710FA01advice.htm
Advice from Fall 2001 MBA students .
UTM
Marketing Strategy . Dr. Johnston
Brandon
Dillard
Advice
to Future Students
What
I Learned?
I learned about several strategies
of marketing. I learned of push and
pull strategies on a more in-depth aspect and I learned different strategies
such as frontal, guerilla, and flanking.
I learned by participating in the case assignments about blunders of
what not to do in marketing crisis. I
also learned of great success. In
looking more into the cases, I learned of marketing strategies used by some
large well-known companies such as Wal-Mart, J&J, and McDonald’s. A case that enlightens my beliefs was that
of Wal-Mart. It made me realize that
not only has Wal-Mart made history and that it is an enormous company, that it
could very well be turning a corner in which it has a monopoly. I believed that Wal-Mart was just a
tremendous company that many opposed it simply because of its success. After reading the case and hearing some
educated debates about the company it has made me realize that maybe Wal-Mart
has too much control over the discount stores market and much like Microsoft,
it should be limited to some of its expansions and take over tactics of small
town economies.
What
I wish I had known?
I wish that I would have known more
on how to use blackboard before the class because I had troubles in the
beginning because of access. My user
name and password were not activated therefore I missed my first two
assignments, which is not a good start to the class. The advice that I would like to pass on to the next class and to
Mr. Johnston is that it seems that the syllabus has too much materials for a
class that only meets one night a week.
Having the students do the chapters and the cases all in lone night
seems like we were rushed through and didn’t get to spend much time on topics
that seem pertinent to the learning of the marketing strategies. Again, this is coming from a night class
student, the classes that meet twice a week during the day may have adequate
time to discuss the chapters and get in-depth with the cases. I was disappointed that we had to rush so
much through the cases because I would have liked to learn more about the
individual companies.
Tony
O’Dell
What
I Learned: What did you learn in the Marketing Strategy course? What were the highlights of the course? What information did you see that made an
impression on you? What topics changed
your way of thinking about Marketing Strategy, and how did they change your
thoughts?
I
Wish I had Known: What advice do you
have for somebody before they begin the Marketing Strategy course? What do you know now about the Marketing
Strategy course itself that you wish you had known before you began the
course? If you had known this, what
would you have done differently before or during the course?
I
learned that Marketing plays a much more pivotal role in the success of a company
than I previously understood. I also
learned that the information age has enabled the marketing strategists a wealth
of information and opportunity than ever before.
The
course highlights were the case material.
I dreaded the case work initially because in years past, case work was
usually boring and time consuming. As
it turned out, the Marketing Strategy case work was great. For example, I was amazed at the ignorance
of even giant companies in implementing marketing strategies that had company
failure written all over it. - See
Maytag case. I also liked the “virtual”
class – it would be great to have more of these.
c. The topics on the tobacco industry
regarding ethics changed my thinking about marketing because I never considered
the challenges a corporation is willing to undertake to market unhealthy
products even in the face of unpopular pubic opinion.
2 Buy a copy of the case text early. I wish I had known that we would be
selecting cases for debate or discussion on the first or second class. If I had known, I would have reviewed the
cases prior to the first class.
Watana
Rujicharoenchai
Almost four months I have taken this
class. I receive many things about American business. This class broadens me on
how to use marketing tool increase their sales or what mistakes they did. I can
learn the new things from some big mistakes of each big company. For example,
crisis management from J&J case, loss leader from Maytag case study, and
others. Also, I can learn I never know before from Wal-Mart, South West
Airline, Airbus, and others. I used to work as sales representative before I
came to USA. I graduated in engineering field. I have many conflicts when I
worked because I don’t really know what is going to happen with my action on my
target customers. In the past, I don’t think I need to study Marketing. I just
think that it’s enough for me to work by using my common sense to make decision
or what I should to do. It appears that many times I confused with my answer to
go through that problem. This class gives me the idea and many theories about
marketing and human behavior. When I study this class, I think back to the past
when I worked, yes! This is the answer why I did that. I still get many good
ideas from my professor. He tries to help his students to show what they think.
I love this.
If
I could go back in the past before I take this class, I will try to
increase my English skill and study about American’s products and American’s
company. I can’t contribute something I know or what I think because of lacking
English skill. Beside, I met many American companies in marketing textbook. I
have no idea about that. I think I will understand more if I really know that
firms.
Finally, I really love this class both
professor and my classmates. I get many and many things from this class.
Marketing
Assignment
I
used to study marketing in sophomore and related courses in junior years. I had
never think about marketing like the way I think in this course. I used to
think that marketing is very boring but somehow after the first day of this
class, my attitude has been changed. I think marketing is very funny
interesting course. About what I learned in this class, I think that I learned
how to think in the big picture not the small spot like I used to be in my
undergraduate. I learned how to relate each topic together from cases. It helps
me to extent my perspective in marketing. About theories, I learned a lot about
the theories from the cases. Anyway, learning the theories is not the important
concern but learning how to use and apply the theories is the most important
thing because theories are useless if we cannot use it with the real world.
