Rob's UPEI Course Outline 477 International Marketing

Contact Information

Instructor:         Rob Paterson               Course Time:                1.00 - 2.15pm

Office:              Kelly 227                     Location:                      Kelly 210

Phone:              902 566 9012              Office hours:                 Posted

Fax                  902 566 9011              E-mail:                          Rob@renew.com

The New Marketing Challenge

This course is about Power. It will show how the small can have power in a world of business giants.

In the past, only large companies could successfully consider marketing internationally. Coke, one of the largest, spends 1.5 billion in marketing support. But even for giants like Coke, the challenges of selling a commodity in the global markets have become so great that being large is no longer enough. Scale and direct power has become so important that we are seeing mergers of Multinationals into Global companies in key fields such as communications, auto manufacturing, banking and chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

Paradoxically, while these mega companies are being formed, small companies, as a group, are the dominant employer and business organization in all communities. New technology is further empowering small businesses. If international markets are so difficult that they demand the scale and resources of mega-corporations, then how can small companies and small places such as PEI go to market internationally? Is there another way of going to market that does not rely on sheer scale and raw power?

There is.

Course Objectives

We will explore a new set of rules for global marketing that empowers the small and the innovative. We will see how this new set of rules has emerged based on how nature itself works. We will see how this new metaphor is transforming power throughout the world.

Specific objectives

·        An understanding of the new global business environment

o       The impact of the new technology on markets and societies

o       Historic parallels showing how new sets of technology have previously transformed economic and political relationships

o       Current key demographic, customer, market and environmental trends

o       The risks and opportunities in the developing world where most of the people live but where none of the western “business environment” exists

o       The risks and opportunities of the developed world where a demographic revolution and a shift in consumer consciousness is occurring

o       Regulation – barriers or opportunities – the impact of economic nationalism

o       Financing – a new revolution in the developed and developing world – partnerships, the network effect and microcredit

·        An understanding of individual and group human behaviour - the heart of the new marketing

o       How ideas spread and what is the process by which an idea or a product becomes popular

o       How people are segmented into psychographic categories

o       The importance of aligning the “Values” in your product/service and your organization to the values of your customer segment

o       A new way of seeing “Branding” as a relationship between the provider and the consumer

·        An understanding of the rules of the new organization - the shift from the centralized machine (commodity) model to the distributed organic (information) model

o       The limits of the commodity/product/power approach

o       Things versus “Relationships” – how the new science underpins the new business

o       The meaning of the service/solution/network alternative

o       Team and network roles

o       The meaning of core competency and partnerships

o       The meaning of “Intellectual Capital” and the role of culture in an organization’s ability to innovate and to respond effectively to shifts in its environment and in its key relationships

o       The importance of “values” and values alignment in the new model

o       The role of channels

o       The new Network Organization – how small can be both beautiful and powerful

Required text & Recommended Reading

There are two contextual books that I require you to read. The main text book support will be found at my web site www.renew.com .

The two books are:

·        The Age of Access – The new Culture of Hypercapitalism where all of life is a paid for Experience – Jeremy P Tarcher/Putnam ISBN1-58542-082-4

o       This book will give you an excellent introduction to many of the new ideas that underpin the “New Economy”. How controlling networks is the new power. How access to networks will be essential for both suppliers and for consumers. How the selling the service of a product rather than the product itself will be the key to business success. How in an age when we have so many things, wrapping an experience around the “thing” will be the key to marketing. How business control will be exercised by ideas and concepts and how this trend will affect how small business – the rising tide of franchising. How the selling of culture and entertainment is becoming the largest business sector. How ideas and images are at the heart of what will be sold. Rifkin provides the best available context for business in print today.

·        The Tipping Point – How little Things can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell – Little Brown ISBN 0316316962

o       In the New Economy, marketing will no longer depend on big marketing budgets but on applying the principles of nature – how viruses work. For the small business this is good news – small business will be able to compete with the large. This book describes how ideas take hold and become popular – marketing! Why do we all suddenly watch “Survivor”, wear a certain type of shoe, like a movie? Why did crime fall so fast and so much in such a short time in New York? And so on. Gladwell shows us that ideas are really like viruses and spread like disease. This remarkable book will change how you see the world and will show you how quite small interventions can make huge changes. He shows us an entirely new and less costly approach to marketing. He also shows us how change really occurs. While he never uses the term, Gladwell shows us how Diffusion and Chaos theory (see Renew.com for the section on Change for a full explanation and many good links to Chaos Theorey) works in real life.

·        www.renew.com - My website is in effect a text book online. It is designed to help you see the nature of the shift in world view from things to information. It also has a useful book list with links to summaries of most of what is listed – a kind of “Coles Notes” online. Most of the context and much of the implications of the shift are described. Please go to “What’s Going On” for a summary of chapter headings.

·        www.http://radio.weblogs.com/0107127/   My Weblog which has all my current work. Here you will find not only articles by me but also many articles and links to other writers and to news items that are current.

Course requirements and structure

This course will be a combination of lectures, discussion groups in the class and on the Internet, readings, case studies and assignments.

At the centre of the course will be a project that will explore approaching both the developed and developing markets from the perspective of a small PEI-based company.

The very early classes will be mainly contextual so that we can all get on the same page

Then I intend to run the class as much as possible as if we were a business team working to solve a common business problem As such I will be looking for a contribution from you both as individuals and as a productive team member.

Each of you will have two unique assignments based on your understanding of the new context for marketing and a project role where you will have a specific deliverable and will become part of a team presentation.

I will evaluate you on the flowing criteria

·        Your contribution in class and in your team. I recognize that not everyone feels comfortable in talking in class. I define “contribution” as adding value to the class and to your team from a role. I will work at the outset to find your optimal role in the class and on your team that fits best how you work.

o       In addition, I will arrange that we have an online discussion group so that both verbal and written channels will be available to you.

·        Your assignments – I will be looking for quality of thought and for looking beyond the nine dots – in short I will look for insight.

·        Your ability to work effectively and supportively in your teams

Evaluation plan

·        Participation                                   40%

·        Assignments                                   60%

Course Schedule

Please note that some of the schedule may change. Please see this as an outline. Check my web page www.renew.com in the section “University Courses” – Business 477 – Calendar for the current schedule and for supporting material for all the key points of the course. It is important to have read the set books early. My web site will provide you with the bulk of the research required for the main parts of the course.

Week                          Topic                                                   Assignment

Part 1 – Conceptual Overview – Major Trends & The Business Environment

1. Jan 8                       Intro & World Shift                            “Access” by Jan 18

2. Jan 17                     Developed World

3. Jan 22                     Developing World                              “Tipping” by Feb 3

Part 2 – Human Behaviour – the New Rules of Marketing

4. Jan 29                     Viral Marketing                                 Assignment due Feb 12

5. Feb 5                       Values/Branding

6. Feb 12                     Psychographics                                 

Part 3 – Project and Organization – the Network as the Organization

7. Feb 19                     Project Set Up                                   

8. Feb 26                     Core Competency/Partnership          Assignment due March 16

9. March 3                  Commodity/Service/Brand

10. March 5                Intellectual Capital & Culture           Project due March 26

11. March 17              Network/DNA/Channels

12. March 19              Assignment Presentations

13. March 24              Assignment Presentations

The project will be your “Exam” and your formal work will end on March 26