Fall 2023

MBA 741
Marketing: Core Concepts and Tools
Faculty Information
 Dr. Kristopher Keller, Assistant Professor of Marketing
 Office: McColl Building, Room 4512
 Kristopher_keller@[Link]
 Office hours (McColl 4512): Fridays 2 pm – 3 pm and by appointment
 Happy hours at Carolina Casuals: Thursdays 5 pm – 6 pm

The Learning Model

At Kenan-Flagler Business School innovation, curriculum, and immediate application to the real-world
context has always been a core priority for faculty. In this new environment, our students will be exposed
to several learning models designed to magnify learning and community, and ensure we are all operating
in a safe space. We seek to share ideas, learn from each other and gain understanding so that we can reach
our full potential.

Canvas is the learning management system for Kenan-Flagler Business School. In addition to the place
where you will submit your assignments and mid-term exam (“deliverables”), you will also see assigned
activities, discussions and interactive exercises that will introduce you to concepts we will cover in class.
Participating in these activities will be part of your participation grade. Also, I’ll make all announcements
on Canvas.

Student Participation can happen in a variety of forms. Each learning space will have a unique approach to
engage with your classmates, and course content. Faculty will have different expectations in each setting.
The participation portion of the grade includes completing assignments and actively engaging in class
discussions through thoughtful questions and comments. In addition, I expect students to arrive at class on
time.

As student participation will take shape in different forms, the following guidance is provided regarding
expectations:

Space Expectations
In-class (in person)  Be present and ready to share thoughtful insights from pre-class
readings and assignments
 Participate in polls conducted through class
Learning Management  Assignment submissions will be conducted through Canvas
System (Canvas)  Participation in weekly exercises such as discussions, quizzes, or
other media are required and part of class participation

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Overall Course Objective

MBA741 is the core marketing course in the MBA program. It is designed to serve as an introduction to
the theory and practice of marketing. We will explore the theory and applications of marketing concepts
through a mix of cases, discussions, lectures, guest speakers, online tutorials, and a simulation. We will
draw materials from a variety of sources and settings including services, consumer, and business-to-
business products.

The main objectives of this course are to improve your ability to:
1. Assess market opportunities by analyzing customers, competitors, collaborators, context, and the
strengths and weaknesses of a company and selecting the right metrics.
2. Develop effective marketing strategies to achieve organizational objectives.
3. Design a strategy implementation program to maximize its chance of success.
4. Communicate and defend your recommendations and critically examine and build upon the
recommendations of your classmates both quantitatively and qualitatively.

This course is appropriate for majors in all functional areas of business. While marketing managers
develop and implement marketing strategy, managers in other functional areas (finance, management,
accounting, and operations) need to understand how marketing strategies impact their own operations.
Entrepreneurial ventures and start-ups rarely succeed without an excellent marketing strategy. It is
impossible to value a firm, its stocks and bonds, to plan its financial needs, or to establish its credit rating
without understanding its revenue sources. Revenues largely come from customers and are a direct
consequence of marketing strategy.

Course Materials

You will find it essential to prepare for each session (see calendar at the end). It will provide you with a
framework and will help focus on the key concepts for each class and ensure class contribution. To save you
some money, there will not be a single course pack, but you can purchase the materials directly (see below).
The key resources for the course are:

1. Canvas: Class slides and additional reading materials.

2. Harvard Business Publishing: Cases and pricing simulation.

Harvard Business Publishing (Cases and simulation)

We will use three cases (Chase Sapphire, Fitbit, Renova), a pricing simulation, and additional optional
reading materials (Brand Portfolio Strategy and a practice case “Polyphonic HMI”) in this class from
Harvard Business Publishing (please purchase here at $27.75).

Course Structure

Participation
 In-class: Engage thoughtfully in discussions verbally, in the poll questions, both in live classes
and industry deep dives.
 Exercises: Complete assigned exercises engagement activities in Canvas, the learning
management system (LMS). This will take the form of discussion threads or short exercises.
 Video or other media: Watch video micro-lectures and other media assigned in that week (“async
material”). If assigned, please complete these before attending your live class.