About this class I have some comments to suggest. Why don’t you use more
discussion broad to discuss on each case because from my experiences in the
tobacco case, I like it very much. Everyone can share his or her idea without
time limit like in the classroom. Moreover, sometimes I like to share some idea
in the class but I am not good at speaking then I decided not to speak unless
you asked. I also think that many international students in the class would
like to participate either but sometimes they afraid to speak. But in
discussion broad, we can write and try to correct grammar before send it into
the broad. About I wish I had known, I wish I had more time to prepare myself
and review my knowledge in marketing. Moreover, I also wish I had known more
about American economy, consumer behavior, and culture because all of these
would help a lot in case study. Finally, I wish I had known more about how to
present and speak well. That is all my comments.
Dana
Ellen Crowley
Advice
to Future Students
WHAT I LEARNED
I have
learned many things about different cases we studied. I learned many things about companies that I did not know. I thought the cases were very interesting. The book was many things I have already
learned in previous marketing classes.
I was a marketing major. Someone
that wasn’t a marketing major may not have learned about some of the things in
the text. I learned about Dealing with
Competition in chapter 7 and I really enjoyed this text chapter.
I WISH I HAD KNOWN
I
had Dr. Johnston in undergraduate school so I knew what to expect. I would know that you have busy work that
keeps you busy within the class so you do not have a tendency to get
behind. I think this is a good
thing. I you do not like being taught
by PowerPoint do not take this class. I
liked the students teaching the class.
I did not like it when I could not understand the international students
because it was hard to follow along in class when you do not understand. If you don’t like typing, this class is not
for you. We go over cases of different
current companies and what they are doing today. The test are not easy, but I would not say hard either. You have practice questions as a guide and the
essay question come from the cases. Do
not be late! Dr. Johnston does not like
students who drag in late. I can relate
I teach on campus and neither to I!!! I
enjoyed this class. I would recommend
this class to you.
Shelby
Emerson
What I learned?
I learned a lot in this course. I think the most important thing that I
learned is the importance of marketing research. I learned from the case book that a lot of companies didn’t
succeed because of a lack of focus on marketing research. Every environment is different and the right
timing is needed in order to succeed.
In this course I learned about companies that tried to expand their
business into countries during their recession, without lowering expenses for
the customers in that country. I
learned about a few companies that failed to acknowledge certain trends in
their environment, which left a window of opportunity for other companies. I also learned about the importance of
customer service. The highlights of the course, for me was reading the cases of
real companies. I learned a lot from
their success and their plunders. The
presentations were another highlight for me.
It gave me the opportunity to sharpen my presentation skills as well
hear the different opinions of my classmates.
I also enjoyed the, “Insider” assignment. Initially I thought the movie was going to be suspect but I
enjoyed the movie and may have ever viewed it if it was not made an
assignment. Learning about the history
of companies such as Nike and Wal-mart may have had the biggest impression on me. The founders of these companies were innovative
and very successful. Maybe I will
search for that window of opportunity, be innovative and make millions. Topics on the “new coke” and the structure
of Toys R Us changed my thinking of marketing strategy. In the new coke fiasco, customers were not
ready for change. Toys R Us on the
other hand, needed a change. These two
cases showed me the importance of the environment. It is important for a company to research the market, closely
follow environmental trends, and provide customer service,
I
wish I had known
I can honestly say that nothing was surprising about the course other
than it was a little more interesting than I expected. There were know surprises in the course,
everything was laid out in the syllabus.
I would advise you to just follow the syllabus.
CHIA-HSIEN,
WANG
I
have learned a lot of things in MARKETING STRATEGY COURSE. Each student needs
to do researches and debate, and read cases. We have some different assignments
for class, such as we need to read a lot of cases and answer these different
questions. For textbook, we need to read the book by ourselves and do the
online quiz for each chapter for MARKETING STRATEGY COURSE. I do enjoy reading
different cases in the casebook and it is interesting all the time. In fact, I
learn and understand how these companies try to manage a lot of employers and
control their own companies. And some students always update the information
and news for each company in our textbook. That is a good way to learn and know
what happened to these companies. There is only one advice that I want to
suggest. It is to keep the way we have is good because it is really interesting
to listen and read these different cases from each student in MARKETING
STRATEGY COURSE.
MARKETING
710
CHU,
CHIA-HUI
In
the Marketing Strategy course, we all need to read textbook and case- book. I
do learn a lot of information and news from many different companies by reading
case- book during all of the time. Each student can try to choose to do debate
or research. Each student has different points for these cases in the Marketing
Strategy course. These are very interesting for me. Some students also do
researches and they try to give us a lot of news and information that we don’t
know. Then, we can also know and understand what is going on today and recent
news for the company. That is very good way for us to learn and read new
information by ourselves. We all try to read cases first and we can get new
information later. After all of that, we all can understand these companies
better. For the part of textbook, these chapters all relate these different
cases. In fact, some students try to teach these chapters in the Marketing
Strategy course, but some of them don’t really understand where important
points are. We don’t know where the highlights of the chapters. In fact, I wish
I had known these chapters better, if the teacher can try to give more advice
to these students for teaching these chapters. These students may know and
understand where the highlights of the chapter before they try to teach in
class. Because they don’t really understand the chapter, they cannot give the
best information that they own.
What
I learned- I believe that this class taught me a
lot
about some of the mistakes that companies have
made
in the past. It not only tells you what they did
wrong
but how the situation could have been stopped.
Many
of the cases that we talked about, I had not
heard
before and I found these very interesting. I
believe
that I probably learned more from the cases
than
I did the chapters because it was real life
situations.
