COURSES

• GSBGEN 358: The Power of Social Technology

  The goal of this seminar is to investigate how social technology (e.g. blogs, websites, podcasts, widgets, community groups, social network feeds) can change attitudes and behaviors in ways that cultivate social change.  During the course, students will do a deep dive into a socially-innovative organization (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, Current Media, Kiva.org, Google, Mozilla, Joost, Flickr, HopeLab) who have improved lives directly or indirectly (or have the potential to do so).  Students will study the strategies and tactics used by companies and causes that have successfully catalyzed the social persuasion to occur.  For the final project, you will work with in small self-selected teams to create (1) a new product or application, (2) a viral video, or (3) a Marketing Playbook  For those who select their deliverable to be a new product or application, you will need to create a prototype.  For those who select a viral video, you will make a video, post it on YouTube, measure its impact (increasing awareness, behavior change), and write up the results for a case.  For those who select a "Marketing Playbook," you will create unique (not typical) powerpoint deck that could be disseminated among a larger population, to be good enough for publication and use in the classroom as a case.

   

• MKTG 352: Building Strong Global Brands

  Brand is poorly understood.  Some view it is a badge, others equate it with ‘branding’.  This seminar will dive into the meaning of brand, which is based on the relationships cultivated with customers.  First, we’ll review strong and weak brands, and then dive into four underleveraged principles of brand building: Strong brands are holistic (i.e., have an equal focus on internal and external branding), are distinct, evoke emotion, and cultivate strong relationships. Second, we will hone in on brands that excel at (a) strategic philanthropy (i.e., doing good and making money) and (b) telling their story.  For the final project, students will work in small self-selected teams to write either a (1) publishable case study which hones in on a particular brand of your choosing (1500 words) or (2) “Brand Playbook” (i.e., playbook on how to build, change, or resurrect a brand by harnessing both non-traditional and traditional methods) - to be disseminated among a larger population and good enough for use in the classroom. Since writing is central to this course, admission requires submitting a writing sample (could be something you used in the past). If you choose, you may submit your CV as well and the reason you would like to take this course.  Of the qualified applicants, academic operations will randomly select the individuals who will get into the course. 

   

• MBA: MKTG 240: Marketing Management
  
  The objectives of this course are to introduce students to the substantive and procedural aspects of marketing management and to sharpen skills for critical analytical thinking and effective communication. Specifically, the goals are to introduce students to marketing strategy and to the elements of marketing analysis: customer analysis, competitor analysis, and company analysis; to familiarize students with the elements of the marketing mix (product strategy, pricing, advertising and promotion, and distribution), and to enhance problem solving and decision-making abilities in these operational areas of marketing; and to provide students with a forum (both written and verbal) for presenting and defending their own recommendations, and for critically examining and discussing the recommendations of others.

• MBA: MKTG 549: Understanding Consumers, Understanding Cultures
  
  The focus of the seminar is on understanding current theoretical, conceptual and methodological approaches to various aspects of cultural psychology and anthropology, particularly in the context of consumer behavior. A secondary goal is to advance this knowledge by gaining some insight into how to conduct the research, gleem insights from the environment and through interacting with consumers, and drawing marketing implications for that knowledge. Thus, the seminar is similar to a PhD seminar in that it entails reviewing and discussing a set of articles that focus on cross-cultural marketing issues, understanding the methodologies used in the articles and discussing the marketing implications of the findings in the articles. However, it is complemented with a set of exercise-oriented field-based assignments on each day - to be conducted in a 2-4 person group. In addition, your group will work collaboratively on a global brand presentation on Day 5.

• MBA: M357: Brand Planning
  
  This advanced MBA reading seminar addresses some of the basic branding decisions faced by companies. The main objective of the course is introduce concepts, models, methods, and role models that will help address the challenges faced by brand managers and others in marketing-related positions. Ideally, decisions will be guided by a theory of how consumers respond to and interact with brands, hence, theoretical issues pertinent to consumer behavior provide a secondary focus for the course. Specifically, the objectives of this course will provide insight on: 1. Understanding the brand: determining brand positioning and value proposition; 2. Crafting the brand: planning and implementing brand marketing programs; 3. Building the brand: building consumer-brand relationships and measuring brand performance; and 4. Managing the brand: growing and sustaining brand equity over time and across geographic boundaries.
   

• PhD:   M648: Culture and Persuasion
  
  Cross-Cultural Consumer Research Objectives are to (1) familiarize you with research in cultural psychology, particularly in the context of consumer behavior, and (2) build a set of academic-oriented skills (e.g., critical thinking, presentations, review process, creating hypotheses and testing them creatively). Specifically, the focus is on understanding current theoretical and methodological approaches to various aspects of culture and persuasion, as well as advancing this knowledge by developing testable hypotheses and theoretical perspectives that build on the current knowledge base. The content of the course (e.g., readings) represent basic and recent work in cultural psychology and related disciplines (psychology, anthropology and sociology).
   

• PhD:   M642:  Consumer Behavior
  
   To familiarize you with research in social psychology and marketing that may help you to understand how different marketing strategies affect consumer behavior.
  
  To give you a strong foundation for critical thinking in the area of consumer behavior.
  
  Therefore, the focus is on understanding current theoretical and methodological approaches to various aspects of consumer behavior, as well as advancing this knowledge by developing testable hypotheses and theoretical perspectives that build on the current knowledge base.  For each topic considered, a range of articles from “old classics” to recent research will be assigned.  In each session there will be four or five articles that will be discussed in depth, as well as several additional background articles and chapters that you might want to know but may read at a later date.