BILKENT UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF TOURISM AND HOTEL MANAGEMENT

THM 484: Case Studies in Applied Marketing (61484) – RE103

Spring 2002-2003

 

Instructor: 

Dr. Seyhmus Baloglu, CHE, Associate Professor

Office:

RA 204

Phone:

290-5007

E-mail:

baloglu@tourism.bilkent.edu.tr

Office Hours:

M1,2,3,4
I will be in the office more often than this, so if you are already in the building, come by.  I encourage students to take advantage of office hours to discuss assignments and secure help whenever needed throughout the semester.  Please come and see me as soon as a problem occurs.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to provide students with the analytical skills necessary to make major marketing decisions in an organization. Students will analyze marketing practices of hospitality and tourism companies and apply marketing principles to actual hospitality and tourism cases in an integrative and cohesive manner. The emphasis is on harmony and synergy of marketing activities and strategies.

The course covers a broad spectrum of marketing topics that include measuring market demand, analyzing consumer markets and buyer behavior, identifying target markets, developing and positioning products, international marketing, developing pricing and distribution channel strategies, and managing direct and online marketing. Overall, the main themes of each topic will provide students with strategic, tactical and administrative marketing concepts to use.

A.    

COURSE OBJECTIVES

At the conclusion of this course, successful students will be able to:

  

  1. To provide an opportunity for the integration of diverse marketing knowledge.
  2. To develop/practice decision-making skills required for effective marketing.
  3. To be exposed to actual marketing applications of marketing management through case study analysis and real-life marketing situations.
  4. To provide an opportunity to improve written and oral participation/discussion skills through the case study methodology.
  5. To develop and present a marketing plan for an existing or proposed company.

 

These objectives will be accomplished by reading the course material, completing term project, discussing the course materials in class, and attendance and participation in lectures.

 

COURSE MATERIALS

  1. Kotler, Bowen, & Makens, Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 3rd ed., Prentice Hall, 2003 (Suggested)
  2. Morrison, Alastair M., Hospitality and Travel Marketing, Delmar Publishers, 1996 or most recent edition (Suggested)
  3. Kotler & Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, 9th ed., Prentice Hall, 2001 (Suggested)
  4. Cases
  5. Power Point Slides
  6. Supplementary Handouts

 

COURSE FORMAT

The class will be a combination of lectures, case discussions, and group work with the emphasis on class participation. To provide a real-world educational experience, the class sessions will be augmented by discussion of industry practices and video cases. Students are expected to read course material and cases by the day they are listed on the assignment schedule and are encouraged to volunteer examples, questions, and comments.

 

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

It is my responsibility to create a classroom environment that facilitates learning and allows the desired outcomes of this course to occur. I believe in interactive learning and application questions to get students to learn through thinking, applying, and evaluating theoretical concepts with real life situations. As such, I promote a relaxed, free-wheeling atmosphere in the classroom. It is your responsibility, as a student, to study the readings, complete assignments, and participate in discussion and activities. I will do my best to meet you half-way if you are having problems meeting deadlines and understanding the material. However, you must also meet me half-way, by alerting me potential problems early on and by sticking to any alternate plans we make. In other words, we must work together as a team.

 

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

It is expected that students, as future managers, conduct themselves in a mature and professional manner in every class session. Because of the diverse backgrounds of the university’s student body, everyone enrolled in this course is viewed as a contributor to the overall educational experience in this class. Open discussion of classroom subjects is encouraged and students are expected to show common courtesy when others are speaking. The instructor will moderate the open discussions. During discussions, only one person will have the floor at a time.

All class sessions begin on time. Students coming to class late or leaving early interrupt the instructor and the learning experience for the rest of the students. After a pattern of abuse (3 times) is apparent, there will be a 5% deduction from your final grade.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING

 Requirements

Grade %

Your Score

Attendance, Participation, & Case Discussions

20%

=

Current Practices Articles

30%

=

Term Project

40%

=

Project Presentation

10%

=

TOTAL

100%

=

Attendance, Participation, & Case Discussions (20%): Attendance will be taken in each class. Complete understanding of the material covered in the course requires an interactive discussion and therefore your attendance. There will be periodic case discussions (written and video-cases), article presentations, and exercises on weekly basis.  Late arrivals and early departures are strongly discouraged and will count the same as an absence Physics dictates that you must be in class to participate unless you are prepared to provide teleconferencing devices for the classroom. Plus, students that actively participate in class and are near the next higher grade will be given the next grade.

Current Practices Articles (30%): You will be required to search for, prepare for class discussion, and present in class, one hospitality or tourism industry current issue article for the topics announced in the class. You should use trade magazines or on-line resources to find your articles. The articles should be about marketing practices of hospitality or tourism company(ies). The purpose of this assignment is to link the course material with industry practices. Each student will submit articles and one page summary for each article attached to the article. The one-page summary should include the key marketing issues mentioned in the article and an evaluation of the company practices, whether they apply marketing concepts/principles effectively or ineffectively. You should be prepared to present to and discuss this article in detail with the class when called upon.

