contemporary business life
• Marketing activities in the wider context of the business as a whole
• Their own business activities from their customers' or clients' points of view
• Marketing within political, economic, social and cultural contexts
• High-level, critical thinking and problem-solving skills

Learning Outcomes

Following completion of this course, participants should be able to:
1. Assess the role the marketing function fulfils within the overall business strategy
2. Review marketplace forces and identify research requirements to understand consumer insights
3. Compare consumer behaviour to develop differentiation and positioning strategies to assist in developing competitive advantage
4. Prepare the product/service for marketplace delivery
5. Implement a thorough marketing strategy
6. Think and act in an ethical and sustainable manner
7. Demonstrate a high order of skill in analysis, critical thinking, communication and professional application
8. Demonstrate creativity and flexibility in the application of knowledge and skills to new situations, to resolve problems and to think rigorously and independently