REQUIRED TEXT
* Adventures
in Misplaced Marketing, by Herbert Jack Rotfeld (Quorum
Books, 2001) ISBN: 1-56720-352-3; ISBN-13: 978-1-56720-352-3
* article packet available at SOFY Copy Center, 145 W. Magnolia
COURSE
DESCRIPTION & GOALS
Many marketing decisions have repercussions on society as a whole and
societal forces increasingly intercede in decisions that were at one
time solely internal to the firm. This course focuses on these social,
legal and ethical issues encountered in marketing practice. Class
meetings will consist of general discussion on assigned readings and
videotapes of current issues. Conflicting views between students are
likely and personal opinions are encouraged, freely expressed and
challenged by thoughtful discussion from classmates, guest speakers
and faculty.
The goal of this course is to enhance your understanding of the relationships of marketing in society and the concerns of business' critics, which may or may not be an impetus for government actions, trying to understand the different points of view about business activities beyond what you might presume. There are limits to what the law can regulate and proscribe, business people often feel that government and self-regulation activities unfairly go too far, while consumerists often express the belief that they do not go far enough. Issues will be explored from a number of different perspectives, including:
In preparing for each class, it is not enough to generally "scan" the reading assignments. To understand the lectures, you need to read an assignment and the study questions before the class in which it will be discussed. Employers expect you to be able to read and think about ideas before business meetings, and, like a business meeting, you are expected to come to classes prepared. Therefore, there is no need to have the readings with you in class.
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS
The main grade concerns for the class are the term paper (30%),
mid-term exam (30%) and the final
exam (40%). Another requirement thfor the class will be a
commentary note on the subjects. Students will email to the instructor
comments on one or more of the articles and chapters for each topic
area marked
after watching the taped lectures on
the topic. These should be composed
of
intelligent, thought-provoking comments or questions on the articles
and
their related discussions (and give logic for why they
disagree
with on campus students or the instructor). These should be about
500-100 words each and serve as a substitute for "discussion."
This will only be graded S-U, but you must have satisfactory work on
all of them to receive a grade in the class.
For the video outreach students, do the readings before watching the taped program -- while watching, periodically stop the tape and jot down how you would respond to some of the items under discussion, turning the tape back on to see if your questions and potential responses were answered. The goal of this course is not to simply build a body of information needed to pass the exams, but more generally, to develop your abilities to think, share your ideas in discussion and present your perspectives on situations covered in the course.
TERM
PROJECT
ASSIGNMENT
The following section provides complete details of the term project
assignment. It is a paper of research and analysis, applying the
materials from the legal, self-regulation and ethical sections of the
course to the real and pragmatic problems faced by a business
organization of your choice.
The purpose of this
assignment is to investigate the effects of a
current issue of public interest and concern. You will choose: (1) an issue
and (2) a real for-profit business organization for which the issue
poses a potential problem, and/or basis for ethical self-analysis. This
could
be a manufacturer faced with criticisms of marketing practices, a
retailer
who products, services or marketing practices raise ethical concerns,
or
whose basic product mix finds it dealing with questionable products or
services, or a distributor caught between practices of manufacturers
and demands of other firms in the channels of distribution. However, it
must be a real business. It also can't be your current employer or one
of your employers competitors. In other words, the analysis must be
based on your research, not your job. Activist groups, trade
associations and other
non-profit organizations are not to be used. You are then to conduct a
detailed, objective and thoughtful research of the literature on the
issue, and based on the research, present a set of recommendations for
the firm and reasons why the recommendations should be implemented.
You do not need to be
expert on the business. You are only using it for a hypothetical focus
and application of the issue, so general consumer-available information
is all you need for this.
You must select an
issue for your paper and have it approved by me by January 29. Every
student must be addressing a different issue.
