SWAGºÏ¼¯

• Professor Vasilis Theoharakis

A crucial competence for marketers is marketing strategy; in simple terms, analysing how the target market divides into segments, which of these segments are key targets for the firm, what the firm’s value proposition to each segment is, and what financial results can be expected over a planning period of typically 3 years. This module teaches Cranfield’s world-leading step-by-step process for developing such a marketing strategy and documenting it in a marketing plan.

Being able to define or refine a marketing strategy underpins all other aspects of marketing which help to make this strategy happen. For example, the firm’s brand or brands need to be aligned with the value proposition, as do marketing communications. To help students integrate learning across these different marketing disciplines, this module is assessed through an integrated assignment alongside the Customer Behaviour module.

The module covers:

• Strategic marketing in context.
• The strategic marketing planning process.
• Mission statements and organisational objectives.
• The Marketing Audit and analytical tools.
• Competitor identification maps and market segmentation.
• Marketing capabilities, value proposition and positioning.
• Product/Market Portfolio.
• Marketing objectives and strategies.
• Product and pricing strategy.
• Marketing ethics and the role of marketing in achieving sustainability.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Understand the evolution and role of marketing and be able to describe the characteristics of a customer-centric organization.
2. Appreciate a series of marketing strategy tools and techniques and their application in practice.
3. Recognise a successful marketing planning process and understand the construction and evaluation of a strategic marketing plan.
4. Structure and prepare a comprehensive strategic marketing plan.
5. Evaluate marketing plans prepared by others.

• Dr Tina Papadopoulou

The module aims to demystify the area of big data, statistical methods and insight to prepare students for a career in a marketing environment defined by big data, artificial intelligence and advanced analytics. Rather than a strict focus on data science, statistics and methods, the module balances developing an understanding of analytical techniques with how marketing leaders make decisions using (big data) insight. Gartner has introduced the term “citizen data scientist” to describe competent practitioners that can engage in data discovery and know when they need professional help.

Students will learn how to competently analyse both qualitative and quantitative data aided by sophisticated software tools, which will be useful for both their future careers and their thesis writing process.

The syllabus comprises two components: Big Data Analytics and Insight, and Thesis Preparation.

Big Data Analytics and Insight

• The big data revolution
• Artificial intelligence
• Issues of implementation and realising the benefits of big data marketing analytics
• Using JMP software
• Data discovery, exploration and visualisation process (e.g., CRISP)
• Marketing analytics (exploration, explanation and prediction) and their application to marketing practices (segmentation, targeting, positioning and customer experience)
• Using NVivo (e.g., coding, using case codes, notating, running queries)
• Thematic coding
• Sentiment analysis
• Mining user-generated content for marketing insights

Thesis Preparation

• Develop and apply appropriate analytical techniques to solve identified research problems, based on a clear understanding of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Analysing quantitative data using JMP
• Analysing qualitative data using NVivo.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

1. Develop and apply appropriate analytical techniques to solve identified problems, based on a clear understanding of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
2. Develop and apply marketing analytics (data exploration and modelling) to marketing practices (segmentation, targeting, positioning and customer management).
3. Plan, organise and prepare their thesis dissertation.

• Dr Tamira King

Many goods and services are sold through retailers, and managing retail processes is essential for both retailers and manufacturers. The module highlights the important role which retail plays in contemporary economies and how it permeates our lives. It enables you to gain an understanding of how retailing is managed and strategically explores how retailers obtain competitive advantage. You will have strategic models and tools to analyse the retailing environment and demonstrates key retailing strategies which enable retailers to enhance their performance.

Face-to-face retail is, however, only one of a number of marketing and distribution channels through which marketing, sales and service occurs. In today’s world, multiple channels may be combined in the same customer journey. So the module also covers how to develop an omnichannel strategy in both B2C and B2B contexts.

Working for a retailer or within an organisation that sells a product or service through retailers is likely to be a first destination for many graduates of this programme. And irrespective of sector, channel management is critical to most senior marketing management posts. Therefore, this module provides vital skills for a marketing career.

