Course Description and Learning Outcomes

Course Description

The course is designed to provide a broad understanding of the field of marketing, including the economic origin of the marketing concept. Students will gain an understanding of how organizations identify the needs of consumers in order to create and deliver value to these consumers through the marketing process. Certain concepts from business and economics including market responsiveness, consumer behaviour, decision-making process, willingness to purchase, product differentiation, and advertising will be incorporated into the development of a strategic marketing plan. The course also highlights environmental sustainability as the method of conducting business in a way that protects natural resources while making economic progress. In addition to teaching central concepts and models from both marketing and economic theory, students will be placed in a forum where they can apply these concepts in a 'real world' marketing situation.


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This course was designed with the structure of three Modules (Modules 1, 2, and 3). Within each module there are four weeks of content which includes lessons, related textbook readings, assignments, and activities. As you work through the content in each module you will gain an understanding of marketing concepts and applications that will directly apply to your Group Marketing Plan Project (Parts B, C, and D). The Final Report (Part E) incorporates all three of these assignments into one Marketing Plan report. 

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to do the following:

  • Describe the basic principles of marketing, the marketing process, and its economic foundation.
  • Demonstrate how marketing discovers and satisfies consumer needs and wants.
  • Analyze internal and external factors contributing to the current state of organizations.
  • Demonstrate the use of marketing tools including branding, positioning, and segmentation.   
  • Differentiate between the elements of the marketing mix: product, price, place, and promotion. 
  • Integrate the marketing mix elements into a strategic marketing plan.
  • Apply the marketing process in a 'real world' marketing situation.
  • Create a marketing plan that sets the future direction for the organization.
  • Develop essential skills for:
    • research,
    • independent and collaborative learning,
    • critical thinking,
    • communication/presentation,
    • business report writing,
    • conducting an analysis in an electronic/social media environment, and
    • environmentally sustainable marketing.

 

This online course was developed by Dr. Olivia Mesta, with instructional design and multimedia development support provided by the Centre for Extended Learning. Further media production was provided by Instructional Technologies and Multimedia Services.