MKTG101 Marketing Coursework Brief 2026 | Singapore Management University, Singapore

MKTG101 Marketing Coursework Brief

The course introduces Marketing as both a professional and an academic discipline.  As a profession, marketers identify consumer needs, determine which target markets to serve, and develop an optimal product, pricing, promotion, and distribution strategy that best satisfy consumer needs, relative to competition. These decisions—product, price, promotion, and distribution—flow from a rigorous analysis of the constantly evolving market environment and consumer needs (for example, the recent rise of ethical, sustainable, and socially responsible consumption). Marketers serve a vital role in the longterm success of all organizations, profit-oriented as well as not-for-profit, small as well as large. Academically, marketing is a multi-disciplinary field involving the concepts, theories, and methods used to understand exchanges and long-term relationships between buyers and sellers. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, videos, individual and group assignments, and case analyses, the course is designed to cover the fundamental concepts and principles of this challenging field.  It is a required course for marketing majors, which complements the theories and skills taught in many of the other majors at SMU.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Apply marketing decision-making skills. This is the primary objective of the course. They should leave the course with the ability to analyze the marketing and business environment in which an organization is operating (such as ethical and sustainability considerations), to determine the major opportunities and problems facing the organization (such as the role of social responsibility), to develop a creative set of alternative marketing strategies, to select the most appropriate one for the organization, and to convert the chosen strategic alternative into an actionable plan.
• Explain and apply some major marketing concepts, such as market segmentation, positioning, customer satisfaction, value creation, etc.
• Discuss institutional marketing knowledge, practice, and terminology. They should be able to converse intelligently with managers and understand the marketing situation in a variety of organizational environments (including considerations of ethics, sustainability, and social responsibility). Much of this will be achieved by the analyses of case studies.
• Create a marketing plan that can be put into practice.
• Identify ethical issues that underlie many marketing decisions.

Pre-Requisite/ Co-Requisite/ Mutually Exclusive Course(S)

Please refer to the Course Catalogue on OASIS for the most updated list of pre-requisites / co-requisites for this particular course.

Do note that if this course has a co-requisite, it means that the course has to be taken together with another course. Dropping one course during BOSS bidding would result in both courses being dropped at the same time.

While it is not a requisite, it would help for you to have an open, thinking, curious mind – and a keen interest in understanding how human beings act, think and feel!

Assessment Methods

Individual

Quizzes (2):  30% (18% weight for better quiz, 12% for worse quiz)

In-class exercises:   7%

Research Participation: 3%

Final Examination: 35%

Group

Project:   25% Total:              100%

Instructional Methods And Expectations

Blended approach: The course will be taught through a combination of face-face sessions and asynchronous video lessons (and accompanying exercises).  The ability to process numbers and to think analytically is increasingly becoming necessary to thrive in the Marketing discipline, both academically and professionally. Considering that not all students will be at the same starting point with respective to familiarity and comfort with thinking numerically, the videos will be designed for self-paced learning, and focused mainly on the quantitative aspects of the discipline. This learning will be reinforced with online exercises and in-class revisions. Consequently, some face-face class sessions will last for between 2 and 2.5 hours, with the expectation that a half hour or more will be spent before (or sometimes after) class through self-paced learning. There will also be non-graded e-quizzes and eLearn forum discussions for interactive learning and feedback from peers.

Quizzes. There will be two non–cumulative online quizzes consisting of multiple-choice questions and perhaps, some short answer questions.  Advice on preparation for these quizzes and sample questions will be provided before the first quiz. Quizzes will be conducted for all three sections together, (at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays of week 7 and 12) with make-up quizzes administered to students who have a clash of class at that time.