What
I wish I had known- I wish I had known that if I
knew
in advance that I was going to be busy, that I
would
have done my work well in advance. It does not
hurt
to do the assignments in advance. Reading the
chapters
will allow you to learn more than if you just
go
through and answer the questions. I would not read
the
chapter and look for the answers at the same time.
I
couldn’t pay any attention to what I was reading
because
I was looking for the answer instead.
Pei-Chun
Huang
What I Learned
I
feel this class is a voluble class. I read
many cases; also I get a lot of information form the cases. For example, I know
better ideal about American companies. Also, the strategies which the every
companies use, doesn’t matter it was succeed or not. It helps me to have open views and have idea what does the big
companies do inside of their companies. I also improve the skills of doing the
PowerPoint and typing speed. I really
enjoin this class.
I wish I had know
At
the first day of class, professor explains most of every thing already. There
is no specific thing I wish to know. But I may wish to know more website to do
the research for the cases.
Chris
D. Thomas What
I learned…..
This
marketing class is a challenging class that motivated me to really think about
marketing concepts and their practical application within businesses and
organizations. I learned that marketing
management requires much more than knowing some concepts or a general formula
for successful implementation. The
concepts are important to know, but like weapons in an arsenal, it is more
important to know where, when, how, and why to use them. Being effective in a market requires being
able to analyze miniscule details as well as see the whole plan and its long
term goals and returns. I was
particularly amazed in the study of these huge companies with vast, seemingly
limitless budgets and the know-how that would plunge themselves into projects
or plans that anyone with common sense should have foreseen to be a
failure. I was also amazed at the times
when someone with nothing more than an idea and a plan mixed with some
determination could reach the point where the sky was the limit. One major theme I also learned is that you
can never be rich and successful enough to afford to feel arrogant or
invincible because that is where the unraveling begins. There are also virtually infinite variables
to consider when planning a strategy that would require the ability to sift
through mountains of qualitative and quantitative data to find the
relevance. At the same time, a fair
amount of luck and a good gut instinct would not hurt!
I
wish I had known….
I
wish I had known how different this class was going to be than the typical
graduate level course (at least what I can compare it to so far). This course can be valuable or not,
depending on what you decide to put into it.
There is no direct lecture, no one to point out the rules or laws by
which marketing management abides.
There are concepts and theories to learn, but it is not really the focus
of the class. Looking back, I see more
of the real world deviation and correlation with text and theory. Here is the book and what it says. Here is the real world. What is similar? What is different? What
would I have done differently if I had been in that situation without utilizing
20/20 hindsight? The temptation is to
do the requirements to get the grade but never really stop and consider the
experience of others and the application to the decisions I make. I wish I had known that the class would be
like the examining of three circles; one for theory, one for experiences, and
one for my own style and personality.
Spend the semester deciding how much or how little the three areas
converge or diverge to maximize your effectiveness.
Li-Sheng,
Tu
Question
1:
Answer: What I learned in the Marketing Strategy
course is helping me to understand many different marketing decision mistakes
that companies have made in the casebook. The highlights of the course were
each student could have two presentation chances. I like presentation because I
can stand in front of the class teaching the lessons and debating the case with
classmates. Everyone has different viewpoints and everyone can exchange their
opinions. The information I saw that made me an impression is the case
“Wal-Mart—The Unstoppable.” Before I study the case, I can’t not believe that a
retailer can be as successful as what Wal-Mart does right now. I even think a
question that if it is possible for me to open a big retailer market in my
country as successful as Wal-Mart does in U.S.A. right now. I did find some
strength that Wal-Mart has, but it seems impossible to open many supermarkets
because I find that my country has too small land to open such a big
supermarket. Unlike America, people can buy their groceries easily from the
nearby traditional market. Although it seems impossible I still think the good
customer service and correct marketing position strategy is very important. For
example Wal-Mart choose small town and McDonald’s choose the cross road in the
interstate road, these are good choice of position strategy.
Question
2:
Answer: I wish I had known more about the successful
person’s story not only about the company’s marketing strategy. It is helpful
if you can know those successful people’s background and characteristics, you
will understand why he make the decision. Sometimes you will find that it is
interesting that a person’s family, education, friends and environment will
affect his personnel and his personnel make him make a different thinking and
decision. Everybody might hear a lot about McDonald’s story but they might not
know the people who established it and the person’s characteristics. I have a
suggestion for students who will have Marketing710 class that is you can try to
read some books about those people who established the company in the casebook.
Every era has a story, each story has a legend, and all the legends have hero.
Tom
Gray
“What
I Learned”
This
course gave me a different perspective on the operations of businesses both
internationally and domestic. I have
learned that even though the right decisions should be made, they are not
always. And sometimes the moral
decision could lead the company toward ultimate bankruptcy. This course gave examples of what can happen
when large companies make both the right and just decisions or the wrong or
immoral decisions. I have learned the
different marketing techniques large corporations use to promote their products
and the positive or negative results those marketing strategies may spawn. The Toys R Us case made a real impression on
me. This case proved that even though a
company may be a leader in an industry, they must continue to adapt and change
marketing strategies to succeed and maintain their leadership position. This course shows that a company cannot
depend on size alone for their future success.