Each summary is to be type written, spelled correctly, be grammatically correct, and turned in on the assigned day (in class). Late assignments will not be accepted and the student will receive a zero (0) for that assignment. Assignments not meeting the criteria stated above will receive a zero as not acceptable. Any student turning in poorly written or incomplete assignments that wastes both our time will have a point deducted from the participation portion of their grade. This is to be your own work. Duplication of someone else's work in part or total will result in failure of the course for both (all) parties.

Articles - are graded on a scale of -1 to 2, where: -1 - is a waste of both our time 0 - not acceptable work 1 - acceptable work 1.5 - average work 2 - superior work

 

Term Project and Presentation (50%): The project involves proposing a new concept (company) and develop a marketing plan for it. This includes trends favorable and/or unfavorable for your concept, competition analysis, target market(s) and positioning, and marketing action elements (product, place, price, and promotion) tactics and strategies. The final deliverables are a written report (40%) and an oral report (in-class presentation) (10%). The purpose of the project is to allow you to integrate and apply the marketing principles and components discussed throughout the semester to the “real world.” This will allow you to learn while challenging your marketing skills, analytical abilities, creativity, and understanding of the unique dimensions of marketing in the industry.

The project is a group endeavor. You are to organize into teams of three to four members.  Early in the course, you are required to submit a list of group members and a company of your choice for my approval. Guidelines will be given, early in the semester, on how to conduct a marketing plan and work should begin as soon as possible.

The written report is to be submitted on the date indicated on the assignment schedule attached. No late assignments will be accepted.

The presentation will be given during the last two weeks of the semester. It is to be given as a professional presentation with you as the marketing department or marketing firm giving a presentation of your strategic marketing plan to the board of directors. Presentation materials may include but are not limited to, power point, overheads, slides, charts, graphics, videos and/or handouts. Whatever is utilized, try to have an element of quality in the visual aids. The presentation time will be determined based on the class size.

WRITTEN REPORT SPECIFICATIONS

 

  • The report should be 12-15 pages, excluding cover page, references, and exhibits.
  • It should have the quality of a formal business document.
  • It should be double-spaced with standard margins (1” all the way around).
  • Use 12-pt font size and number your pages
  • On a cover page, put your names, company name and number, and my name (Dr. Seyhmus Baloglu)

 

 

 

 

ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE

Note: Reading assignments refer to case handouts. Although every effort will be made to adhere to this schedule, it may change based on the needs of the class and elaboration of topics.

Week

Date

Topic

Reading Assignment

Week 1

Feb 3

Introduction, Marketing in Changing World: Creating Customer Value and Satisfaction

 

 

Week 2

 

Holiday!

 

Week 3

Feb 17

Service Characteristics

·        Excellence Case: Red Lobster

·        Case 2: Cafeteria ICE

Week 4

Feb 24

Strategic Planning and the Marketing Process, The Marketing Environment

·        Excellence Case: Carlson Companies Inc.

·        Case 3: Hardee’s: Marketing in a Different Business Environment

·        Case 6: Burger King: Selling Whoppers in Japan

Week 5

Mar 3

Student Conferences for Term Project

 

Week 6

Mar 10

Marketing Information & Research

·        Excellence Case: Marriott Corporation

·        Case 8: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Week 7

Mar 17

Segmentation, Target Marketing, and Positioning

·        Excellence Case: Contiki Holidays

·        Excellence Case: Club Med

·        Case 15: Coconut Plantation Resort

Week 8

 

Mid-Term Week

 

Week 9

Mar 31

Product and Services Strategy; New-Product Development and Product Life-Cycle Strategies

·        Case 9: The Hunt Room: Change the Concept or Just Décor

·        Case 16: Outback Steakhouse

·        Case 17: The Grand Canyon Railway 

Week 10

Apr 7

Marketing Communication Strategy;

Advertising

·        Excellence Case: Promotion Mix: Chi Chi’s Restaurant

·        Excellence Case: Advertising: Tourism British Columbia

·        Case 25: Burger King: Searching for the Right Message

Week 11

Apr 14

Sales Promotion;

Public Relations

·        Excellence Case: Chick Fil-A

·        Excellence Case: McDonald’s

·        Case 23: McDonald’s: Where to Go from Here?

·        Case 26: Solitare Lodge of New Zealand

·        Case 27: The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore

Week 12

Apr 21

Distribution Channels;

Online and Database Marketing

·        Excellence Case: The Cruise Line Industry in America

·        Excellence Case: Signature Inns

·        Case 14: Design of Web Sites: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority

·        Case 16: The Teller House Uses Database Marketing

Week 13

Apr 28

Pricing Products: Pricing Approaches and Strategies

·        Excellence Case: Rent-A-Wreck of America Inc.

·        Case 20: US Airways: The Airline Price Wars

Week 14

May 5

Project Presentations
Project Due

Week 15

May 12

Project Presentations

 

Week 16

 

Final Week