Case Quizzes

Case studies offer a wonderful opportunity to make the learning of Marketing come alive. In each assigned case, there will a protagonist who will be considering making an important marketing decision; the case will lay out the information available to him/her. Based on the information in the case, and the theory taught in class until that point in the term, the instructor will lead the class through a discussion centered on reinforcing the understanding of the key marketing concepts involved, while helping the protagonist consider the pros and cons of different ways of deciding on the marketing problem.  There will be three case discussions in class for you which you are required to be well prepared (on an individual basis). Your preparation for these discussions will be tested through a short quiz at the beginning of each case discussion.  These are pass or fail assignments (as part of the in-class activities in the course components), and you will generally get full credit (most students will) or no credit depending on the quality of responses to the key questions in the quiz.  The quiz will not be testing minute case fact details such as dates and other numerical information. They will be designed to test your understanding of the key issues of the case.  Discussion questions (different from the quiz questions, and to help you prepare) for the cases will be assigned are listed later in this document. As you read the case, you should try to answer the discussion questions – that is sufficient preparation for the case discussion and the quizzes.  Case quizzes will be administered in class (paper based, not online)

Research Participation.

The purpose of the research participation requirement is to supplement the material on marketing research methods by giving you direct exposure to academic research in marketing.  You will have to participate in three research studies through the course of the term to get credit for this component (or you can do very short alternative assignments to make up for them).  These studies are very easy to participate in – you just have to sign up for a study, and visit the behavioural lab in the SMU Concourse (opposite the food court) to complete the study by following instructions given by the researcher. The studies will typically involve reading information, watching a video, or listening to some audio sample and answering questions about your reaction as a consumer. Your sincere and conscientious participation in these studies are extremely valuable to SMU researchers, and will help build SMU’s research reputation. The final section of this course outline (pages 11-13) describes how you can sign up and participate in these studies.

Examination

There will be a cumulative final exam covering all the course content (other than the case studies and guest lectures). The exam (100 points) will consist of two parts.

1. A standardized (across all instructors) section with

• questions on a mini-case (provided only at the exam) worth 30 points.
• five short answer questions worth 4 points each for 20 points in all

2. A customized section with short and long answer questions designed by your instructor worth 50 points.

More details on the exam format and content, with sample questions from previous exams will be provided closer to the exam.

Project Groupings and group size

Groups of size 5 or 6 will be formed for you maximizing diversity within each group. Groupings will be announced in Week 2.

Group Project and Presentation

Details of the group project are described below.

Class Timings And Venue

G7: Tue 8:15 to 11:30 am LKCSB SR 3.7

G8: Tue 12:00 to 3:15 pm LKCSB SR 3.7

G9: Tue 3:30 to 6:45 pm LKCSB SR 3.7

Teaching Assistants/Junior Learning Facilitators

I will be happy to directly answer any questions on the course myself.  The best way to ask is either in class, or by posting on the eLearn LMS Discussion boards – there are three fora, one each for course content (unclear concepts, theories, methods discussed in class), operational logistics (about assignments, quiz format etc.) and non-course topics (LKCopitiam).  Every once in a while, I might ask you to contact the teaching assistant to give information, to submit assignments, etc.   But otherwise, please do not ask them course related questions – just ask me directly, through the discussion fora, so everyone benefits from our correspondence. (Please reserve email correspondence with me for just personal requests (e.g. outside engagements that clash, personal difficulties, etc.))

G7: Jelson Lim (jelson.lim.2022@business.smu.edu.sg)

G8: Jean Zang (jy.zang.2023@business.smu.edu.sg)

G9: Marcus Ng (marcusng.2022@business.smu.edu.sg)

Recommended Text And Readings

Principles of marketing / by Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Sridhar

Balasubramanian., Harlow :, Pearson, 2023, 9781292449333, ISBN

An e-flier with a discount code for the e-version of this text is available on page 10 of this document. You may also buy a hard copy of the book on Shopee.

The library has multiple simultaneous access available for the ebook – for two-hour check-out at a time.