“I
wish I had known”
I
wish I had known how much busy work was involved with this course. The assignments are not hard, but still they
take time to complete. I wish I had set
a schedule for myself every week to complete the assignments, instead of
waiting the night or day before the class to begin working on them. I would suggest familiarizing yourself with
the type of computer and mouse that is used in the course, so the presentations
will run much smoother. On the day of
your presentation I would suggest getting to class a few minutes early, so that
you can load your presentation and have it ready to begin when the time comes,
instead of standing in front of everyone getting more nervous as you try and
start your presentation. Also, on
reading the cases, it is a good idea to set down and read the cases, then do
the case questions immediately, don’t wait, right then. Otherwise, you will forget information, and
spend as much time going back through to find it as you would reading the whole
thing again.
Calvin
Golden
“What
I learned”
I
learned a lot in this course. I did not know that so many companies went
through hard times. I guess that is because you only see the upside of things
on television as compared to being in the meetings and things like that. The
highlights of the course for me were the cases, because I learned a lot about
what companies did to become successes and failures in the eyes of the executives.
The one case that stood out most to me was the Wal-Mart case because Sam Walton
showed what a small company could turn out to be if the right chances were
taken. There were no specific topics that changed my way of thinking, but there
was one particular case. The Coke versus Pepsi case changed my way of thinking
because you would think that putting out a new and improved Coke would have
skyrocketed sales, but as we saw, that was the complete opposite. This was a
great class to be in. It was very interactive and the teacher made everyone
feel like a part of the class.
“I
wish I had known”
I
would say be prepared to be called on and to give presentations. The
presentations will be the hardest part of the class because just standing in
front of your competing classmates makes you feel quite nervous. There is
nothing I wish I had known before because that would have made the class less
interesting if I had already known more about the Marketing Strategy course.
Just about everything we went over was something I learned that was new to me.
The only thing I wish I had before getting into this class would probably be
the fact of having to turn some type of assignment in just about every class
period. Overall, this is one of the better courses in the whole UTM business
department. If you don’t learn anything in this class, you are not trying to
learn.
Question
1: “What I learned.”.
I
work for the ninth largest bank in the United States – SunTrust Bank. I had always seen the Marketing Department
at my organization make decisions that were attempts at making the company more
recognizable or the products more differentiated. I had also seen SunTrust follow the industry leaders by
introducing products that seemed to either work in the market or brought awareness
to the company.
I
guess that in some ways I always thought that the decisions that were made were
a complete “shot in the dark” approach.
After being in the class I realized that many of the decisions were the
direct result of processes and methods that had been tested before. Methods such as the desire to develop a
brand name in the market and various forms of market research.
Still,
it may be that some of the questions that I had regarding my organization may
have been warranted. The reason that I
say this is because any time we have a concerted effort to effectively utilize
market research through either surveys of changes in marketing behavior at the
sales level we employ outside firms to develop and administer these process. Many of these processes and methods were
outlined in detail in the test. In
fact, the SWOT analysis has recently been instituted into our strategic review
process for our most profitable clients in the corporate bank.
The
most impressionable information came from the case studies. These not only helped to bring to life
marketing successes and blunders, but it enhanced my understanding of the
missions. As a finance major and
practitioner, I often found it odd that some companies employ the desire to
increase sales at all costs. I counsel
my clients that range in sales from $10,000,000 to $200,000,000 to be careful
of this approach. It is almost comical
that companies the size of Maytag, Coke or Disney often get entangled in this
mindset, but they do.
I
believe the topics that changes my mind the most were desire to have brand name
recognition and the various pricing approaches. I concentrate so much in my job on the expense side that it was
refreshing to that successful firms also look at this when they are making strategic
decisions.
Question
2: “I wish I had known.”
I
guess that the biggest advice that I have for someone entering this course is
that it is helpful to have an understanding of an organization’s inner
workings. It might be difficult to
fully appreciate the class with only undergraduate studies. It is not impossible to succeed in the
class, but it may more difficult to fully grasp the case studies unless one has
some experience with the trials and tribulations that an ordinary company faces
on a daily basis.
I
think that I would have more fully grasped the class if I had been involved in
a company’s procurement department or marketing department. This is not to say that I would have learned
more, but it may have made my study time less strenuous. A bit off the subject, but I also wish that I
had taken this course within 5 or 6 years of finishing my undergraduate
studies. Just getting back into the
swing of studying for exams may have been more focused. Still, my time away from the classroom made
me read and study with more fortitude and ambition to succeed.
If
I had known this I would have sought out individuals early in the process to
become more acclimated with how to study for graduate level courses. I also would have paid greater attention to
marketing initiatives that go on within my organization over the last 10 years
or service.
HILARY
SHRETER
Question
1: What I learned...
(0)
That it IS possible for a class to successfully covers both basic material and
great cases.
(1)
That marketing doesn’t start with "what can we manufacture".
(2)
That marketing research is probably less important than good inspiration and
great execution.
(3)
That people worship Walton, Disney, Kelleher, and Bogle for pretty good reasons
(they had/have great ideas)
(4)
That my fellow students hold different opinions that are equally reasonable as
mine.
(5)
The gems of thought in the textbook:
Sony's Morita creating markets
rather than serving markets (Kotler p. 12)
The different types of channels and
how they play out in reality (Ch. 13)
The market attractiveness five
forces (p. 123-124). Tonight on TV,
Bill Gates himself mentioned that "ease of entry" benefits consumer
prices.