• Analytical retail models
• Retail communications: space management, visual merchandising and atmospherics
• Customer service
• Legal and ethical issues in retailing
• Omnichannel developments and how to manage them

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

1. Critically understand, apply and analyse models for analysis of strategic and operational omnichannel retailing situations.
2. Critically assess the strategic choices of elements of the (e-)retail mix, including: e/store layout; and (web)atmospherics and the importance of customer service and retail ethics.
3. Appreciate and act on how customers combine channels in their omnichannel journey.
4. Critically evaluate a retailer’s current strategy and make recommendations for future omnichannel strategy by applying retail theories and models on omnichannel experience

• Dr Tamira King

The aim is for students to understand the role of CRM and CE in the overall business strategy as well as the marketing mix. As a result of this Module students will be confident in their ability to conceive a CRM and or CE programme.

The module covers:

• Key concepts of CRM and CE
• Customer profitability – theory, measurement and practice thereof
• Customer experience – definition, management, the critical role of employees
• CRM programme management – design, business processes, technology, capabilities, governance and implementation
• Learning – data analysis, learning from customers
• Measurement and evaluation of CRM

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Apply CRM and CEkey concepts
2. Evaluate and critically assess the relationship between CRM and CE to the rest of the business activities of the firm.
3. Develop a strategic approach to CRM and CE for their firms.
4. Improve CRM and CE practices within their firms.

• Professor Stan Maklan

This is an integrative module allowing you to apply that which you have learnt to date in a practical manner. You will work in your learning teams and role-play a management consulting team competitively against the other learning teams. All teams will address the same brief: a genuine business opportunity for a particular company. You will have one week to understand the brief, gather the relevant data, use appropriate tools / frameworks and generate innovative, pragmatic and achievable recommendations. Your presentations will be judged by a panel that includes a company marketing executive dealing with the problem.

• This is a simulation exercise based around participants providing consultancy to a company based on a real-live problem.
• Therefore, module content is integrative, pulling together themes and techniques from other modules.

 

This module is intended to enable you to apply marketing theory in a real and complex situation. On successful completion of this module a student will be able to:

1. Select and justify what marketing theories, frameworks and perspectives are applicable and to deploy this methodology intelligently to a real-life situation.
2. Clearly demonstrate a capacity for mature problem solving and creative thinking through addressing a real marketing problem.
3. Work with colleagues in a competitive situation, under time pressure and with incomplete access to information, people and data.
4. Demonstrate compelling management consulting skills by providing expert and credible advice, and presenting a solutions in a very succinct and compelling manner.

• Dr Annmarie Hanlon

The aim of this module is to enable students to understand why digital and social media marketing is critical to all organisations and to evaluate the utility of the key elements in the digital marketing toolbox.

This module provides the frameworks and tools to enable students to create and manage digital marketing and social media. Contextualising digital and social media marketing within an organisational setting, this module shares the latest theories around digital and social media. The subjects covered include the practical application of digital marketing, as well as the sustainability of different social media platforms, ethical issues and data privacy concerns.

On completion of this module students will be able to critically debate contemporary issues in this fast-moving area and formulate plans to manage digital marketing.

• The digital marketing toolbox (email, search engine optimisation, paid search, websites).
• Digital marketing frameworks.
• Sustainability of managing social media in organisations.
• Managing ethical issues online.
• Integrating digital marketing.
• Current debates on business of digital marketing, the evolution of digital consumers and changing online behaviour.

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

1. Evaluate and critically assess the digital and social media toolbox applied by an organisation in terms of its impact and effect.
2. Apply knowledge of digital and social media by justifying and developing an integrated plan as part of an overall strategic marketing communications plan.
3. Apply digital marketing frameworks.
4. Prepare and debate an evidence-based argument on a current topic in digital and social media marketing practice.

• Dr Matthias Nnadi

The aim of the Accounting and Finance module is to introduce a number of traditional and contemporary accounting approaches that will increase the visibility of financial information and support management decision making.