Your research is not to focus on news reports of a firm under criticism, but rather, on the relevant basic research and other literature related to an issue that has relevance for the firm. In basic terms, you are to become an expert on the consumer criticism of a business practice or situation: why people think say those things; what is supported by consumer behavior or economic research; how law or regulations are responding to the criticisms; etc. Then you have to say what you would recommend to a relevant company to deal with it.
You will use the following outline, with a clear sub-head for each: The first section will be a one page executive summary and will briefly describe the issue, its relevance for the organization and a summary of recommendations for organizational action. This section should be on its own page (numbered one). The second section will briefly describe the organization for which the issue brief is being written and why it applies. Obviously, this will be a short paragraph.. The third section, based upon the nature of the organization as described in section 2, will describe the issue in general -- including the relevant history and current status (that is status and history of the issue, not of the company). The fourth section, based upon the preceding discussion, will explore how the issue may evolve in the future. The fifth section, logically flowing from the first 4 sections, will tie the perspectives of the problem and its evolution to a discussion of the relevance of this problem for the organization. The sixth section, based upon the preceding analysis, will list and defend any recommendations for action. In other words, each section should logically flow from the ones that came before, leading to the conclusions. The recommendations should be the logical result of the discussion, not an example of creative writing. And the issue is one of legal or social conflicts, not one of marketing (i.e. profitability) analysis in terms of which marketing option could work best.
With the exception of the second section, write the report as if it is being written for senior management. Sections two though six should be clearly delineated from each other by sub-heads but should not begin on fresh pages.
The maximum length of
the text of the issue brief is a total of twenty (20)
double-spaced pages (reference lists and appendices are not part of the
ten pages). Be complete
but concise. In addition to pure content you should be concerned with
how
well the paper reads. Spelling errors, grammatical mistakes,
typographical errors, etc. will lead to a reduced grade.
The issue brief must be an original research paper written for this class and the text must be in your own words. When in doubt, quote opinions directly and cite factual information from secondary sources properly. You must give the reference citations for all assertions originating from somewhere other than the confines of your cranium.
You also need to be wary of yours sources. The internet, while a wealth of opinions and statements, is not an authoritative resource since anyone can freely distribute all sorts of garbage without any oversight, review or analysis. Opinions, rumors and conspiracy theories abound. Newspapers and news magazines give current information, but they, too, have their limitations. Research reports in academic journals present all materials for scientific peer reviews, but even then, since the topics are controversial, interpretations can vary from the same data. Your analysis must not make the mistake of over generalizing from questionable resources and you must be able to distinguish facts from opinions in assessing the issue. Remember, an opinion does not become a fact simply because you can cite someone who says it!! For example, if you come across a prediction that "the GNP will grow at an average rate of 5% per year for the the next three years," you must still cite the source. And even with the citation, it is still just someone's opinion.
The preferred method for citation is to include the name of the author, date and page in parentheses in the text and the complete reference in a "References" section at the end of the brief (that will not count as part of total pages). For example: "One recent study contends that all new net job creation came from firms with less that $5 million in sales (Jones, 1986, p. 17)." Then in the References section the complete bibliographic citation will be listed (in alphabetical order.)
Depending upon the issue, you should use a variety of sources, a mix of books (for background) and articles from academic research journals, as well, as the class assignments in the final sections of the syllabus. For many of the issues, you can find relevant articles in:
A PARTIAL LIST
SUGGESTED OF ISSUES are under topic 12 of the
assignments, giving some possible readings in the packet that could be
a starting point for your work. These and other possible topics could
include: child-oriented marketing;
weightloss marketing (such as Weight Watchers or Jennie Craig);
cigarette marketing/advertising; pharmaceutical marketing to either
doctors or directly to consumers; product safety; uses
& abuses of new technologies; choosing who
does
the work (NAFTA versus overseas sweatshops versus racism at home);
telemarketing; covert marketing; product defects and/or product
recalls; condom
marketing;
financial services marketing, such as loans or
credit cards; privacy, on the internet or in purchasing in stores; etc.
The papers will be
distributed/shared with all members of the class and will be referenced
in final lectures on the topics.