(6)
Wal-Mart is an even deeper ethical puzzle than I thought before the class!
(7)
Wise companies consider both defensive and offensive strategies -- competitors
matter.
(8)
Other people experience ethical difficulties too -- the Insider bulletin board
indicated the deep feeling about tobacco's effects while also feeling for tobacco
as a business concern.
Question
2: I wish I had known...
I'd
have benefited from some better background on current business topics. I'd
wished that I'd had some time in a couple of business subscriptions. I joined
WSJ as a student subscriber midway, and wish I'd had read the previous
semester's worth of papers. I'd have felt a bit more "tuned in" to
the case discussions with a better background.
I
was glad that I'd taken the Finance class before this one, since that class
goes over lots of the material that I'd need to sort out some of the detail in
the cases esp. with financing. Without
Finance I'd not be able to get very far on the Vanguard case (mutual fund
company).
I
wish I'd known that I'd get so involved in Contributions. Once I started researching,
it was difficult to stop. While I did some preliminary research earlier in the
semester, I underestimated the time I'd need to finish. I also would have
benefited from more experience with PowerPoint.
I
am glad that I took this class in isolation, and that I got Dr. Johnson’s
class. It was tremendous fun so I was
happy to devote so much thought to the problems and cases. I’m glad I took it late in my MBA sequence because
I could draw on all of my previous
classes.
For
the future student:
-
You will really benefit from writing the case questions (short and focused
writing) every week. Do yourself a favor and take this writing seriously: write
first and then rewrite. You will get better every week and you will find, at
the later assignments, that you have improved and that you’ve gained
confidence.
-
Listen to your fellow students, and learn from your own contributions and
evaluations. You will pick up lots of ideas about how to present ideas. (This
course is very similar to attending a semester's worth of Toastmasters
meetings.)
-
Find a way to deal with the “monotony” of Kotler. It really isn’t boring, it’s just that there’s a lot in there and
so much seems commonsense. However, you
will need that material to follow the discussions so either draw outline in the
book, or use index cards, or read it backwards. Take advantage of the other student’s contributions on these
chapters.
Karen
Green
What I
learned. . .
Marketing
Strategy proved a beneficial course for me.
As a student already established in my career, I find myself wondering
in every course I take, “what’s in it for me?” or “what can I learn in
this class that I can apply to my job (as a nursing home
administrator)?” Sometimes pulling the
pieces together and finding something from, say, the cola wars or the product
life cycle that I can apply in some way to my industry can be difficult. There have been, of course, correlations
from our studies in this course, and when I have been able to find these, they
have been tremendously useful.
Working
in a service industry, I must constantly focus on customer satisfaction. Getting my department managers and line
staff to share this focus and to see the importance of even one lost,
dissatisfied customer can be difficult.
After reading Chapter 2 in Kotler on attracting and retaining customers,
however, I came away with a renewed commitment and with some beneficial tools
to communicate more effectively to my staff the effect on the company that
results from failure to retain customers.
The concept of a customer’s lifetime value was useful to me in
illustrating this to them. My facility
lost two customers this year to competitors because of dissatisfaction. At first my staff thought this was not a big
deal. What difference does a measely
two make when we still had 125 in the building? When we calculated the lifetime value of losing these two
customers, however, we quickly saw that we did not just have two customers walk
out our door; we had a quarter of a million dollars walk out. This realization made an impact not only on
me, but also on my staff—the ones who can most easily make a difference in
customer retention.
I
thoroughly enjoyed the case study concentration of the course. Having such a variety of issues and
industries represented in the cases really did provide something for each of us
to relate to, regardless of our careers.
I wish I had
known. . .
I
think I successfully navigated the course without too much difficulty. The key is to give yourself ample time to
complete the assignments. There are
things due each week, plus the contributions, and waiting until the last minute
just will not work. However, I would
advise completing each assignment in the week it is due and not too far ahead of
time.
At
the beginning of the course, seeing that there were a couple of assignments due
each week, I decided to dedicate one weekend to completing all of the chapter
quizzes. This way, I rationalized, I
would only have to worry about the weekly case questions and my
contributions. While I did have less to
try to accomplish each week for class, when test time came the chapters were
not fresh in my mind at all. Had I followed
the weekly course calendar and read the chapters during that week, I would have
made things much easier on myself.
While procrastination is bad, getting too far ahead can have its bad
points, too. My advice would be to
stick to the schedule. I wish I had.
Melissa
Mitchell
Question
1 “What I learned”
I
learned that the Marketing Strategy course allows you to go beyond the textbook
and lets you look at real world cases. I learned so much from the cases we
studied in class. I didn’t realize that some of the biggest companies could
make some of the biggest mistakes. The case presentations were the highlights
of the course for me. Each case involved a debate over the issue discussed in
the case. There was also a research update given at the end of each case to
bring everyone up to date on what has happened to the companies since what was
mentioned in the cases. The lessons the companies learned from their mistakes
really made an impression on me. One thing I learned from the Marketing
Strategy course is that it makes you look at terms and concepts taught in the
undergraduate level course in a different way. Everything seems to be put into
perspective better. This course also made me work on my presentation skills
some. After taking the Marketing Strategy course, I know how to do a Powerpoint
presentation better than I did before. My listening skills were also enhanced
from listening to others give their presentations.
