Business Management Foundations

Introduction to Marketing, Management & Leadership

This Course concerns two more basics every business person must master: marketing and managerial leadership. The Course begins with classic marketing principles such as features/benefits, the 3 Cs, segmenting and defining a target market, and the 4 Ps. It then shifts to differentiating and honoring both management and leadership skills, diving in on each element of the POLC[S] model of managerial excellence, and ending with important thoughts about a manager’s ethics.

Faculty

Prof. Suzanne Shu

Prof. Suzanne Shu

Professor

Suzanne Shu’s research investigates how individuals form judgments and make decisions in uncertain environments. She is especially interested in judgments and decisions that occur over long timeframes. The types of decisions analyzed in her research include consumer self-control problems and consumption timing issues, with important implications for both negative behaviors (such as procrastination) and positive behaviors (such as saving).

Professor Shu received a PhD from the University of Chicago in 2004, where her studies included behavioral economics, decision sciences, and marketing. She also holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and Masters in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.

In addition to her work in academia, Professor Shu has worked as a product line manager, an IT project manager, and as a management consultant in sales force design. She also consults for financial services companies and insurance providers on behavioral influences on consumers’ financial decisions. Before arriving at UCLA, Professor Shu taught marketing and decision making courses to MBA students at the University of Chicago, Southern Methodist University, and INSEAD.

 

Prof. Miguel Unzueta

Prof. Miguel Unzueta

Professor

Miguel Unzueta is an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at UCLA Anderson School of Management. His research explores how people understand their position within social and interpersonal hierarchies and the impact this understanding has on their perceptions of self, others, and group-based inequality.

Professor Unzueta teaches the core organizational behavior course for full-time MBA students (@MGMT 409). In 2010, he was awarded the George Robbins Assistant Professor Teaching Award.  More recently, he was selected by Poets & Quants as one of the best 40 business school professors under age 40.

Professor Unzueta is currently serving on the editorial board of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies and is a member of the Riordan Programs’ advisory board.

Course Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Complete a marketing and sales plan that includes strategic analysis – company, customers, and competition – as well as tactics of segmenting and targeting customers, pricing, placing, positioning, and promoting your product/service.
  • Blend both the strategic [leadership] and the tactical [management] aspects of leading your business.
  • Use the POLC[S] model, including associated best practices, to structure your approach to business management and leadership.
  • Distinguish between a product’s features and its benefits to customers.
  • Conduct the first part of a situational analysis for a particular product, including the first two Cs, company and competition.
  • Describe in detail the third C, customers, who together form a target market for a new product, given some general facts about the product.
  • Write a positioning statement that includes the target summary, product offer, competitive alternatives, and support.
  • Analyze the “4 Ps” of a marketing plan – product, price, promotion, and place – to accurately describe each element.
  • Research the size of potential, addressable, and target markets for a particular product.
  • Plan specific steps to bridge the gap between the current state and the desired state bringing both managerial and leadership skills to bear.
  • Create a RACI chart that shows how work on specific tasks should be allocated.
  • Write a brief sketch of a great leader – either someone you know or a public figure – that describes two key characteristics that define the individual’s leadership and defend your position with facts.
  • Solve a problem involving a lack of management control in a business situation.
  • Create a list of tips for coaching an employee who is demonstrating unacceptable behavior.

Syllabus

Marketing Strategy

Learning Objectives: As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Distinguish between a product’s features and its benefits to customers.
  • Conduct the first part of a situational analysis for a particular product, including the first two Cs, company and competition.
  • Describe in detail the third C, customers, who together form a target market for a new product, given some general facts about the product.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

  • Introduction to Marketing and Key Frameworks
  • Situation Analysis
  • Marketing Segmentation & Targeting

Readings:

  • Understanding Marketing – Definitions
  • Understanding Marketing – Frameworks
  • SWOT Analysis
  • Importance of Segmentation & Targeting in Marketing

Case Study:

  • Drastic Publishing (Continued – Part 8)

Quiz:

  • Marketing Concepts

Branding Strategy

Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Write a positioning statement that includes the target summary, product offer, competitive alternatives, and support.
  • Analyze the “4 Ps” of a marketing plan – product, price, promotion, and place – to accurately describe each element.
  • Research the size of potential, addressable, and target markets for a particular product.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

  • Brand Positioning
  • Product Branding and Distribution Channels
  • Pricing and Promotion

Readings:

  • Competitive Positioning – Innovation Warehouse
  • Value of Branding
  • Lifestyle Branding – Engagement and the Total Experience
  • Developing a Brand
  • Branding Strategies
  • The 4 P’s of Effective Marketing

Case Study:

  • Drastic Publishing (Continued – Part 9)

Quiz:

  • Branding Concepts

Management and Leadership Principles

Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Plan specific steps to bridge the gap between the current state and the desired state bringing both managerial and leadership skills to bear.
  • Create a RACI chart that shows how work on specific tasks should be allocated.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

  • Defining Management and Leadership
  • Strategic Planning
  • Organizing and Allocating Resources

Readings:

  • Top 10 Leadership qualities of a Project Manager
  • Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills
  • Relationship between Personality and Managerial Performance
  • The Leadership Traits and Skills of Eastern Indian And Afghan Women

Case Study:

  • Drastic Publishing (Continued – Part 10)

Quiz:

  • Management & Leadership Principles

Management and Leaderships – Key Skills

Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Write a brief sketch of a great leader – either someone you know or a public figure – that describes two key characteristics that define the individual’s leadership and defend your position with facts.
  • Solve a problem involving a lack of management control in a business situation.
  • Create a list of tips for coaching an employee who is demonstrating unacceptable behavior.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

  • Leading Teams and People
  • Establishing Management Controls
  • Staffing and Talent Management
  • Ethical Management and Leadership

Readings:

  • Building Strategic, Tactical and Operational Control
  • How to Inspire Workplace Behaviors To Get Better Results
  • Building and Leveraging Informal Networks
  • Ethical Leadership: Right Relationships and the Emotional Bottom Line
  • Ethical Leadership: Doing the Right Thing

Case Study:

  • Drastic Publishing (Continued – Part 11)

Quiz:

  • Management & Leadership Skills

Support

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