The module has five main themes:

• Interpretation of financial statements;
• Exploring the relationship between accounting information, management decision making, financial strategies, and financial performance;
• Applying traditional and contemporary accounting tools and techniques, which can be applied to support business management decisions;
• Exploring the many cost trade-offs between business processes (Make v Buy).
• Appreciation of financial governance and legal requirements in procurement strategies.

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Generate financial information from transaction data;
2. Judge the effect of decisions, transactions and events on financial performance;
3. Apply an appropriate costing approaches to solve a range of business issues;
4. Valuate financial information to make informed management decisions.

• Professor Javier Marcos Cuevas
• Richard Vincent

It is evident to most organisations that customers represent a true “asset” in that they have the potential to generate revenues and other benefits to the supplier company. Customers represent one of the main stakeholders of a company, in addition to the owners, the employees, the suppliers, and the society as a whole. A good understanding of customers is therefore vital. Moreover, business-to-business (B2B) buyer-supplier relationships have been found to be an important source of competitive advantage if supplier companies are able to engage in those relationships properly.

The purpose of this module is to provide students with concepts and tools that are critical for B2B customer management. It should benefit executives who are involved those who aspire to careers managing in buyer-supplier interactions and relationships, and those involved in general management, B2B marketing, and other functional areas in the organisation or retail/FMCG marketing.

• Professional selling theory and practice
• Sales management theory and practice
• Buyer behaviour and its impact on buyer-seller relationships
• Sales strategy and Key Account Management
• Live client briefing

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Select appropriate sales theories, tools, and frameworks to apply to business problems and opportunities.
2. Develop ethical and sustainable solutions to sales-related problems and opportunities.
3. Critically appraise a real-world sales-related problem or opportunity and compose a written plan presenting recommendations for a senior management audience.

• Dr Marwa Tourky

The aim of the module is to enable students to understand and critically apply the various aspects of marketing communications from initial analysis of the market through to the development of strategies incorporating an expanding range of communications techniques. As a result, they will be able to write their own marketing communication plans and critically debate contemporary issues in marketing communications.

The subjects covered are communications theory, communication campaigns, marketing communications planning, implementation and evaluation, and coordination, integration and orchestration of the marketing communications mix with particular reference to advertising, publicity and digital media (i.e. paid, earned and owned media). The module may incorporate an industry guest speaker.

This module covers the following topics:

• An introduction to communications theory and marketing communications decision making process.
• Integrated marketing communication.
• The role of traditional paid communications, such as advertising via TV, press, radio, outdoor, endorsement and sponsorship.
• The role of digital communications including viral marketing and the role of social networks.
• The role of earned media communications, including public relations and crisis management.

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a systematic and comprehensive understanding, interpretation and application of the theory and practice of marketing communications in contemporary commercial and non-commercial across various audiences.
2. Demonstrate a critical appreciation of the validity of a variety of consumer-based models relating to the development of effective promotional activities and the use of persuasion tools in different scenarios.
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of various communications tools and appraise marketing communications mediums and creative executions.
4. Critically evaluate key marketing communications challenges facing organisations and develop critical awareness of the associated ethical issues and the interrelationships with media and society, and propose customer focused solutions.
5. Express personal ideas and analytical ability in relation to case-based material and apply knowledge of marketing communications by justifying and developing an integrated communications plan as part of an overall strategic marketing plan.

• Dr Sharifah Alwi

In many businesses, from consumer goods to industrial services, the primary assets are increasingly intangible. First amongst these is the brand, whether this consists of a portfolio of branded businesses or the corporate brand itself. In both instances, the brand asset needs to be managed to build customer loyalty and resourced so that the competitive advantage it generates can be sustained.

Similarly, one way the equity that lies in the brand can be leveraged is by appropriately extending the brand. Managing the brand, therefore, requires insights into brand preferences and repeat purchasing patterns. It also requires a clear understanding of the levers of successful brand strategies and the tenets of managing brands in the new digital world. The course covers each of these aspects, and brand management is discussed both in a national and international context.