Question
2 “I wish I had known”
I
would advise someone who is planning on taking the Marketing Strategy course to
brush up on his or her presentation skills and to be prepared to do a lot of
work. There will be one to three or four people presenting every day you have
class. On some days, someone will get up and present a chapter out of the book
to the class. On other days, there will be three to four people doing a debate
or a research update on the cases. You will have to present at least two times
out of the semester. There is a lot of reading in the course. You have to read
the chapters plus read the cases. There is something due in every class, such
as “Blackboard” questions or questions to the cases. I advise someone taking
the Marketing Strategy course to manage his or her time wisely. I wish I had
known how to do better presentations before I took this class. I also wish I
had spent as much time on my second presentation as I had on my first. I didn’t
do as good on the second one. When preparing a presentation for the class, make
sure you do everything the assignment asks for. If you’re presenting a chapter
to the class, make sure you relate the case that goes along with the chapter to
it in your presentation. If you’re presenting a research update, make sure you
answer all the questions in the book that goes along with the research
invitation. Also make sure you relate the update to the case. For instance,
make sure you find out how the company is doing since whatever happened to them
in the case. When you use the Internet to do your presentation, make sure you
use websites other than the company’s website. I wished I had known that we had
all these restrictions on the assignments before I gave a presentation. I would
have done a better job.
Chris
Thompson
Question 1 “What I learned”
In
the Marketing Strategy course, I learned about some of the potential pitfalls a
company can fall into in designing a marketing program. For example, the Maytag case demonstrated
how not to enter into a promotional campaign.
In this particular case, the company’s foreign subsidiary, UK Hoover,
designed a promotional offer in which consumer response to the offer became
overwhelming for Maytag. In the final
analysis, Maytag gave the foreign subsidiary too much independence, and the
result was a financial blow to Maytag with damages reaching ten’s of millions
of dollars. The highlights of the
course were the debates and research presentations made by fellow
students. The debates made me think
about the issues involved in the cases from two different perspectives. In some of the cases we studied, I took a
particular side, but I also better understood the other side’s points from
listening to the debates presented. The
research presentations gave the class an opportunity to hear the latest news
about each company. It was interesting
to hear whether or not a company became stronger or weaker from making a
marketing mistake. The information that
made an impression on me the most was the Tobacco case. Discovering what Mr. Weigand went through as
a whistleblower to the tobacco industry was alarming. He gave up quite a lot to do what he felt was the right
thing. From watching The Insider, I
really got a sense of what it was like standing in Mr. Weigand’s shoes and
feeling the pressures of being a whistleblower to a powerful industry like the
tobacco industry. All of the topics in
this course changed my thinking about Marketing Strategy. Each topic covered in this course
demonstrated the power marketing has to the success or failure of a
business. I used to think marketing
played a minor role to a company’s overall future. However, I now think a company’s future growth depends heavily on
its marketing strategy, and how well that strategy is designed and
implemented.
Question
2 “I wish I had known”
The
advice I would give someone before they begin the Marketing Strategy course is
to try and stay about a week ahead on assignments. This will help a great deal because you will be glad you are
ahead when it comes time to prepare for your presentation. Your presentation will take some time to
prepare for, and you will be glad you are ahead on any assignments that have to
be turned in. I know now about the
Marketing Strategy course that it is a very good idea to stay ahead on all
assignments. There are practice quizzes
and cases due each week, and I wish I had known how important it is to stay
ahead on all of these assignments before I began this course. If I had known this, I would have done as
many practice quizzes as I could at the beginning of the course so I would not
have to worry about them all during the semester.
Amy
Cohea
What
I learned is sometimes Marketing Mishaps happen to the best of them, so it is
okay to make a few mistakes along the way.
We can learn from their mistakes.
The Blunders book is usually more interesting than the chapters. However, some chapters of the book are very
interesting.
What
I wish I would have known it is okay to go ahead and do the homeworks. This is easier when you are not busy, than
trying to cram everything in. Start
planning for presentations early. Don’t
work with a friend on a debate and go back and forth on the topics, like a
normal debate. If you do this, the class will get mad they didn’t think of that
and criticize you. Read the chapters
in the book, not all of the summaries summarize everything in the chapter. I wouldn’t have done anything
differently. Just stay on top of your
homework and you’ll be fine.
Hui-I
Yang
What
I learned in this Marketing 710 class was really helpful for me to view the
other side of marketing. Especially Dr.
Johnston asked us to read the book “Marketing Mistakes and Success,” which let
me understand many cases could ever happen in companies. A really big company, such as Disney,
Johnson & Johnson, could happen problems from a small decision. Therefore, after this semester, I understand
that many different conditions in different companies should have done what to
resolve the problems in the situations.
This is a really good course, because I have learned so much to see
companies from different views.
I wish
I had known this class required many readings.
I could prepare it early, and read them carefully to answer each
question assigned. I wish I had known
there were so many cases happened in companies, and I could realize why each
problem happened in what kind of situation.
Po-Chen
Chen
Advice
to Future Students
What
I leaned
from this course was really interesting.
I have learned not only from the textbook, but also from many real cases
in companies. The presentation from
each classmate was also helpful for me to realize and see different views of
cases. I can study the textbook to
understand the concept of marketing, and study cases to realize what is
actually happening in the real life.
