Strategic International Marketing (5cr)

Objectives (course unit)

This course will deepen the participants’ knowledge and understanding of customer behavior.
The participants will examine and learn to apply both quantitative and qualitative methods to collect and analyze customer information. They will examine the concepts of value creation and customer / user centric design of products and services and the role of customer data as an essential part of strategy development and balanced scorecard.

After completing the course, the participants will be able to
- explain the role of customer analysis and insight in strategy development
- describe the impact of the global context in customer analysis
- apply the concept of service oriented design
- employ the methods of customer and target group analysis
- use various tools to develop his/her own business and design innovative new concepts based on customer and market insight
- develop customer centric metrics for balanced scorecard

Content (course unit)

Course contents
- customer oriented strategy
- value creation and value co-creation
- design thinking
- customer insight methods

Location and time

TAMK Kuntokatu Campus, Class C2-16
Contact teaching:
- Feb 2
- March 16
- May 5
- May 31

Exam schedules

No exam

Assessment methods and criteria

Essay 20%, individual
Design thinking project 60%, team
Acting as opponent to another team 20%

Assessment scale

0-5

Teaching methods

Co-operative learning, team assignment, essay

Learning materials

Given in course Tabula

Student workload

Most of the course work is done independently. The total computational workload of this 5 credit course is 135 hours, out of which about 15 hours is contact teaching and 120 hours independendt / team work.

Completion alternatives

None

Assessment criteria - fail (0) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

The student fails one or several of the three parts of the course: the essay does not cover even the minimum requirements explained in the ‘satisfactory level’ and / or the student has not participated in the group assignments sufficiently . Course assignments are returned more than one month after the due date.

Assessment criteria - satisfactory (1-2) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Essay: The descriptions of the traditional marketing planning process, contemporary marketing approach and the concepts of value creation and value co-creation remain on a shallow level – they are simplistic and/or unclear. Discussion around the impact and implications of the trend are anecdotal or single examples. The writer makes no or very few/shallow connections to a bigger local and global picture.

Group project: The process of design thinking has been followed only partly or the phases have not been clearly explained. No customer engaging research methods have been used, the analysis relays on secondary sources or survey data. The result shows no or very little innovativeness in developing marketing / business or does not have a clear link to the strategic marketing.

Assessment criteria - good (3-4) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Essay: The descriptions of the traditional marketing planning process, contemporary marketing approach and the concepts of value creation and value co-creation are clear, they include multiple aspects / viewpoints and makes some connections between them. Sound analysis and interpretation are provided. The writer makes multiple connections to a local and global contexts. However, at points these may remain on a superficial level, or the causations and consequences are partly unclear or superficially discussed. Topical sources for references have been used but not widely.

Group project: The process of design thinking has been followed and the phases have been clearly explained. Some customer engaging research methods have been used, however, they are simple and not necessarily most appropriate to the case but chosen by convenience. The result shows some innovativeness in developing marketing / business and has a clear link to the strategic marketing.

Assessment criteria - excellent (5) (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Essay: The descriptions of the traditional marketing planning process, contemporary marketing approach and the concepts of value creation and value co-creation show thorough familiarization with the concepts. The description is very rich, connects aspects and viewpoints in novel ways and extends the discussion beyond the expected. Various high standard sources have been used. The writer is able to connect the trend to the local and global context and in novel ways, showing advanced understanding of causations and consequences.

Group project: The process of design thinking has been applied to the project with an adaptive and innovative way, and the phases have been excellently explained. Customer engaging research methods have been used showing trouble in data collection and analysis. The result is innovative and clearly advances the marketing of the company taking it to a new direction.