This version: 8/21/07
Prof. Florian Zettelmeyer
http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/florian/itbm/
(Please see the Catalyst page for this course for an ID and password for the
site)
"Information- and Technology-based Marketing" addresses how to use information technology to learn about and market to individual customers.
Information technology has two important effects for Marketing.
First, many firms now possess much more information about consumers' choices and reactions to marketing campaigns than ever before. However, few firms have the expertise to intelligently act on such information. The first goal of this course is to help students develop this expertise. Specifically, the course will teach what it takes to collect, analyze, and act on customer information. For example, we will use sophisticated targeting models to increase marketing ROI in direct marketing campaigns. While we will use many quantitative methods in the course, the goal is not to produce experts in statistics. Instead, the goal is to train students to be able to comfortably interact with and manage a marketing analytics team.
The second effect of information technology is that it has changed the competitive environment for many firms: consumers have more information about competitive offerings, the Internet has allowed many competitors to market to consumers directly, and so on. Hence, this course will also focus on how to adapt marketing strategy to an environment of more informed customers, more flexible competitors, and additional ways of reaching consumers.
Marketing is going through an evolution from having been primarily an art to becoming a science. This course teaches students a crucial part of the "science" approach to marketing. We will use a combination of lectures, cases, projects, and exercises to learn the material. This course takes a very hands-on approach and equips students with tools which can be used immediately on the job.
Students must have taken an introductory marketing course at Haas (206).
Readings in this course consist of a mixture of cases and articles -- no book is required. However, there are several optional books if you are interested in more detail.
The syllabus, this overview, additional readings, and lecture notes are on the course website at:
http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/florian/itbm/
Important announcements will be e-mailed to you. Lecture notes will be posted on the web on the day of the lecture. The link to the website can also be found in Catalyst.
We will use the statistics program “Stata” during the course. While the program is available in the lab and on Haas Terminal Server, I strongly encourage you to purchase the software so you can install it on your laptop (if you are an EWMBA student the software will be provided to you by the EWMBA office, no need to buy it yourself). The academic price is $95 for a one year and $155 for a perpetual license (corporate price $1075). For this you will receive a full version (i.e. not a student version) of one of the most powerful (yet easy to use) statistics programs on the market today. The program exists for PC, Mac, and Linux.
http://www.stata.com/order/new/edu/gradplans/gp-campus.html
http://www.stata.com/order/new/edu/gradplans/gp-campus.html
The ordering procedure is somewhat unusual since you have to pick up the software on campus from the Biostatistics department in Haviland Hall. If you decide to order by phone (1-800-STATAPC) make sure you mention the product code above or that you are at Berkeley and that you would like to order under the “GRADPLAN” to get the low price.
While Stata has a very good online help, it is often brief and occasionally too technical since it assumes that you are familiar with the statistics that is underlying the command. The book I require for the course, “A Gentle Introduction to Stata” (see below) is intended to bridge the gap between statistical texts and Stata's own documentation. This text is ideal as a self-study course for those new to statistics and Stata.
“A Gentle Introduction to Stata” by Alan C. Acock
(Publisher: Stata Press, ISBN 1-59718-009-2)
Those who have a stronger background in Statistics and want a more advanced book on Stata and its programming abilities might also want to get:
“Data Analysis Using Stata” by Ulrich Kohler and Frauke
Kreuter
(Publisher: Stata Press, ISBN: 1-59718-007-6)
The grade in this course will be based on the following criteria with their associated weights. The syllabus details the grading weights associated with each exercise.
Individual case exercises (3) 35% (10%, 10%, 15%)
Group case exercises (3) 45% (15%, 15%, 15%)
Class participation 10%
Group presentation 10%
Class participation and attendance
Quality contributions which are relevant to the discussion will improve your participation grade. I will call on students at random to open case and assignment discussions. Your participation grade will be significantly hurt if you are called upon to offer your analysis on a case or assignment question and you are not prepared.
Attendance is mandatory at all class sessions. If you have an emergency and thus cannot attend, please let me know by contacting me in advance. Missing class in a non-emergency situation will hurt your participation grade significantly. If you miss 4 or more classes for non-emergency reasons I reserve the right to fail you.
Individual and group exercises
Much of the learning during the course will happen with the help of individual and group case exercises. These exercises are described in detail in the syllabus. If an exercise is labeled an “individual exercise” you are not allowed to work with other students -- the write-up should reflect your own work only. If an exercise is labeled a “group exercise” you should work on it in groups and only hand in one write-up per group (about 5 students). Groups should be formed at the beginning of the semester and remain constant for all exercises and the group project.
It will be a violation of academic integrity if you base your assignments on solutions you have found on the Internet or which you have obtained from classmates in prior years. I reserve the right to fail you for the course if I become aware of such a violation.
Group presentation
The purpose of the group presentation at the end of the course is to understand how to communicate ITBM methods and results to general management. Each group will be randomly assigned to one of four cases we discussed in class. Your task is to prepare a 10 minute presentation targeted to the Director of Marketing of the respective company with the idea that this person has no training in ITBM or statistics.
The case situations that will be discussed have been developed after careful research on actual situations in real companies. The case writer(s) has (have) attempted to describe enough of the background and details of the situation in order to provide an adequate basis for class discussion.
Thorough preparation on the part of all class participants is essential to having a good and fruitful class discussion. Merely reading the case is not be enough. After an initial reading to get a broad overview, go back and study the case thoroughly. Consider the course material covered up to that point in time, the assigned text and other readings on that particular day. Make any notes you find helpful and mark up the case to facilitate structuring your understanding of the situation. Identify the major problems and key relationships. Conceive alternative solutions to the problem and identify the advantages and disadvantages of each. Be prepared to defend your stand and recommendation in the class.
Each case is bound to lack some information that you would like to have in order to make a decision. As in real life, management decisions frequently must be made in the absence of information. A key executive skill is the ability to make effective decisions under uncertainty. A case discussion is preparation for just such situations.
Rarely, if ever, does a case contain an ideal solution to the problem highlighted in it. So do not expect a perfect all-encompassing solution at the end of the case discussion. In most cases, no such answer will emerge because each management problem often has multiple alternative solutions, each involving different degrees of risk, cost and complexity of execution. The major benefit of case discussion is that it provides the participants with a perspective and a repertoire of ideas which non-participants will lack. One case study participant once commented that “regular and active participation in case discussions helps you gain valuable experience even without being on the job.” There is some truth in this statement. Another benefit of the case discussion is that concepts which may appear theoretical in a text book come to life when seen from the perspective of a case. This helps in internalizing class concepts and seeing how they can be applied.