I wish I had known the debate
was to focus on the question assigned for each case, and I would read it
carefully and make the debate clear and powerful. I wish I had known this course required those readings, and I
would take tome to read them and it would help me to understand. I wish I had known that the classes were
presented by students, and I would preview the textbook before classmates’
presentations, and review each chapter after the presentation to help me
understand and study each chapter. I
would help me understand quickly and carefully.
Lynette
Shirkey
“What
I Learned”
I
learned a lot about different companies.
Through the cases, I saw what mistakes drastically hurt companies and
what promotions and good decisions made companies successful. Specifically, I learned how carefully sales
promotions need to be planned and how, if they aren’t carefully planned,
drastic the results can be. Also, I
realized the importance of customer relations and how your whole strategy
should revolve around the customers’ wants and needs. For example, in the McDonald’s case, diversifying and expanding
was an asset. If McDonald’s had not
tried new things, their success wouldn’t have been as great. On the other hand, Toys R Us failed to
update their technologies and ignored changing customer desires; therefore, their
success began to decline. I believe
this Marketing Strategy course was beneficial and taught me several new things.
“I
Wish I Had Known”
There
is nothing I would have done differently as far as preparing for this
class. However, I wish I had known that
the students taught the class. I feel
as if it were a waste of my time to attend class because I can read the
material at home and be just as informed.
I do not think the “contributions” were a total waste because it helped
us on our presentation and public speaking skills. However, I think the students should have only presented the
cases while the professor lectured on the textbook chapters. The teacher should lecture on the textbook
chapters so that our attention could be directed to the most important
topics. What a student presents in
class may not be what the teacher deems important. It is good that the students are involved in the class, but it
seems as if we are all alone with very little guidance.
Wooyoung
Lee
1.
What I learned?
I learned
so many things, especially about ‘real company.’ I believe that a textbook is
just common sense stuffs and an author analyze and explain with a few brilliant
words. For example, sales promotion is the study of human behaviors. Therefore,
when the company gets into new market, it should study about culture and common
behaviors of the new market. The failure case is Euro Disney. However, the
mistake book was amazing. I could not know this kind of historical data, if I
did not take this course. Those were real cases and solutions. I realized that
most problems solve from historical record. People learn from past experience,
which is not matter to success or to fail. In addition, I learned, there is not
a ultimate solution. For example, when I see the Tylenol and Perrier crisis,
both company reacted as soon as possible and their solutions were similar.
However, at the end, two companies had different results. This kind of
happening tells me that, in the real life, people might not get expect results
from their actions.
2.
I wish I had known?
First
of all, I recommend reading careful about the syllabus. I thought that the
syllabus is just introduction of course. So, I did not carefully read syllabus
at first time, so I make many mistakes. For example, I did not get credits from
couple of assignment, which I did in my way, and I get lower grade on first
presentation.
Next,
This course is about marketing, so use your imagination in assignments. Dr.
Johnston like new brilliant ideas. When you do the presentation, you may do
some kind of surprise items. For example, some people did Wal-Mart presentation
with Andy Griffin Show. It was brilliant. Also, I heard from another classmate,
a student does his presentation like a CEO to make a speech to employees.
Finally,
when you read the textbook and casebook, you should think about relations
between two books. I believe that you will read the textbook first and look at
the cases later. However, if you read textbook again after reading case, you
will understand the textbook better and find relations between textbook and
cases. You do not have to read carefully second time, just do skimming.
Kila
Tucker
What
I Learned
This
class reinforces and expands upon the topics we covered in the undergraduate
class, Marketing 301. I now have a
better understanding of marketing management, the marketing concept,
recognition of market opportunities, and how to make better marketing
decisions. All of these things, along
with other topics, were better explained through the cases. I really enjoyed reading the cases and
learning about real life situations. I
was able to relate more to the chapters because of the cases. I feel that these cases will help me to
learn by example.
I
liked and learned a lot from the case discussions and research updates. Hearing
others’ opinions on cases, along with the updates, allowed us to learn more and
see other views. I learned new company developments through the updates. I found it very interesting to find out how
companies’ decisions were now affecting them.
It
seems that there is never going to be a definite answer to every marketing
question. Just because the rules are
followed, doesn’t mean a company will be successful. Although, companies will usually be successful if, the majority
of the time, good judgements are made and a good image is kept.
I Wish I had known
If
someone is rusty on Marketing 301 concepts, go back and review. This course expands on these topics and adds
more. If you have a good background and
understand what is being taught in the chapters, you can better relate to the
cases and see how concepts are applied to real life situations. My advice would be to pay attention to the
students when the chapters are being taught.
Follow along, and as they teach, highlight important topics in your
book. This will help when studying for
the test.
If
you are giving a presentation, try to make it as entertaining as possible,
especially, if it is a chapter. The
chapter presentations can get very repetitive.
If doing a PowerPoint presentation, make sure the words are big and are
a contrast color to the background.
This will help the audience to see.
Check many sources when doing a research update. Students will be more interested if
information presented is not common knowledge.
Look for unique information that is not in the case. Also, make sure to read the debate/research
questions at the end of the cases. This
will let you know what is being looked for in your presentation. It can give guidance as what to cover in the
presentation.
Berry
Turner
Question
1
What
I learned The most obvious things I
learned in this class was that technology does not always work properly. And a terrorist attack in New York City can
interrupt a class in Martin TN. I also learned
the several different strategies that may be used by businesses to promote
their products.
