SOPHIA UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Liberal Arts

International Business/Economics

 

SYLLABUS

IBE-463 COMPARATIVE MARKETING

SPRING 2009

 

Professor:

Emmanuel Ch�ron, Ph.D. (エマニュエル・シェロン)

Schedule:

Monday and Thursday 15:15-16:45, Room TBA

Phone:

03-3238-4057

E-mail:

j-cheron@sophia.ac.jp

Website:

http://www.oocities.org/wallstreet/market/4263

Course website:

Moodle: http://nakama.cc.sophia.ac.jp

Office:

Yotsuya, Building 10, 5F, Office 533

Office hours:

Mondays and Thursdays 14:00-15:00 or by appointment

 

OBJECTIVES

This course will cover readings and discussions on marketing across culture. The course emphasizes the role of diversity in world markets and the importance of local consumer knowledge and marketing practices. A cross-cultural approach is used which compares national marketing systems and local commercial customs in various countries. The impact of country differences in macroeconomic and regulatory environments on marketing activities is examined. Methodological difficulties pertaining to cross-cultural marketing research are addressed. Finally, the study of interaction between business people from different cultures is discussed from an intercultural perspective.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the ennd of the course, a student should be able to:

 

1. Undersstand the challenges confronting marketing across cultures.

2. Know professional and business publications to find examples of marketing across cultures and be able to develop a critical evaluation of business articles published on cross-cultural marketing.

3. Be aware of the impact of macroeconomic differences and regulations on marketing activities among countries.

 

PREREQUISITES

Students are expected to have completed and passed IBE-315 Marketing and additional courses such as IBE-356 Consumer Behavior, or similar courses.

 

REQUIRED TEXT

Usunier, Jean-Claude and Julie Anne Lee (2009), Marketing Across Cultures, 5/E, Pearson, Prentice Hall Europe. ISBN: 978-0-273-71391-3, Format: Paper; 479 pp. Website: www.pearsoned.co.uk/usunier

 

COURSE ORGANISATION

Subjects covered in the assigned chapters of the text will be presented and discussed in class. Students are expected to have read the assigned chapters and be prepared to present and discuss the topic selected for the class. The international experience and international research studies of the Professor will be presented as additional examples.

Each studdent will select and present an article from the business press or a website link from the textbook on cross-cultural marketing.

Teams of 3 to 5 students will also prepare and present two case studies proposed in the detailed timetable of the course.

 

ARTICLE OR WEBSITE LINK PRESENTATION

Each student will be assigned a class meeting to present an approved article from the business press or a website link from the textbook. The article must illustrate a recent (within three years) marketing situation in cross-cultural marketing. The selected article must be clearly related to one or several chapters of the required textbook. The complete reference of the proposed article and the indication of the related chapter(s) of the textbook (pages v-vi) must be submitted to the Professor for approval as scheduled in the detailed calendar. The date of the article or website link presentation will be assigned by the Professor. A photocopy of the article must be submitted to the Professor one week before the scheduled presentation to the class. A ten to fifteen minute oral presentation using up to fifteen Powerpoint slides will summarize the article or the website link. The Powerpoint slides should be e-mailed to the Professor at echeron@hotmail.com to be linked to the website of the course. Students failing to send their slides will lose the points allocated to the question about the presentations at the exam. A written summary (including the title of the article or the website link, with the complete reference of the article or website URL included at the end) must be submitted by the student at the time of the presentation in class. Article or website written summaries will be evaluated on article or website interest, writing precision, logic, understandability, connections with topics in the required text, personal comments, spelling and grammar.

 

CASE PRESENTATIONS

Teams of up to 5 students will prepare written presentation of two case studies due on the dates indicated in the detailed timetable of the course. Written answers are expected to all questions at the end of the case. Complete references of sources (including Internet dated sources) used to answer questions must be included at the end of the written case presentation (including the complete reference to the case or to parts of the textbook used to answer questions).

 

EVALUATION

 

Presentation of article or website link:

 

 

Presentation of cases

Midterm exam:

Final exam:

10% (Submission of proposed article or website link on time, Photocopy of the article submitted on time and Oral presentation: 5 points; Written summary: 5 points)

20% (10 points each)

30%

40%

Each studdent will be required to submit an individual confidential peer-evaluation of the contribution of team members to the two case studies. Students failing to turn in their peer-evaluation will lose all the points attributed to team-work on case studies.

 

GRADING TABLE

 

A: 90-1000; B: 80-89.99; C: 70-79.99; D: 60-69.99; F: 0-59.99; W: Withdrawal.

 

Detailed calendar (WILL BE HANDED OUT IN CLASS)