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Course grades
 Attendance (10%)
o As per program requirements, 10% of the grade is determined by attendance: you’ll receive 10%
with 2 or less absences. You’ll receive 0% with 3 or more absences. An absence may be excused
for severe health problems leading to the student’s infirm, for serious personal or family problems,
or for religious observances required by the student’s faith. Career- and conference-related activity
as well as non-emergency personal travel will not be excused. In cases of illness, personal or
family emergency, or religious observance, additional documentation may be required.
 Participation (10%)
o Participation will be a combination of thoughtful in-class contribution, engaging with guest
speakers, watching asynchronous material (micro-lectures, etc.), and participating in online
discussions and exercises.
 Cases (50%)
o You’ll work on two group cases (Chase, due August 27, 11:59 pm, and Fitbit, due September 5,
11:59 pm) and one individual case (Renova, due October 3, 11:59 pm). You’ll submit three cases
but only the two best ones will count for your grade.
o At the end of the course, you will be able to evaluate your group. This evaluation is designed to
give you an opportunity to share your team experience in this course with me. Please be honest
with your feedback, and I welcome any additional comments you would like to share. This is
confidential communication between you and me; specifically, that means that you may not ask
anyone else about how they respond or tell anyone how you respond. The group evaluation will
take place anonymously on Canvas and may affect the portion of your grade that is due to group
assignments. The deadline for this voluntary feedback is October 1, 11:50 pm. Your grade can go
up if your group evaluates you positively but may also go down if you get very negative feedback.
Be a good team member!
 Mid-term Exam (20%)
o The mid-term exam is take home and will be available on Canvas from September 6, 8 pm until
September 9, 8 am.
o In this timeframe, you can start whenever you want and once started will have 4 hours to finish the
exam. That is, if you start after September 9, 4 am, you’ll have a problem. You have to work on
your own and are not allowed to share any information about the exam with other students.
 Pricing Simulation (10%)
o As part of our sessions on pricing, you will compete with your classmates in a pricing simulation.
This is an individual assignment in which you act as a manager for a rental car company. Part of
your job is to develop a pricing strategy for the region in order to improve performance across
multiple dimensions over 12 rounds (each round representing a month). The pricing simulation
will run from September 18, 8 pm, until September 24, 8 pm.

Honor Code

It shall be the responsibility of every student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and
support the enforcement of the Honor Code. The Honor Code prohibits plagiarism, falsification or
misrepresentation of an academic assignment, unauthorized collaboration on academic work, and cheating
on examinations or other academic assignments. If you have questions about your responsibilities under the
Honor Code, please consult the document Instrument of Student Judicial Governance. If you have any
questions about whether a proposed action is permitted in this class, you should ask the instructor.

Honor Code Specific to this course

Since the class meets in multiple sections, the following rules will be implemented in line with the UNC
Kenan-Flagler Honor Code.

□ Issues pertaining to the discussions of cases should NOT be revealed to any students of other classes.

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□ Questions from any quizzes or exams should NOT be discussed with students from any other section
of the Marketing Core.
□ Cases and exams should NOT be discussed with any students who may have studied them in prior
years.
□ Any course material from prior years should NOT be referred to. If you – either individually or within
student clubs or groups – possess any such material, destroy them immediately.
□ In analyzing and writing up cases, you must NOT access the Internet, or any other source for
information. Focus solely on the information provided in the case.

According to the Honor Code regulations, I am required to investigate any reported or perceived violations
of the Honor Code.

Academic Dishonesty

It shall be the responsibility of every student enrolled at the University of North Carolina to support the
principles of academic integrity and to refrain from all forms of academic dishonesty including, but not
limited to, the following:

1. Unauthorized assistance or unauthorized collaboration in connection with academic work, whether or

not for a grade.
2. Cheating on examinations or other academic assignments, whether graded or otherwise, including but
not limited to the following:
a. Using unauthorized materials and methods (notes, books, electronic information, telephonic
or other forms of electronic communication, or other sources or methods);
b. Violating or subverting requirements governing administration of examinations or other
electronic assignments;
c. Compromising the security of examinations or academic assignments;
d. Representing another’s work as one’s own; or
e. Engaging in other actions that compromise the integrity of the grading process.