Highlights: I enjoyed the case study. It’s good to see large businesses make
mistakes. Then find ways to correct
them and still stay on top of their market.
Coke and New Coke, and Tylenol are examples. Another highlight was the project with the Brazilian
students. I would recommend all
students to participate it this activity.
What
information Again, the several
different market strategies that may be used.
The various information about marketing in general.
What
topics. Each topic covered was
interesting. Before the class I thought
marketing was, focus on a market and advertise to that market.
Question 2
The
only advice I would have for future students would be to do all the class
presentations as soon as possible, and make them entertaining. By finishing the class presentations early,
the student can concentrate on up coming in class discussions.
This
is basically what I did during the semester and thus far it has worked for me.
Pay
attention and try to learn something.
Don’t just set in class for a grade.
Use the money someone is spending and learn something.
Student
Jimmy Hurley
“What
I learned”
I
really feel that this course opened my eyes to what is happening in the
business world. I am actually able to
use the knowledge I have learned from this class in my profession, as well as
with colleagues, friends and family.
Unfortunately, I was one to focus most of my attention toward sporting
news before enrolling in graduate school. This course has sparked a desire for
me to learn more about the marketing concepts in today’s world. Marketing
Strategy and Business Law are my first two courses toward my M.B.A. I am very glad that Marketing Strategy is my
first class. I have attained a greater awareness to major transactions in our
competitive market place.
I
felt that the case studies were the most informative. They included companies that all people are aware of. I hope to learn from some of the
mistakes/successes that these major companies experienced. Presenting to the class was additional
experience that I had hoped to gain
from this course.
“I
wish I had known”
After
taking the first exam, I felt that Dr Johnston was very straightforward in
giving directions for the exam. This
allowed me to better prepare myself for the second exam. The advice that I
would give to someone beginning this course is to follow Dr Johnson’s
directions. He is not going to pull any tricks. I would also take an active and cheerful approach in
participating and studying for the class.
I
would recommend completing the homework assignments first, which will allow
time for reviewing possible exam material.
I would also try to make the presentations as interesting as possible,
which will hopefully capture the attention of fellow students.
I
hope that Dr Johnston offers more graduate courses.
Brian
Headrick
Question 1 " What I
learned"
What did you
learn in the Marketing Strategy Course?
I
believe I have gained a greater appreciation of Marketing as a cornerstone
philosophy of any business. Although I have taken many classes on the subject,
I believe this course does an excellent job of tying together marketing
principles with the personalities that employ them. Of particular interest to
me was the value delivery network Wal-Mart developed with its suppliers. The
case study was particularly interesting in describing the practices of Wal-Mart
and the demands the retailer places on its suppliers.
I
also learned a great deal from the chapter on competition. Applying the various
competitive strategies to the case studies left me with a greater knowledge of
their application. Specifically, I was able to relate to the "Pepsi
Challenge" which probably triggered my first interest in Marketing.
Additionally,
I found Chapter 5 on Consumer Markets and Buyer Behavior to refresh my interest
in what I refer to as the "Psychology of Marketing". Understanding
individual motivations behind buying decisions has greater implications beyond
the marketplace. I look to this subject as a valuable lesson on the intricacies
of buyer behavior and the human condition in general.
Chapter
10 added to my knowledge of branding strategies and the value of creating a
superior brand. I believe the case study involving Johnson and Johnson's
Tylenol brand was an excellent example of how consumers can put faith in a
brand. I was impressed with both J&J's immediate response to the threat and
the company's steadfast belief in their company and product.
Finally,
I believe Chapter 4 on Market Research and Demand was perhaps the subject I
found most interesting. Much of the chapter discussed concepts I am able to
apply to my daily job.
What were the
highlights of the course?
Several
students offered excellent presentations for debate. I believe my favorite
involved the debate to keep Wal-Mart out of small towns. The student put a great
deal of thought and research into the presentation. Additionally, I really
enjoyed the discussion board comments on "The Insider" movie. It was
very interesting to see the different perspectives classmates had concerning
such a controversial issue.
What
information did you see that made an impression on you?
I
believe the case studies on Wal-Mart and Southwest made the greatest impression
on me. Both cases offered insight as to how the founders never lost sight of
the customer.
What topics changed
your way of thinking about Marketing Strategy, and how did they change your
thoughts?
I
believe the case study and discussion on channel suppliers changed my opinion
about how business is carried out. Until the discussion on Wal-Mart, I had
always let my perception of quality vs. price dictate my feelings about the
retailer. After seeing the film and reading the case study, I gained a greater
appreciation for Wal-Mart's commitment to keep prices low. Although I believe
their tactics to be somewhat strong-armed, I still can appreciate their
operations excellence.
Question 2 " I wish I
had known"
What advice do
you have for someone before they begin the Marketing Strategy course?
A
student wishing to take this course should be open to learning by a format that
promotes the student's knowledge and opinions of the chapters and case studies.
The student should remain open to the fact that there is a variety of solutions
to apply to a given problem. Perhaps most importantly, I think it critical to try
to understand not just what occurred in a case study, but why companies act as they do. Too many times, in other classes, I
have heard a dichotic "yes or no" reply with little application of
the concepts being taught. In this class, it is stressed that you marry the
concepts from the text to the case studies. In addition to the typical reading
of the material, a student is expected to think of this integration (via End of
Chapter Questions and discussion).