24707 Business to Business Marketing

Faculty of Business: Marketing
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level: Postgraduate

Result Type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): 24734 Marketing Management OR 24746 Marketing: Concepts and Applications
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are also course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Handbook description

This subject focuses on the buying and selling of goods and services between firms, which constitutes 60–80 per cent of all marketing activity. It focuses on development of the special skills and knowledge needed to function effectively in this setting, including specialised communication modes, negotiation, preparation of bids, the sales-purchasing interface, relationship marketing and relationship management. It introduces the wider context in which business marketing sits – the distribution channel and network of connected firms in the wider domestic and international market.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

Understand the process of understanding, creating, and delivering value to targeted business markets and customers.
Understand business networking.
Utilise developed communication skills necessary for building and developing inter-organisational relationships including sales and negotiation skills, report writing and research skills.
Utilise information gathering and organising skills relevant to business marketing.
Differentiate the nature and role of business marketing processes as distinct from consumer marketing and apply the differing processes to marketing problem-solving.

Contribution to graduate profile

This is a foundation subject that highlights a critically important but under-recognised area of marketing which has different models, strategies and operations than does the more-studied consumer marketing, often presumed to be the foundation of marketing theory and practice. It provides a counterpoint for the knowledge accrued in the introductory subject where it is presumed that in interorganisational settings selling firms manage market interaction and buyers are passive. Instead the framework introduced assumes that market relationships emerge from the interplay of buyer and seller activities in which both active participate and manage the outcomes.

The subject examines the interplay between the micro processes of individual organisations and their individual marketing decisions and the relationships and networks in which they are embedded by using the theories of relationship management and marketing and the practical examples of the Australasian context.

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject will be taught using a combination of lectures and workshops/discussion groups. These classes will be supplemented with both printed and electronic learning materials and resources. Role-play exercises, including a comprehensive negotatiaion game will provide further supplementation. The UTS web-based communication tool (Online) will be used to share information and encourage interaction between staff and students.

Content

Introduction to the subject including its aims and rationale.
Introduction to the areas of relationship management and network marketing and the role of technology within these
Development of business-to-business marketing communication and sensing skills
Crafting strategies for customer acquisition, retention, market offering and distribution
Application of content to development of local cases.

Assessment

Final examination (individual)	35%
There will be an in-class test designed to assess students understanding of the theories and concepts to demonstrate that students have understand the content area of all objectives.
Group Assignment – Development of Original Case Study	30%
This will assess students' understanding of the concepts of business and relationships marketing and their ability to apply these to the local business environment as outlined in objectives 1 and 2. It will further facilitate the development of the communication and management skills outlines in objectives 3 and 4.
Workshop Exercises and Negotiation Assignment (Individual)	35%
This consists of a number of in-class papers and exercises that undertaken to enable application of the ideas developed in lectures and through readings. The intention is not to require students to submit or to grade each component (except for the negotiation assignment which will be worth 20%) but rather to give the students multiple opportunities to submit work and receive feedback. Overall all, the two or three best pieces of class work (i.e. notes from case studies or solution to an in-class problem) will be used for assessment. This will test objectives 1, 2 and 5.

Recommended text(s)

Anderson, James C. and Tanner, Narus James A. Business Market Management, second edition, Prentice Hall, 2003.

Indicative references

Brandenburger A.M. and B.J. Nalebuff (1997) Coopetition, New York, Doubleday.

Chaston I. (2001) 'E-Business and institutional Marketing' Chapter 11 in E-Marketing Strategy by, Mcgraw Hill, pp 148-166.

Ford, David, et al (2002) The Business Marketing Course: Managing in Complex Networks, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd

Levitt, T. (1986), "Relationship Management" Chapter 6 in The Marketing Imagination by pp.2-9 (landmark reference)

Meredith, R. (2001) 'Detroit Monster with three heads' BRW, pp167-169.

'The true cost of outsourcing' (2002) BRW , Jan 31st, pp45-49

Wilkinson I. and L. Young, (2002) 'On cooperating : Firms, relations and Networks', Journal of Business Research, pp35-44