MKTG5002 (V.3) International Marketing for Managers
Trimester 3A, 2024
Syllabus
This unit is designed to develop students’ understandings of the marketing challenges and opportunities encountered in global markets. Through industry-focused case analysis and conceptual underpinnings students will develop cross-cultural business skills relevant to the global marketing environment, including entry strategies, social and cultural understandings, strategic international competitiveness, and consumer behaviour in global markets. Students will work actively and collaboratively to execute strategic thinking and decision making in achieving a sustainable presence in global markets.
Introduction
In generic term, international marketing is the application of marketing principles, techniques, and strategies in more than one country. It involves marketing activities relating to plan, price, promote, and direct the flow of a company’s goods and services to the consumers of various international markets, and thus achieve company objectives. International marketers constantly face the challenge of deciding whether to pursue standardization or adaptation or have a balance between the two when extending their operations or market their products in foreign countries. Hence, factors that are relevant to this crucial decision are extensively discussed in this unit. Besides, students are exposed to various socio-cultural, economic, political and competitive environments of a range of international markets, which are important in developing business students’ understanding of relevant cross-cultural and global issues.
Learning Activities
Learning Activities:
The unit will be conducted in flipped mode which includes one hour of online lecture and two hours of workshop each week. The online lecture is voice recorded embedded in the PPT slides. In addition to the online lecture, ample support materials, mini case studies, video resources, etc. will be made available in the weekly folder. Students are expected to go through these materials before coming to the weekly workshop.
Workshops: The weekly workshop will focus on various tutorial activities in order to provide students with an opportunity to apply theories and frameworks learned into practice. During the worskhops, students will have the opportunity to work in small groups to work on their major assignment, solve relevant cases and present the findings in order to develop their managerial skill. Students will be able to enhance their learning experience through in-group discussion on various contemporary issues of International Marketing. Further, they will be exposed to research in International Marketing as they are required to review scholarly articles and discuss them in class.
In-class activities: Several in-class exercises linked to important concepts have been designed to further improve students' understanding of International Marketing. Different exercises will be given in class and students will be required to solve and present them.
In-class interaction: The unit has been designed to encourage and stimulate in-class participation. Students are expected to go through the required readings (e.g., chapters, cases, articles, etc.) prior to their class. Students’ participation will further enrich understanding of theories and concepts in this unit.
Market Entry Assessment
Market Entry Assessment (35% of the total mark) [Due on Friday (11.59 pm) of teaching week 7]
This is an individual assignment. Each student is required to select a country and a company. The students may choose any company of their preference; however (i) the company should not have any ongoing operation in the selected country; and (ii) the company should not be related to nudity.
Assuming that the company is exploring possible market entry opportunities in the selected country, each student needs to analyse different elements of macro marketing environment and competitive environment of the country; and thus provide recommendations for the company regarding the best possible foreign market entry strategy with adequate justifications.
The assessment consists of the following major components (students need to discuss their progress on the assignment during the respective weekly classes):
Analysis of the economic environment of the selected country including existing free trade agreements with Australia and other countries – in class discussion - week 2.
Analysis of socio-cultural factors which influence consumer attitudes and behaviours in the selected country - in class discussion - week 3
Analysis of political and legal environment of the selected country - in class discussion - week 4
Analysis of country competitive advantage and industry competitiveness - in class discussion - week 5
Evaluating the alternative entry modes in the selected country - in class discussion - week 6.
Further details of the assessment and a guiding tip sheet are available in the Blackboard. Students need to submit the individual assignment online through Blackboard on or before the due date. The submitted assignments will be transferred to Turnitin automatically for plagiarism monitoring. Students will NOT have more than one chance to submit the assignment in Turnitin. Penalties will be applied if any student is late in submitting the assignment.
The length of the assignment should not be more than 12 A4 pages (12 font; 1.5 line spacing; and 1 inch margin across all sides) excluding the cover page, table of contents, references and appendices. Your write up beyond the first 12 pages will NOT be marked.
Case Analysis and Discussion Leadership
Case Analysis and Discussion Leadership (25% of the total mark - due during the weekly class, from teaching week 2 to week 11)
This is a group activity. Each group should not include more than 4 members. The assessment has two key components: first one is Case Analysis (20% of the total grade) and the second part is Discussion Leadership (5% of the total grade). Under the case analysis, each student group will select any of the two weeks from week 2 to week 12 to present and submit cases that are due to cover on those particular weeks. If there are two cases assigned in one particular week, the group can choose either one. Each case study solution will carry 10% of the total grade.
Students will present the cases during the class. If you opted in for online class, you may need to present during the Blackboard collaborate session by sharing your slides or you may need to voice record your presentation in the power point slides and then send it to the lecturer for marking. The unit coordinator will decide about the appropriate option based on the number of students opted in for online class.
For the Discussion Leadership, each group needs to choose another week to challenge the presenting group of that week by asking questions and leading a discussion. Each group member is supposed to prepare him/herself for asking questions and actively participate in the discussion.
Thus every group is supposed to work on three cases in three different weeks throughout the semester. The list of the weekly case studies will be available on the Blackboard.
In addition to challenging the presenting group, each group are expected to participate in the class discussion on weekly topics. The details about this will be explained during the first workshop.
All the group members must contribute equally to the group activities. The members of the same group may receive different marks for the Case Analysis and Discussion Leadership based on their contribution to group work, the quality of the respective section that they are responsible for, peer-evaluation report, and other related evidence that will be received from each member.