• Brand equity and the value brands create for customers and companies
• Brand loyalty and consumer profiles
• Brand image and brand awareness
• Brand identity and brand positioning
• Brand architecture and brand extensions
• Brand strategies
• Brand building in the digital age

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Apply skills and critical knowledge for successfully managing branded products and services.
2. Critically make the case for brand investment and brand strategies to be implemented.
3. Develop the brand identity as a foundation for successful brand positioning.
4. Explain how the new digital world is changing the practice of brand management.

• Dr Sharifah Alwi

Customer analysis and insight have become very important domains in the marketing domain. Understanding these areas allows senior managers to develop an innovative marketing strategy based on real customer insights that emerge through strong analysis.

The module covers:

• Shaping perceptions, attitudes and intentions
• Understanding the consumer environment
• Affecting behaviour
• Decision-making and choice architecture
• Utilising heuristics & biases
• Analysing changing customer needs and demands
• Segmenting markets
• Generating customer insight

On successful completion of this module you should be able to:

1. Critically analyse the behaviour of potential customers in B2B and B2C settings
2. Assess how marketing stimuli can affect customer affect, cognition and behaviour across settings
3. Recommend and apply appropriate bases of segmentation to consumer and industrial markets

• Dr Tina Papadopoulou

The module aims to provide students with an understanding of what is required to conduct research in marketing contexts, considering that todays’ managers are expected to make informed decisions and are evaluated on the basis of the outcomes of their decisions. As such, understanding the process of conducting marketing research will ensure students to have the core skills to inform management decisions. Furthermore, the module is designed to help students with their thesis preparation.

As part of the module, students will learn how to design research projects and understand core data gathering instruments used in research, whether this is academic or practitioner-oriented research. Students will also learn to plan their thesis writing process, as well as key skills required: literature review, research design, selecting and applying both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection.

The syllabus comprises two components: Marketing Research and Thesis Preparation

Marketing Research

• Introduction to marketing research
• Selecting a research topic and developing a research proposal
• Conducting a literature review
• Developing appropriate research designs
• Ethics and legislation in research
• Sampling for quantitative and qualitative research projects
• Case research
• The role of secondary data
• Designing and executing unstructured and structured Interviews (e.g., focus groups, in-depth interviews)
• Surveys
• Experiments
• Questionnaire design

Thesis Preparation

• The requirements for the successful completion of an MSc dissertation.
• Writing a research proposal that reflects an ability to set objectives (determine a research question), identify literature, determine appropriate methods.
• Writing a critical literature review.
• Planning and designing the academic thesis fieldwork/systematic review.

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

1. Define and evaluate research objectives for both scholarly aims, and applied decision-making in a marketing context.
2. Create and design appropriate research solutions to identified problems, based on a clear understanding of a range of research methods and data gathering.
3. Plan, organise and prepare their thesis dissertation.

The aim of the thesis is to train Masters students to undertake a major marketing, retailing or sales - related research project independently and to present a thesis which meets university requirements. This will require students to demonstrate project management abilities, develop skills in critical appraisal and research methods, as well as the ability to present their thoughts clearly.

Each student is allocated a thesis supervisor (either Cranfield staff or Cranfield registered teacher). The thesis can have one of four possible formats:

• An empirical thesis project
• A company-sponsored (empirical) thesis project
• A systematic review of a suitable area of the marketing, sales or retailing literature

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

1. Scope a marketing, retailing or sales research project and develop an appropriate set of research questions/project objectives.
2. Plan and execute a long-term research project work programme with reference to the key project management processes (time, risk management, contingency, resourcing).
3. Select and justify methodologies and analytical tools appropriate to the task and apply them correctly to a live marketing, retailing or sales problem.
4. Collect, review, analyse and critically evaluate literature, data, and information to make evidence-based decisions which lead to justified conclusions/ recommendations.
5. Write and communicate concisely, informatively and persuasively in order for reports/presentations to achieve their intended effect.

The Strategic Marketing MSc is currently the only Master's degree in the SWAGºÏ¼¯ that is accredited by the MRS for its Certificate in Market Research). This means that while studying for your Master's in marketing, you also have the opportunity to work towards achieving the MRS Certificate in Market Research. This qualification and with appropriate work experience – gained either before or after being awarded the MRS Certificate – means you will be eligible to join the Market Research Society.