Masters in Marketing Management Curriculum

The academic year for the Masters in Marketing programme starts in early September and ends in the first week of July. A wide range of marketing concepts are covered from September through February; the months of March through June are devoted to in-company projects. Classes are scheduled between 9 am and 12.30 and between 2 pm and 5.30 pm. All classes are conducted in English and are delivered at our Ghent Campus, in Belgium.

Introduction Module (2 - 15 September)

• Introduction to Economics

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  Introduction to Economics

  The course objective is to explain the main concepts used in micro- and macro-economics against the background of recent developments in the economy.

• Introduction to Financial Management

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  Introduction to Financial Management

  By using the simulation tool ‘FAST’ (Finance & Accounting Simulation Tool), students will get insights into the basics of finance and accounting.

  Students will get an answer to some of the following questions:

  • What is a cash statement?
  • What is a profit and loss account?
  • What is a balance sheet?
  • What do profitability, solvency and liquidity mean?

• Introduction to Statistics & SPSS

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  Introduction to Statistics & SPSS

  In this introduction course we discuss a few basic statistical concepts and apply them to marketing and market research. A balance is struck between theory and practical relevance of concepts such as descriptive statistics, covariance and correlation, measurement issues and the like. The course combines lectures, exercises and private study. During the SPSS course you will get to learn how to work with SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). SPSS is powerful and flexible software used for statistics, as well as for academic research projects. We will use this application throughout the year, mainly for the market research projects.

• Reporting Techniques

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  Reporting Techniques

  A manager regularly has to report on the results he or she has accomplished. Sometimes you will be asked to write a report, other times to present your work in front of a (small) audience. This module will teach you the basics of written and oral reporting. You will also get the opportunity to do a short presentation in front of your fellow students yourself.

Opening Seminar (16 - 18 September)

The three-day opening seminar provides an excellent setting for developing your communication and interaction skills and getting to know your fellow students from a different perspective. 

Core Module  (21 September - end February)

Market Strategy Module

• Marketing Strategy

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  Marketing Strategy

  This course is meant to offer a basic insight in competitive or marketing strategy, with the ultimate goal to be able to:

  • conduct an in-depth analysis
  • formulate strategic alternatives
  • write and defend a marketing plan

  With this course we want reach the following objectives:

  • To develop the capacity to think and act strategically about a company and its position in a given industry;
  • To build the analytical skills necessary to support strategic marketing decisions;
  • To offer the basic building blocks to develop a marketing strategic plan;
  • To reason about different strategic choices: formulate alternatives, options, scenarios, “what if”;

  Make the students aware of the practical implications of strategic decisions i.e. including the implementation.

Market Analysis Module

• Consumer Behaviour

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  Consumer Behaviour

  The concept of a ‘consumer’ was introduced only a hundred years ago. In an economy of scarcity, the challenge is to survive and fill basic needs. With increasing discretionary income, consumers became free to make choices about what and where to buy. Consumers became more powerful. And nowadays, with the development of new interactive media, consumers have become even more powerful.

  It is important to gain insight into consumer behaviour to help explain why people buy certain products while they do not consider buying other products. Why do they buy at certain places but not at others? What do they do with the product/service after acquiring it, and how are preferences built? The goal of the course ‘Consumer Behaviour’ is to provide students with the basic concepts that will allow them to understand the consumer and his behaviour. The theoretical classes are illustrated with practical examples, exercises and case studies.

• Business Market Management

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  Business Market Management

  Following the increased interest in marketing shown by the consumer markets, marketing has become increasingly important for the industrial sectors as well. It has gradually become clear that a pure product orientation strategy offers no competitive edge to the industrial markets and that companies need to be very much market geared in order to survive in a highly competitive environment.

  Even though the core principles of marketing apply to both business-to-consumer and business-to-business sector, there are important differences. The fact that technology plays a bigger part in business marketing than in consumer marketing, the one-to-one mutually dependent relationships between customers and suppliers, as well as a host of other properties make business market management a special topic. This explains why we strongly emphasize business market management, and cover it extensively in a special module.

• Market Research

  X

  Market Research

  The aim is to develop students' understanding of research methodology as it applies to marketing decision-making.  Marketing research is becoming increasingly important in the decision-making processes of firms in all industries.  Most major marketing decisions made by large manufacturers and service firms are based, at least in part, on the results of marketing research. Only those marketing managers with a solid understanding of marketing research are able to use it effectively.