The above textbook is recommended but you might be able to survive, even thrive in the course without purchasing the text or learning from an alternative introductory marketing textbook. All quizzes, the exam and assignments will be based on materials covered in class (some of which is in the recommended text and some not). It would help to read up on the prescribed chapter before class, or at least after class as a refresher.   And of course view and understand all the posted videos and other online content.

There will also be some case studies and possibly some additional readings required, which will be posted on eLearn. There will be no purchase required of these readings.

University Policies

Academic Integrity

All acts of academic dishonesty (including, but not limited to, plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, facilitation of acts of academic dishonesty by others, unauthorized possession of exam questions, or tampering with the academic work of other students) are serious offences.

All work (whether oral or written) submitted for purposes of assessment must be the student’s own work. Penalties for violation of the policy range from zero marks for the component assessment to expulsion, depending on the nature of the offense.

When in doubt, students should consult the instructors of the course. Details on the SMU

Code of Academic Integrity may be accessed at https://oasis.smu.edu.sg/Pages/DOSWKLSWC/UCSC.aspx.

Copyright Notice

Please note that all course materials are meant for personal use only, namely, for the purposes of teaching, studying and research. You are strictly not permitted to make copies of or print additional copies or distribute such copies of the course materials or any parts thereof, for commercial gain or exchange.

For the full copyright notice, please visit: https://smu.sg/Copyright-notice or OASIS ->

CAMPUS LIFE & EXCHANGE -> CONDUCT & DISCIPLINE -> UNIVERSITY COUNCIL OF STUDENT DISCIPLINE

Accessibility

SMU strives to make learning experiences accessible for all. If you anticipate or experience physical or academic barriers due to disability, please let me know immediately. You are also welcome to contact the university’s disability services team if you have questions or concerns about academic provisions: DSS@smu.edu.sg. Please be aware that the accessible tables in our seminar room should remain available for students who require them.

Digital Readiness for Teaching and Learning (DRTL)

As part of emergency preparedness, instructors may conduct lessons online via the Zoom platform during the term, to prepare students for online learning. During an actual emergency, students will be notified to access the Zoom platform for their online lessons. The class schedule will mirror the current face-to-face class timetable unless otherwise stated.

Assignments

Case Discussions.

Case analyses and discussions are a great way to consolidate your understanding of marketing theory and concepts, and also to practise managerial decision-making skills in a marketing context. The better prepared you are, the better will be your learning both for this course and as a marketer later on in life.

Ideally, every case needs to be discussed from the viewpoint of the central manager in the case and the critical decision(s) s/he is facing in the case. Defining the problem itself is a big part of analyzing these cases.  In almost any marketing case, the main decision almost always is “what is the marketing plan/strategy you recommend?” and this involves doing all the analysis you would typically do – a situational analysis of the 5 Cs, answering the consumer behaviour and market related questions listed below, analyzing all the quantitative and qualitative information in the case, understanding what business the company is in, segmenting the needs in different ways, picking target segments and then devising a marketing plan for each target segment.

Each case will give you different pieces of information and there will often be information missing. Remember that the manager is located at a specific point in time and location – you are not supposed to consider hindsight knowledge you might have acquired about the company/industry in the years since the case was written.

There really is no right or wrong answer to these cases, but there is a right or wrong, or complete or incomplete, or consistent or inconsistent way of analyzing and presenting your recommendations. For example, your pricing and promotion and distribution and product strategies all need to be consistent with each other and with the basic analysis of the situation you have presented.  And you need to make reasonable assumptions about missing information in the case.  Analyzing a case and presenting it is not easy. But then, marketing is not as easy as it looks either.

Read each case at least twice before starting to answer these questions.  Note down salient numerical information as they appear in the case – especially about market sizes, competition, prices, product features, budgets, and anything that you learn about how consumers behave in these categories in these markets. As you read the cases, try to also relate them in your mind to the concepts covered in class upto that point in the term.

Some generic questions to think about for almost any marketing case (in this course or others) are the following

What are the characteristics of the product category in behavioural terms?

