Office: Room 5245B, Donald P. Jacobs Center, Evanston Campus
Marketing D68
Technology Marketing
Spring Quarter 2003-2004
Prof. Mohanbir Sawhney
Reaching Me:
Office: Room 5245B, Donald P. Jacobs Center, Evanston Campus
Office Hours: By appointment.
Voice: 847-491-2713
Fax: 847-467-5505
Assistant: Rahi Gurung (467-1705, )
E-Mail:
Web: www.mohansawhney.com
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Objectives:
The objectives of this course are to:
1. Provide you with an understanding of the strategic marketing problems faced by technology-intensive firms.
2. Develop the competencies required to become a world-class technology marketer
3. Improve your awareness of trends in technology and strategies of technology companies.
2. Course Design
The design of this course is unique in terms of the content as well as in the pedagogy. The design of the course reflects the following themes:
· Competency-Building Approach: The assignments and cases in the course will emphasize the development of key strategic marketing competencies, and will focus on the key strategic marketing processes in technology companies. The course has a strong decision-orientation, and it emphasizes learning by doing. You will be required to do quantitative analysis and to use strategy simulation games as a tool for action learning. This decision orientation is time-consuming and demanding, but results in superior learning.
· Transfunctional Perspective: Management in fast-paced technological environments requires tight integration across all functional areas. Therefore, the course content will span and synthesize several functional areas, including Marketing, Organization, Industrial Design, Anthropology, Strategy, and Technology Management. This may sometimes raise the question - "is this really Marketing?". I consider this question to be irrelevant. In designing the course, the only question I have asked is - "is this tool or concept useful for managing technology-intensive businesses?"
· Strategic Orientation: The course takes a strategic perspective to the decision problems in managing technology firms. This reflects my belief that strategic thinking is essential when the decision environment is highly uncertain and highly dynamic. The downside of the strategic orientation is that we may not get down to the nuts-and-bolts as much as we would, if we were focusing on consumer packaged goods.
· Continuous Evolution: A significant proportion of the lecture and case material for the course is new and untested, and will continue to be so, because the course deals with a very dynamic knowledge domain. Therefore, things may sometimes not work as promised, and some course materials may be delivered “just-in-time”. I expect students in this course to be lead users, and to provide constructive feedback on a continuous basis during the course on course design and pedagogy. I also ask you to be patient and understanding when things do not quite work right. I will attempt to do my best in minimizing glitches, but I cannot promise zero defects.
3. Pedagogical Style
The pedagogical style will be a hybrid of lectures and cases. The cases and examples chosen for the course will focus on technology firms from the computer, communications, and consumer electronics industries, but will also include examples of firms that are being impacted by technology.
4. Required Course Materials
The only required materials for the course are the case packet and the CourseInfo site for the course. The case packet and the Web site together contain all the required readings. Class notes and assignments will be posted in PowerPoint or Microsoft Word format on the Web for downloading. The class notes are the intellectual property of the instructor. You may not distribute or duplicate these notes without my written consent.
5. Student Expectations
I expect every student to be present, punctual, prepared, and participative in all class sessions. Attendance is mandatory for all regularly scheduled class sessions, including the guest sessions. Absence from any class session without prior notification will severely affect your class participation grade. I find late arrivals and early departures from a class session to be very distracting and disrespectful, so please arrive on time, and stay for the duration of the class.
Students are expected to be prepared with the assigned readings and cases for each class. I will "cold call" on you to present or defend your viewpoint on the assigned readings or the case, so please save yourself from being embarrassed by being prepared with the material.
Every student is expected to contribute to class discussions. Do not expect to do well in this course by simply coming to class, taking notes, and synthesizing, recalling, or reproducing the material we cover in class. To do well, you must learn from active participation in class discussions. In evaluating class participation, I emphasize the quality of participation a lot more than the quantity. I try to assess how your contributions enhance both the content and process of a discussion:
· Do your comments merely restate the facts or does they provide new insights?
· Do the comments add to our understanding of the issues or are a frivolous attempt to get "air time"? (i.e. you have only one thing to say, and want to say it no matter how irrelevant it is to the on-going discussion!).
· Are the comments timely and linked to the comments of others?
· Are the comments action-oriented, or simply descriptive statements?
· Do the comments move the discussion along by giving a new perspective?
· Are the comments clear and concise, or obscure and rambling?
· Do the comments reflect a concern for maintaining a constructive and comfortable classroom atmosphere?