  The course is very much in line with the course 'consumer behaviour'. As such the course ‘Market analysis’ teaches the familiar techniques aimed at gathering, analysing, interpreting and reporting relevant information on the consumers and their behaviour against the backdrop of a specific problem. The emphasis lies both on the problem-solving aspects (when to apply which type of market analysis) and on the technicity (using the right methods and techniques). SPSS is actively practised as well.

Management Skills

• Business Ethics and CSR

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  Business Ethics and CSR

  Corporations are today facing waves of global changes such as globalization, calls for more sustainable forms of development, increasing stakeholder scrutiny but also scandals such as the Enron, Worldcom and others, conflicts of cultures and ideologies opening up new dimensions of risk and challenges for business. They provoke the need for business to acknowledge and take account of environmental, social and ethical issues and to have good dialogue and relationship with its stakeholders.

  The course will provide an introduction to the field of business ethics, stakeholder management and corporate social responsibility (CSR). It aims at better understanding the larger context for business activity. It is not only about business ethics but covers a broad range of topics and disciplinary perspectives and offers concrete managerial tools. Among the central themes of the course will be: business ethics, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder management, socially responsible investment.

• Career Skills

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  Career Skills

  The course includes a mixture of class sessions, coaching in small groups, practical exercises and exchanges with practitioners and alumni. Throughout the course, you will work on a personal development plan and a career portfolio, two practical tools that will facilitate your job search.

  It will build on the insights acquired during the social skills seminar and will be the start of other events organised by Career Services.

  During and after this course, students will have the opportunity to receive individual feedback on their C.V. / application letter and to discuss their job search process with a scientific staff member of the HRM Centre.

• Communication & Interaction Skills

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  Communication & Interaction Skills

  Managers not only operate within a business, they are also part of a management team. During the course of social skills, you will be taught various basic skills that are critical for future managers: meeting techniques, cognitive styles, communication techniques, team work, writing skills and interacting in a working situation. During the year you will be given feedback on your own skills on a regular basis.

• Entrepreneurship

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  Entrepreneurship

  The course Entrepreneurship will give you an in-depth understanding of entrepreneurship. Indeed, starting up a company and/or managing it may well become your career path. This course combines theory and practice. It focuses on the development and management of opportunities, writing business plans and attracting resources. It also discusses the milestones in an entrepreneurial business and the various stages in the company’s development.

• Negotiation Skills

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  Negotiation Skills

  The course offers participants opportunities to analyse and interpret negotiation information, identify the interest that underpin initial negotiation positions, develop innovative options, and compile dedicated negotiation strategies and plans, the post-negotiation debriefings allow ‘negotiators’ to share and broaden their insights.

Marketing Implementation

• Marketing Communication

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  Marketing Communication

  To many marketers Marketing Communication is the topic. And it should be for a lot of reasons. Especially the marketing mix element appeals very strongly to the imagination and calls on the creative potential. Communication also devours huge parts of the budgets. Every year millions of Belgian francs are spent on advertising, sales promotions, sponsoring, etc. Marketing and product managers are often quoted for having said "I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I don't know which half". They wonder whether their communication expenditure is effective and efficient.

  The module Marketing Communication wants to make sure that you, the next generation of top marketers, are able to communicate in a more effective and efficient manner. The course stresses integrated communication: how do I constitute an optimal communication mix taking into account my target group, my goals and my strategy? The goal of the Marketing Communication course is to highlight all the important aspects (different tools, channels and planning stages) in a concrete manner calling on a wide range of guest speakers.

  The module will discuss the following topics:

  • The communication plan : the management aspects of communication
  • Media planning
  • The working of an advertising agency
  • Sales Promotions
  • Sponsorship
  • Communication research: tests before and after

• Interactive Marketing

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  Interactive Marketing

  More and more opportunities are offered to enter into an interactive relationship with the consumer or with the business-to-business buyer. The new developments in information technology and the increased pressure to create direct and close relationships with the end consumer have led to the fast development of interactive marketing tools. The evolution we witness today is rooted in a typical local shopper’s mentality that says one should be as close as possible to one's customers, know their needs and be able to fulfil those needs.

  Next to the perfectly traditional direct marketing channels like direct mail, catalogues or direct response advertisements, clients and prospects can communicate, conclude transactions or organise the distribution of acquired products or services via call centres, internet and other more recent interactive media. Those developments have an important influence on the organisation's marketing mix. Any communication policy should take those circumstances into account and, moreover, the 'traditional retail, sales, price and product management tools must be constantly challenged. The key question here is: how can organisations attract and keep their clients using interactive marketing tools?

  The course will familiarise you with the principles of interactive marketing, database marketing en relational marketing via theoretical sessions and case reports. Internet as an important interactive instrument will, of course, receive special attention. The business game 'DARTS' will allow you to practise and to build up relationships via data-based oriented thinking.

