MSc Marketing (January)

The aim of this class is to enable students to advance their understanding of the strategic marketing management process, to develop their knowledge of marketing planning and implementing the strategic activities of marketing within organisations in order to succeed in competitive markets.

The class provides an overview of discrete marketing tools used as well as theories and the fundamental terminology used in the field of strategic marketing management. In addition, the class aims to equip students with the analytical skills necessary to be able to implement and assess the outcomes of marketing decision making.

Understanding consumers is central to the business of marketing strategy. This class aims to move beyond the traditional focus upon the act of buying (buyer behaviour), to focus on having and being as fundamental processes in value formation.

Consumer behaviour in this regard is more than buying, it also embraces the study of how having (or not having) things affects our lives, and how our possessions influence the way we feel about ourselves and each other.

Marketing research and customer information provide key input to the development of a company's marketing strategy. The marketing concept is better implemented when information about the market, the competitors and potential buying behaviour is available.

This class introduces the decisions and stages of the marketing research process, within the context of customer and market information now available from a wide range of sources including databases, loyalty cards and the internet.

This class provides a detailed understanding of brand theory and application of key brand strategies. Major brands will be reviewed.

Aspects and theories of brand management will be presented and discussed in order to equip you to manage effectively in a global brand environment. You'll gain a clear appreciation of the role of brand strategy within the corporation’s operating plan. This will entail consideration of environmental factors causing changes to the structure and composition of the brand portfolio as well as discussion of conceptual issues surrounding the strategic roles of brand management.

A theoretical look at how a company’s brand value is created and measured will be a key objective of this core class. Using core brand theories and concepts, this class reviews and applies brand strategies to a variety of business cases. The course is rich in branding theory and will put the theory to practice using branding applications to industry and reviewing key companies branding strategies.

The Marketing Works project provides you with a challenging organisation-based, action-learning opportunity to advise a company on a marketing problem/opportunity.

You'll consult your client-firm or client-organisation with the objective of delivering realistic recommendations which, if implemented, could reasonably be expected to help generate strategic marketing plans. The scope of the project is to allow you to work in groups to manage the project at hand, and communicate outcomes to your clients.

The groups are responsible for managing their relationships with their clients, and will be assigned a supervisor from the Department who will oversee the your progress.

Find out more about the Marketing Works: Group Project and see what companies you could be working with.

In preparation for the Dissertation an intensive course known as Dissertation Skills is taught early in the 2nd semester, covering all aspects required for successful submission. By the end of this class, combined with necessary readings, you should be sufficiently prepared to undertake your dissertation, which requires a pass mark to proceed.

The destination is the core element of tourism supply. It is defined in spatial as well as cultural/symbolic terms and encompasses a wide variety of sectors such as hospitality, the built and natural environments, cultural heritage, entertainment, sport and retailing.

The diverse nature of the destination and lack of central ‘control’ implies quite specific challenges and responses in its management and marketing. This class will equip students with the skills necessary to engage with these.

This class provides an introduction to the structure and management of individual tourism organisations and attraction resources in the private, public and third sectors.

It begins with an overview of key industries involved in the distribution of tourism products (tour operators, travel agencies, e-mediaries); those that facilitate tourist transport and accommodation (e.g. the international airline and hotel sectors) before focusing on the sustainable management of key resources at destination level (e.g. culture, heritage, sport and events).

A theme running throughout the class will be the recognition by managers of the important role of tourism consumers in the co-creation of products, services and experiences and introduces students to the challenging management environment where tourism is produced and consumed at sources of demand, supply and the transit routes linking both.

Services represent more than a quarter of all world trade and the world market for services is growing at more than twice the rate of the product sector. Over the past two decades, academics and practitioners have become aware of the need to adopt a different emphasis when marketing services rather than products. Many companies producing products are turning to service to provide their differentiation.

At the heart of this elective is the recognition that services present unique challenges, and that building customer relationships through quality service is fundamental to marketing success in every organisation. The aim of this elective is to provide an introduction to the special challenges of Services Marketing with a particular focus on the international context.

This elective class is designed to build upon the core consumer behaviour class by developing in-depth knowledge of current thinking in the discipline and by analysing a range of contemporary consumer contexts.

The major premise of this class is that customer relationships are in a period of rapid change: digital technologies, including the Internet, e-commerce and social media platforms, are moving the balance of power in relationships through customer engagement to a ‘customer led’ phase. This class aims at developing your knowledge and skills-based expertise in planning, implementing and managing successful e-marketing strategies.

You'll be exposed to a synthesis of well- established digital marketing theories and the most recent academic research on e-marketing. The class also aims to provide you with hands-on experience in the use of digital technologies for marketing purposes. Thus the class has a very practical focus.

Marketing Communications, bridge the gap between an organisation and its many stakeholders, provide a face and give voice to organisations. They can also help organisations build relationships and connect with their audiences and various stakeholders.

Marketing Communications are recognised for their strategic and tactical roles in developing successful organisations, including commercial, not-for-profit, small and large sized firms. Marketing Communications is an exciting, vibrant and contemporary topic and the study of marketing communications can contribute to laying the foundations for future careers in marketing.

This class will explore relevant marketing communications theories, consider the role and purpose of marketing communications, critically review constituent components of the marketing communications mix and consider how marketing communication tools are used in practice. In particular, the class will consider the need for and management of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and identify those factors that impact upon the selection, implementation and evaluation of effective IMC.

This class explores the marketing of cultural and heritage as ‘resources’ in a global context. It aims to introduce students to the essential dimensions of culture, heritage and the arts as resources for many types of organisation, both private and public sector, in activities such as tourism, festivals and events, community redevelopment and corporate branding.

The class brings together theoretical and practical dimensions which need to be understood by cultural, heritage and tourism managers if these resources are to be used responsibly and sustainably.

This class covers the topic areas that will allow class participants to understand and apply core concepts and frameworks that are relevant in the field of sports marketing and management. It takes a global focus.

This recognises that many key sporting events are increasingly taking place in non-traditional locations, e.g. Dubai, India and China. Feedback from alumni and sports organisations suggests that there is a lack of suitably qualified marketing graduates and post-graduates who have the specialised knowledge and skill sets to perform in the sporting environment. This class attempts to address this problem.

A good level of performance across both semesters is necessary for you to progress to the Dissertation stage of the MSc. The dissertation is your opportunity to study, in depth, a specific marketing problem in an area of personal interest.

Dissertations typically involve desk research and literature reviews, then case studies of individual companies or small scale primary research. This provides scope for originality of thought, research fieldwork and analysis and presentation of results.