Business Marketing

Course Number 1929

Associate Professor Thomas J. Steenburgh
Winter, 20 sessions
Paper

Career Focus

You should take this course if you expect to join or start a business that markets products or services to other businesses or organizations. The course considers "B2B" situations ranging from manufactured components to software to financial and professional services. The course will also be very useful if you expect to work in consulting, private equity, or investment banking and your role involves helping to develop or evaluate the strategies of business marketing firms.

Educational Objectives

Business markets differ from consumer markets in several important ways. Typically, the buying process is more complex, the buying unit and purchase criteria differ, and order fulfillment may require coordination both internally with other functional groups and externally with channel or alliance partners. In addition, selling and sales management are often core components of go-to-market activities in B2B situations.

As a result, effective business marketing requires continuous interaction with customers, an understanding of the impact of marketing programs on the value chains of the selling and buying firms, and the ability to use available information to make integrative decisions about the process of identifying, communicating, delivering, and extracting value. During the past decade, moreover, on-line channels and other developments have affected this process in many industries. The course focuses on both the strategic and front-line implementation aspects of managing these issues in business markets.

Course Content and Organization

The course has three primary modules. In each, we look at situations involving new and existing products/services in embryonic, evolving, and mature markets:

1. Products and Customers: Buying Behavior, Product-Line Strategies and the Value Proposition


2. Managing the Boundary: Sales and Channel Management


3. Personal Selling: The Tactics and Strategies of Sales

In addition to case studies, the course involves module exercises, simulations, panel discussions, and guest lectures that expose us to cutting edge analytical tools as well as business and personal development implications for those considering careers built initially in B2B settings.