• Product Management

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  Product Management

  'The most basic marketing tool is the product' says Kotler and he was not mistaken. The course will introduce you to essential product management concepts and frameworks. Particular attention will be devoted to product strategy and development of new products. Furthermore, product line management and a product manager testimonial is included.

• Pricing Policy

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  Pricing Policy

  The price of a product or service has critical implications for both company and consumer. Price impacts on financial performance in terms of growth, cash flow and profitability of a business. It also has longer-term implications for Brand equity, market positioning and standing against its key competitors.

  From the consumer’s perspective, price impacts on perceived and delivered value of a product or service. It will also effect perceptions of one product against another and their relative positioning in terms of quality and value.

  This course will build on the knowledge gained from previous marketing courses. It will aim to make students aware of the underlying issues affecting price and how price may be used strategically for desired market positioning and achievement of business objectives.

  Traditionally, managers cannot/may not linger too long on price setting, one of the marketing Ps. Often the price is set by top management or by the cost-accounting department. A thorough training in price setting is of the utmost importance. The price is indeed often the result of the other Ps…

• Sales Management

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  Sales Management

  This course is about formulating, implementing, evaluating, and controlling a sales programme. Every organisation deals with these issues in one way or another. Therefore, everything you learn in this course will be relevant and useful in your future business life, even if you choose not to pursue a career in sales and sales management. The course will focus on topical subjects such as linking strategies and the sales role in the era of customer relationship management (CRM), and the strategic role of information in sales management. We will also discuss classic sales management topics such as selecting and motivating sales people.

• Retail & Trade Marketing

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  Retail & Trade Marketing

  The past few years the distribution sector has witnessed many important evolutions: a growing concentration due to the merger of big distribution groups, an enhanced price awareness caused by increasingly fierce competition, the arrival of a number of foreign chains in Europe, internet shopping … All these reasons have induced distributors to further professionalise their marketing policy. And this tendency is bound to continue in the future.

  The content of this module is based on the following two cornerstones:

  • Trade marketing : marketing from manufacturer to retailer. The students learn how a manufacturer can create a distribution network (the P from Place). Different types of co-operation will be discussed here: ECR, category management, EDI, …
  • Retail marketing : marketing from retailer to consumer.
    These sessions will focus on the following items:
  • Segmentation within the distribution
  • The difference between consumer and shopper
  • Merchandising and promotion
  • Product range
  • Price decisions

• Service Marketing

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  Service Marketing

  Clients buy solutions, not products. Christopher Lovelock puts it this way in his latest book: "Product plus: how product + service = competitive advantage". That is why every company is actively involved in the service sector. Therefore, we will spend two days on service management. We will discuss the characteristics of services and their operational management. We will put special emphasis on the new tendencies in service management: customer service, service guarantees, satisfaction measurement and complaint management.

International Study Trip

You are offered a combination of lectures, plant visits, sightseeing and networking sessions with other students and Vlerick alumni abroad. Previous destinations of the study trip were Madrid and Dublin.

Management Integration

• Business Game Industrat

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  Business Game Industrat

  INDUSTRAT, is a computer-simulated business game. During one week small groups of students run their own business. The aim is to analyse production, positioning, sales and beat the competition (i.e. other student groups). They have to decide on their strategy, make sales predictions and prove their skills in cost calculation.

• Business Plan

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  Business Plan

  The course wants to get the students acquainted with and provide them with an insight in the world of entrepreneurship. Starting up or managing a company (of their own) could indeed be one of their future career options. The course focuses on discovering and managing opportunities and finding the necessary means whilst elaborating on the important milestones and the dangerous pitfalls along the road.

  A crucial element of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship is the writing of a business plan. Indeed, if you want to obtain financial backing for your idea, a full-fledged business plan is a ‘conditio sine qua non’. The Business Plan is built up and explored step by step: it will allow you to integrate recently acquired concepts and at the same time you will be introduced to other domains such as Product Strategy, Financial Management and Human Resources Management

• Integration exercise

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  Integration exercise

  At the end of the first term, students have to prove themselves in an integrated marketing exercise. The integrative marketing case enables the students to apply the acquired theoretical insights as well as their creativity in a realistic business context. This involves developing a comprehensive real-life marketing plan. At the end of the exercise, the company’s senior marketing management will assess the quality and applicability of each of the proposed marketing plans.

In-company project (March - June)

From March through June, students carry out a market research project for an external company. 

Closing seminar (early July)

In the closing seminar, the entire class comes together one last time to reflect on the past year and to forge bonds for the future.

Graduation (early July)