BUS-M 511 Market Based Analysis

• 7 weeks
• 1.5 credits
• Prerequisite(s): MBA Core

Marketing Performance and Productivity Analysis is required of all marketing majors. The focus of this course is on developing a comprehensive evaluation of the situation facing a product or product line. Emphasis is placed on assessing recent financial performance, identifying customer-based explanations for changes in performance (e.g., changes in satisfaction, loyalty, etc.), assessing the effects of marketing investments, and evaluating emerging customer needs and competitive threats. The course is taught using interactive lectures (30%), case discussions (50%), and experiential assignments (20%). Cases and lecture examples span consumer, business-to-business, service, high-tech, and international contexts.

1. Assessing Recent Product-line Performance
2. Evaluating Underlying Drivers of Recent Performance
   1. Customer and Competitor Analysis
      1. How to analyze and develop strategies from customer buying behavior in your product category.
      2. Gaining actionable insights from studies of customer beliefs and satisfaction.
      3. Using customer analysis to develop scenarios of potential competitive threats.
   2. Evaluating the Productivity of Your Marketing Investments
      1. Assessing the relationship between marketing inputs and financial outcomes.
      2. The special challenge of non-linear relationships and interactions among market variables.
      3. How to assess marketing spending implications when the returns occur through increases in customer loyalty.
      4. Using marketing productivity analyses to help justify your marketing budget requests.
      5. The social and political aspects of marketing productivity analysis.
3. Assessing Your Trajectory: Forecasting and Product Category Demand Analysis
   1. Developing Reliable Forecasts: Basic Tools and Concepts
   2. Product Category and Demand Analysis