Instructor

Arti Kalro, Dinesh Sharma

Semester

Autumn ‘20

Course Difficulty

Easy! Very few concepts which are difficult to grasp.

Time Commitment Required

This course was divided into 2 parts. Part 1 was before the Midsem and Part 2 was after it. The former part, taken by Arti ma’am, required more time commitment because of continuously evaluated activities which had to be done in groups, which generally had to be submitted on a weekly basis. Ma’am also used to pick people randomly before the lecture and ask them to summarise the previous lecture. So, it is expected that one maintains a level of consistency with regards to the course delivery. As for the second part of the course, students were expected to go through some case study papers or other reading material before a lecture(in some cases) but these tasks are much less time consuming then the prior ones. For the course as a whole it would be a good idea for students to make note of important points during lectures because a lot of things are discussed in the class which generally are not even described in the lecture slides.

Grading Policy and Statistics

Decent! Although only 3/40 people were awarded an AA, 85% of the class received a grade which was either BB or higher. BC which was the least and was given to the remaining students.

Attendance Policy

80% attendance is mandatory. But if you think you can get done with this course without attending lectures you are wrong! ATTENDING LECTURES IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR THIS COURSE!!!! Even if you do this one thing sincerely, you’ll get through very smoothly.

Pre-requisites

This is an introductory course to marketing. Hence, none!

Evaluation Scheme

Part1: 5% individual assignment. 15% - best 3 of 4 group activities (weekly basis), 10% - group presentation, 20% - Midsem.

Part 2: 10% - 2 individual assignments, 40% - Endsem.

Topics Covered in the Course

Nature & scope of core marketing concepts and tasks, market environment scanning, consumer behavior and customer value, market segmentation, targeting and positioning, product and brand concepts, pricing decisions, marketing channels : distribution and direct marketing, marketing communication and promotion, personal selling, marketing information system, sales forecasting and marketing research.

Teaching Style

The overall teaching style is very good!! Both of the instructors do an extremely good job delivering the content. There are a lot of scenarios and case studies that are discussed. The content can be easily followed.

Tutorials/Assignments/Projects

Most of the assignments either serve as tests to your concept understanding or are based on application of the concepts that you have learned during the lectures. Some questions may get challenging at times and you might have to ponder upon them for some time with your pals!

Feedback on Exams

Midsem- Was based on the content delivered in part 1. It was divided into 3 rounds:-
Round 1: - Moodle based MCQ questions. Had to answer 15 questions in 10 minutes.
Round 2: -Match given companies with given promotion strategies.
Round 3: - A different brand was allocated to each student. Everyone had to write a detailed description of the brand based on a given set of instructions and our learning from the course. It was an open book question.

Endsem -Was based on the content delivered in part 2. It was again divided into 3 rounds:-
Round 1: - Moodle based MCQ questions.
Round 2:- Short answer type.
Round 3: - One Numerical based on pricing strategy. Another question related to a case study.

Overall both the exams were in the easy to moderate range.

Motivation for taking this course

This course gives a very good overview of what a marketing personnel would typically be expected to know. The course, especially the first part, is very lively- full with interactions and case study discussions. Additionally Arti ma’am is known for very friendly student interactions and her engaging way of delivering the course content. The second part of the course contains several numerical problems and case study discussions. It’s a very good experience for management enthusiasts!

Course Highlights

The course began with an introduction to a diverse set of concepts from the field of marketing with different case studies and activities to work on and build one’s understanding. Later on a lot of different exercises were given in order to test and evaluate your application skills based on your understanding. Anybody who has put in minimal effort to go through every lecture would consider this course to be a relishing journey. Both the professors did a very good job in teaching and engaging the class. The course content and delivery is very different from a core course and hence serves as a refresher to somebody who wants a change from the regular curriculum. It is a must try for the management enthusiasts!

Course Importance

Serves as the requirement for the MG407 course. (other courses may also serve as alternatives though)

How strongly would I recommend this course?

Highly! Especially to someone who wants to explore the field of management. This course is one of the starters for anybody wanting to pursue a minor in management. Overall it provides a very good experience and acts as a refresher for your curriculum.

When to take this course?

In my 3rd semester. This is an odd semester course and it is a very good idea to start your management minor with this course.

Going Forward

Pick almost any course from the ones that are offered as a part of the management minor.

References Used

All relevant resources are shared by the professors. Please refer to this drive for some of those resources.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zuYggUcM9ZWz1Nas0V5jLqZfl6OfusvR?usp=sharing

Other Remarks

Thanks to Harshit Jain for helping me out with the drive.

MG 401 Review By: Akash Chodankar