6. Team-Based Assignments
There are three team-based case assignments for the course:
1. Illinois Superconductor Corporation: This assignment requires you to develop a forecasting model using Excel, and to conduct sensitivity analysis on various variables that affect the demand forecast. You will need to use the Excel solver extensively for this assignment. The report for this assignment should not exceed 7 single-spaced pages, excluding exhibits.
2. Motorola Envoy: This assignment requires you to write up brief analysis of the Motorola Envoy case. Write-ups should be limited to 3 single-spaced pages, including exhibits.
3. PhotoWars: This assignment requires you to use the PhotoWars management flight simulator. PhotoWars is a strategy simulation game that uses system dynamics to introduce you to a sensemaking framework for analyzing digital opportunity arenas, and to teach you the best practices for placing strategic bets in dynamic technology markets. The arena that PhotoWars simulates is the consumer imaging market, where analog technologies are competing with digital imaging architectures. Detailed instructions for using the simulation are in your case packet. The write-up for this assignment should be presented as a report not exceeding 7 single-spaced pages, excluding exhibits.
Please form teams of 5-6 people of your choice. Pick a team name of your choice. Team names and composition are due on Monday, April 5).
7. Team Project
You will be required to do a final team-based project involving a marketing process audit at a company of your choosing. This will include mapping the strategic marketing processes at the company and suggesting improvements to the marketing processes. Details of the assignment will be announced in the class.
8. Grading
Grades will be computed as follows:
· Case Assignment 1 (Illinois Superconductor): 10%
· Case Assignment 2 (Trilogy): 5%
· Case Assignment 3 (PhotoWars): 15%
· Class Participation and attendance: 15%
· Marketing Process Audit Team Project 30%
· Final Examination 25%
There will be a final exam that will test you on the concepts discussed in class, as well as in the readings. The final exam will be an in-class exam, and will feature short answer questions.
9. Attendance Policy
Attendance is mandatory in the first class. I would like you to attend all classes barring emergencies, but I understand that you may have pressing commitments. Keeping this in view, you are allowed to miss a maximum of two class sessions during the quarter, after informing me in advance about your intended absence. If you miss any sessions beyond the permissible 2, you will lose 5% of your grade for each additional class missed, subject to a maximum of 15%, even if you inform me in advance. If you miss a class without informing me in advance, you will automatically lose 5% of your grade, subject to the maximum of 15%. To allow me to track attendance, I will circulate attendance sheets in every class. It is your responsibility to sign the attendance sheet in each class.
10. Honor Code
All students are expected to abide by the honor code of the Kellogg School and Northwestern University. The honor code will apply as follows:
· The discussion cases may be prepared individually or in groups. In fact, students are strongly encouraged to discuss the cases in groups before coming to class. You are free to discuss the case outside your group, if you feel there is a reason to do so.
· The written assignments may not be discussed with anyone outside your group, or with other students in the program.
11. Session Schedule:
Date / Lecture/
Case / Lecture Topic/
Case Title
1 / Mon, March 29 / Lecture / Course Introduction and Overview
2 / Thu, Apr 01 / Lecture / A Process-Based Framework for Marketing
3 / Mon, Apr 05 / Lecture /
Gaining Customer Understanding and Insight
4 / Thu, Apr 08 / Case /Wingcast: Creating and Capturing Value in Telematics
5 / Mon, Apr 12 / Lecture / Assessing Market Opportunities and Forecasting Demand6 / Thu, Apr 15 / Case / Illinois Superconductor Corporation [Assignment 1 Due]
7 / Mon, Apr 19 / Lecture / Segmenting Markets and Selecting Target Markets
8 / Thu, Apr 22 / Lecture / Designing Value Propositions
9 / Mon, Apr 26 / Case / Motorola Envoy
10 / Thu, Apr 29 / Lecture / Developing and Managing New Offerings
11 / Mon, May 03 / Case /
Apple Powerbook: Cost, Quality and Time to Market
12 / Thu, May 06 / Case /Trilogy and Value-Based Pricing [Assignment 2 Due]
13 / Mon, May 10 / Lecture /Managing Channels and Partnerships
14 / Thu, May 13 / Case /Rockwell Automation: The Channel Challenge
15 / Mon, May 17 / Case / PhotoWars [Assignment 3 due]16 / Thu, May 20 / Lecture /
Defining, Designing and Delivering Customer Solutions
17 / Mon, May 24 / Lecture / Managing Brands and Customer Experiences18 / Thu, May 27 / Case / Microsoft Corporation: Positioning and Branding Microsoft .NET
19 / Mon, May 31 / Memorial Day (No Class)
20 / Thu, Jun 03 / Lecture / Managing Growth and Evolution
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