Attendance Policy

Regular class attendance in MBA core courses is a student obligation, and a student is responsible for all
the work, including tests and written work, of all class meetings (see “Course grades” above).

In case of inclement weather, such as hurricane or a snowstorm, we will hold class sessions at the
regularly-scheduled time on Zoom.

Use of Generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT)

Generative AI is extremely useful; however, it has the following limitations:

• how output is arrived at is not clear as the internal processes used to produce a particular output
within the generative AI cannot be determined.
• The output is based on existing data (often scraped from online sources) and may reflect biases
that should be acknowledged; it may also be inaccurate or entirely fabricated, even if it appears
reliable or factual.
• AI evokes a range of intellectual property concerns; sourcing and ownership of information is
unclear, and the status of AI output raises numerous questions—e.g., is output equivalent to a
published resource? What citational responsibilities are in place for various AI interactions?

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The following sections provide the philosophy and specific guidelines for using these tools and features
(increasingly, generative AI capabilities will be integrated with everyday applications). Unless I provide
other guidelines for an assignment or exam, you should follow these guidelines.

Use of generative AI in your coursework is based on the following principles:

1. AI should help you think. Not think for you.
Use these tools to give you ideas, perform research (in compliance with point 2 below), and
analyze problems. Do not use them to do your work for you, e.g., do not enter an assignment
question into ChatGPT (or other tools) and copy & paste the response as your answer.
2. Engage with AI Responsibly and Ethically: Engage with AI technologies responsibly, critically
evaluating AI-generated outputs and considering potential biases, limitations, and ethical
implications in your analysis and discussions. Utilize AI technologies ethically, respecting
privacy, confidentiality, and intellectual property rights. Ensure that the data used for AI
applications is obtained and shared responsibly and in compliance with relevant regulations.
3. You are 100% responsible for your final product.
You are the user. If the AI makes a mistake, and you use it, it’s your mistake. If you don’t know
whether a statement about any item in the output is true, then your responsibility is to research it.
If you cannot verify it as factual, you should delete it. You hold full responsibility for AI-
generated content as if you had produced the materials yourself. This means ideas must be
attributed, facts are true, and sources must be verified.
4. The use of AI must be open and documented.
The use of any AI in the creation of your work must be declared in your submission and
explained (see page toward the end of the case templates). Details on how to source your AI
usage are explained below.
5. These guidelines are in effect unless I give you specific guidelines for an assignment or
exam. It is your responsibility to ensure you are following the correct guidelines.
Data that are confidential or personal should not be entered into generative AI tools.
Putting confidential or personal data (e.g., your One Card details) into these tools exposes you and others
to the loss of important information. Therefore, do not do so.

In principle, you may submit material that contains AI-generated content, or is based on or derived from
it, but only if this use is properly documented. This may include drafting an outline, preparing
individual sections, combining elements, and removing redundant parts. Your documentation must make
the process transparent – the submission itself must meet the relevant standards of attribution and
validation.

Attribution: All ideas that are not originally your own have a source and that source must be attributed.
Please be aware that generative AI tends to invent sources. Not following this guideline may result in an
Honor Code violation and/or lower grades. You have a two-fold obligation with respect to attribution:
• (1) If a source is identified, find, and attribute the original source of the idea, identify the location of
the text within the source, and provide a working link to the location (if the source is available
online). If you are not able to locate the source, delete that content.
• (2) Document the process by explaining how you used generative AI in a work statement that will
accompany your submission of major projects in the class. As you submit a project, develop, and
include an appropriate version of the below statements:

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o “I attest that this project did not use AI at any stage in its development or in the creation of
any of its components.”
o “I attest that this project made use of AI in the following ways:”
You must then use the following form to document your usage.

Commitment to Running an Inclusive Classroom & Creating a Supportive Environment

In April 2018 the UNC Faculty voted to support the University of Chicago Principles on Free Speech. I
fully support free speech, freedom of inquiry and viewpoint diversity on campus.

