MSc Operations, Project and Supply Chain Management / Course details

·      The nature of business-to-business markets

·      Purchasing  and supply in business markets

·      Interaction and relationships in business markets

·      Segmentation, portfolios and networks

·      Strategies for Marketing and Selling in business markets

·      Business-to-Business Service Markets

·      Doing Research in business markets

BMAN70152 Programme Req: BMAN70152 is only available as an elective to students on MSc Marketing and MSc Operations, Project and Supply Chain Management

• To consider the process and nature of marketing and buyer behaviour in different business-to-business contexts and environments.
• To present a range of models and theories that can be applied in a business-to-business context.
• To understand the challenges of marketing in business markets in a global context.
• To develop an understanding of the research skills that are needed in order to undertake business-to-business marketing research.

At the end of the course the students should have a comprehensive understanding of marketing in a business-to-business context.  They should be able to:

• Critically assess a range of theories that are related to business-to-business marketing situations.  They should demonstrate this verbally, during class discussions, and in their written work.

• Discuss how marketing strategies can be used to effect competitiveness in a business-to-business environment.

• Understand the constraints and challenges that globalization and technology place on a business-to-business context.

• Understand that there are a variety of possible strategies that can be used in business markets and that these vary according to the domain and context in which they occur.

Formal Contact Methods

Minimum Contact hours: 20 

Delivery format: Lecture and Workshops 

Examination (70%)

Presentation coursework (30%)

 

Written, verbally in class and via Blackboard

Students should make reference to a selection of the following texts as background reading for the course.  The nature of the course means that students do need to address a number of books.

** If you wish to buy a text, these are (in my opinion) the most useful.

**Brennan, Ross; Louise Canning and Raymond McDowell (2014) Business-to-Business Marketing 3rd edition. London, UK: Sage Publications Ltd.

**Ellis, Nick (2011) Business-to Business Marketing. Relationships, networks and strategies. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press.

** David Ford, Lars-Erik Gadde, Håkan Håkansson and Ivan Snehota, (2011) Managing Business Relationships, John Wiley (3d edition) 

Ford, David (ed.) (2002) Understanding Business Marketing and Purchasing, Third Edition.  London, UK: Thomson Learning.

Håkansson, Håkan ; David  Ford, Lars-Erik Gadde,  Ivan Snehota and Alexandra Waluszewski (2009) Business in Networks. Chichester, England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Additional readings are provided for each lecture topic.

Informal Contact Method

Office Hours

Online Learning Activities (blogs, discussions, self-assessment questions)