Orthodox and Critical Perspectives in Marketing

Course objectives

The course assumes students’ familiarity with the notion of marketing and what a marketing plan is about. Typically, these notions are acquired in any Principles of Marketing course or during the Marketing tutorial, which we offer before our Master programmes’ formal start.

Said marketing background is however too narrow, since: (1) it conceives of marketing as a science, leading to (2) normative and (3) merely profit-oriented implications, both in theoretical and managerial terms.

In order to overcome such a limited marketing vision, the course aims at:

• contrasting established (i.e. orthodox) and emerging (i.e. critical) perspectives on marketing, which helps problematize marketing objectives, outcomes, and publics,
• questioning the sense and the implications of companies’ customer orientation in times of digitalisation, complexification, and intensification of company-stakeholders relationships,
• complementing the typical marketing funnel approach (as illustrated by the marketing plan) with a customer journey approach, and
• providing students with hands-on marketing experience, by means of a live case with a company.

Course description

PART I.   THE EVOLVING MEANING OF CUSTOMER CENTRICITY

• Customer centricity
• From orthodox to cultural marketing

PART II.   STRATEGIC MARKETING:  A LIFE-LONG JOURNEY

• Customers and their roles
• Customer centricity logic
• Customer lifetime value
• Customer experience and experiential value
• From segmentation to fragmentation
• Programmatic marketing

PART III.   ANALYTICAL MARKETING:  LEARNING FROM THE FIELD

• Research methods supporting innovation and creative thinking
• Structuring a professional research report

PART IV.    OPERATIONAL MARKETING: CHANNEL, RETAIL, AND PLACE

• Go to market strategy: Channel and retailing
• Servicescape
• New trends in retailing

PART V.    OPERATIONAL MARKETING: PRODUCT INNOVATION

• New products and product strategy
• Cultural innovation

PART VI.   OPERATIONAL MARKETING: FROM COMMUNICATION TO CONVERSATIONS

• Nurturing customer conversations
• Brand publics, brand communities, and communication enclaves
• Marketing communication

PART VII.   OPERATIONAL MARKETING: PRICING AND VALUE

• Price
• Value

Learning methods

In order to exploit the semester’s pedagogical specificities, the course has been entirely re-designed to leverage upon the opportunities that blended learning provides.

Odd weeks imply online sessions, with short videos shared with students every Monday by noon. Please, refer to the course’s iCorsi platform for both materials and forums where to exchange with professors and other participants.

Even weeks, instead, will take place in class and be dedicated to more complex or interactive topics. Students are strongly encouraged to participate actively in these sessions.

Attendance

Students are requested to attend at least 60% of the in-presence classes to validate the course. In case of personal impediments, students are expected to reach out to professors to discuss with them the best way to proceed.

Examination information

• Assessment is based on both an individual written exam (50% of the final grade) and group assignments (50%).
• Detailed evaluation criteria are set at the beginning of the course.
• Peer evaluation will be granted upon request.

Required material

Books 

• Kotler and Keller (2016), Marketing Management, chapters 5; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22.
• Visconti, Peñaloza, and Toulouse (2020), Marketing Management: A Cultural Perspective, introduction and chapters 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29.

Articles

• For a complete list of requested articles, please refer to the detailed syllabus available on the course’s iCorsi platform.