UNC students have many different backgrounds, life experiences, and unique learning styles. I am
committed to running a classroom where all students feel that they: are part of the class, can relate to the
course material, belong among their classmates, are treated respectfully, and learn successfully. Please let
me know if you need anything from me to help you succeed.

In order to create a classroom environment that supports belonging and respectful, critical inquiry through
the free and respectful exchange of ideas, the following principles will guide our class and discussions:
• My goal is to design and teach a class that fosters talent in and perspective from all students.
• We can all differ on any number of perspectives, opinions, and conclusions.
• Constructive (and sometimes difficult) discussions can sharpen thinking, deepen understanding,
and reveal insights, and so these discussions are expected.
• Treat every class member with responsibility and respect at all times— in Canvas, in breakout
rooms, in small groups, even if—especially if—you come from different perspectives or disagree
with someone’s opinion.
• Assume positive intent by your classmates and myself. We may make mistakes. We are human.
• Also know that, even if you have positive intentions in what you say, you may negatively affect
others. Be open to hearing that something you said may have impacted someone negatively.
• Be thoughtful to current events, past experiences, and where others may be coming from.
• I will do my best to moderate the discussion, understand every position, and perhaps even
challenge it. If the discussion veers of course, I may have to pause. I will then address the
topic/issue later, either in class or offline.
• I will also do my best to address concerns students have about our discussions, either in class or,
if we don't have time, outside of class. Here again, please assume positive intent and the fact that
I am human and make mistakes.
• If you ever want to talk about something that I have said/done or someone else has said/done,
please reach out to me so we can talk.

Resources
 Course-related questions: Kristopher Keller, Kristopher_keller@[Link]
 Program-related questions: MBA Help Desk, ftmba@[Link]
 Technical support email: KFBS IT Service, itservice@[Link]

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Class Calendar and Details

Week Date Time Topic Room Live Async Deliverable

8/21 M Introduction and 3Cs 2250 x

8/23 W Customers: Understanding and Valuing Customers 2250 x
1
(CLV)
8/25 F 3:30 pm Optional Review Session: CLV Zoom x
8/27 SU 11:59pm Markets: Segmenting and Targeting (Conjoint x
Analysis)
8/27 SU 11:59pm Chase Case Write Up x
2 8/28 M Customers & Markets: Chase Case Discussion 2250 x

8/30 W Positioning & Branding (Perceptual Maps) 2250 x

9/1 F 3:30 pm Optional Review Session: Perceptual Maps & Zoom
Conjoint
9/5 T 11:59pm Fitbit Case Write Up x
9/6 W Positioning: Fitbit Case Discussion 2250 x
3
9/6 W 5 pm Optional Review Session: Mid-term Exam Zoom x
9/6 W – 9/9 S 8 am Mid-term Exam (take home) x
(see section “Course grades” above)

4 9/11 M Industry Deep Dive: Market Research: The Link 2250 x

Group
9/17 SU 11:59pm Product: Failure, Innovation, and Success (Break- x
Even Analysis)
9/18 M Industry Deep Dive: NASCAR Dave Alpern, 2250 x
President Joe Gibbs Racing
5 9/20 W Pricing: Good, Bad, and Ugly Strategies (Value- 2250 x
based pricing)
9/22 F 3:30 pm Optional Review Session: Break-Even Analysis & Zoom x
Feedback Mid-Term Exam
9/24 SU 8 pm Pricing Simulation (starts 9/18) x
9/25 M Pricing: Simulation De-Brief 2250 x
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9/27 W Industry Deep Dive: Direct Supply 2250 x
9/29 F 3:30 pm Optional Review Session: Value-based pricing Zoom x
10/2 M Promotion: Integrated Marketing Communication 2250 x
10/3 T 11:59pm Renova Case Write Up x
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10/4 W Integrative Case Discussion: Renova Toilet Paper and 2250 x
wrap up of class

Office hours: Fridays, 2 pm – 3 pm (August 25 – September 29, except on September 8 and 15 [mid-term exams]
in McColl 4512.
Happy hours: Thursdays, 5 pm – 6 pm (August 24 – September 28, except September 14 [mid-term exams]).
We’ll meet at the Carolina Casuals.
Optional Review Sessions are offered on Zoom only.