• Role of Marketing in Business Strategy
Discussion Topic:
Discuss how marketing strategy fits within the larger framework of business strategy. Provide an example of a company (from any industry) that successfully integrates its marketing strategy into their overall business strategy.
Or, give an example of a company whose marketing strategy doesn't fit well with its business strategy. First describe its business strategy and then its marketing strategy and explain why you believe they are or are not well integrated.
Please use the language and concepts covered in this week's readings covering business and marketing strategies.
• Marketing Plans and Marketing Analytical Tools
Discussion Topic:
One of the most popular tools in any marketing plan is a SWOT analysis. Marketing Teacher.com has many interesting examples of SWOTs. Please study them carefully: they should provide some insights into the nature of a SWOT analysis. After that, develop a SWOT analysis for UMUC.
How did the various SWOT elements get reflected in the UMUC Strategic Plan for 2015-2018?
Would you suggest any other additional strategies for UMUC based on your SWOT analysis?
• Multimedia - Ethics and CSR and Marketing Strategy
Discussion Topic:
Please watch the following multimedia clips on Honest Tea and Starbuck's initiatives on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
Video: Corporate Social Responsibility: Starbucks
Describe the means by which a company (other than Honest Tea) engages in CSR and how it derives strategic benefits from its efforts.
Readings
Systems Thinking/ Ethics/CSR
Required Readings
1. Strategic Planning
2. SWOT Analysis. (2009). In Encyclopedia of Management (6th ed., pp. 915-918). Detroit: Gale.
3. Senn, C., Thoma, A., & Yip, G. S. (2013). Customer-centric leadership: How to manage strategic customers as assets in B2B markets. California Management Review, 55(3), 27-59. doi:10.1525/cmr.2013.55.3.27
4. Berman, B. (2016). Referral marketing: Harnessing the power of your customers. Business Horizons, 59(1), 19-28. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2015.08.001
5. Chapter 2 Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics
Recommended Readings
• Fitzgerald, M. (2013). The myth about viral marketing. MIT Sloan Management Review, 54(3), 15. Retrieved from https://sloanreview.mit.edu/
• Vallaster, C., Lindgreen, A., Maon, F. (2012). Strategically leveraging corporate social responsibility: A corporate branding perspective. California Management Review, 54(3), 34-60. doi:10.1525/cmr.2012.54.3.34
• Weinzimmer, L. G., &Esken, C. A. (2016). Risky business: Taking a stand on social issues. Business Horizons, 59(3), 331-337. doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2016.01.007