 Who is/are the primary decision maker/s?

 How frequently is this category purchased?

 How complex is decision making in this category?

 Where is the decision being made? (in the store or at home)  Are user and purchaser the same?

 What does brand loyalty mean in this category? Do most households use just one brand at a time?

 How important is variety seeking?

 What attributes might be important to all consumers?

 What usage characteristics do consumers differ on? E.g. situation, attribute preferences, consumer needs

 How involving is the category to consumers?

 Is this a search, experience or credence category? (we’ll discuss these terms in class)

 Is this category consumed privately or publicly?

 How easily is information about this category available to consumers?  Does brand/product usage vary by situation in this category?

Market characteristics

 Is this a saturated market?

 What, if any, are potential areas for growth?

 Is the market differentiated in “real” or “perceptual” terms?

 What are the entry barriers?

 How concentrated is the market?

 What is the role of the channel in affecting preferences?

These should help you understand the specifics of the marketing situation in any case.

Discussion questions specific to each case which will be useful for you to plan answers to, for effective participation in class, are listed below. We will focus the discussion in class on some of these specific questions for each case.

The schedule of case discussions is as follows.  Each case discussion will be preceded by a short case-related quiz with 5-6 short answer questions to be answered in 10 minutes. These will be assessed on a pass/fail basis (and count towards the in-class exercises in the course grade components). Reading the case and attempting to answer the discussion questions below should be sufficient preparation for the case quiz. You will not be required to remember numerical case facts in the quiz.

Week 7: Singapore Management University: Marketing a Master of Business

Administration Programme

1. What accounts for the success of the SMU brand for the undergraduate business programme?
2. What are the key differences in the marketing challenges of the MBA and the undergraduate Bachelor of Business Administration programme?
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the SMU MBA programme, relative to its Singaporean competitors?
4. What are the implications for the MBA programme’s recruitment and admissions strategy given the intention to participate in rankings? What are the opportunities and threats presented by that entry?
5. How should SMU position its MBA programme? Explain your reasoning.

Week 11: Tiger Balm: The Future of a Heritage

1. Discuss the evolution of Tiger’s brand image over the years. What is Tiger Balm’s positioning today?
2. What state of the product life cycle is the brand Tiger Balm in? What about the product category – what stage is that in?
3. How should Tiger Balm be positioned in future?
4. How should Tiger Balm grow its business in the coming years?

Week 12:  Amara Hotels and Resorts

1. What business is a hotel in? What business is a business hotel in?
2. What are the key hotel stay characteristics of a business hotel patrons? What does a business traveler value in a business hotel?
3. How does Amara Singapore compare with its key competitors?
4. Why should Amara Hotels be concerned about sustainability issues?
5. When considering the key amenities and offerings in a typical city-based business hotel, what are the other ways in which sustainability investments can lead to long-term profitability?
6. Evaluate the CSR initiatives described in the case in terms of what business-related benefits they can bring to the Group in the long run. What other CSR initiatives can you think of that would have both a tangible impact on human lives, and could also help the hotel’s operations, branding and image, and competitiveness in the long run?
7. What are the long-term returns for a hotel chain when investing in sustainability initiatives and CSR operations?

These cases will be posted on the eLearn contents section for the respective week.

Group Project

The assignment: Marketing Plan for a Product for an Emerging Segment in Singapore

Select a well-defined emerging (in Singapore) target market, defined on a geographical, demographic, behavioural or psychographic base (or combination) and design a marketing plan for a company or brand (available in Singapore) targeting this segment.

Emerging refers to markets that are underserved currently by most of the products and brands in the market and where there might be potential for growth in the future.

Some examples of segments (and relevant product/service categories) that are emerging in Singapore:

• The elderly (e.g. food delivery service, cosmetics) o E,g, the current food delivery services book orders through phone apps which may be challenging for the elderly to navigate
• The single middle aged female professional (e.g. hotels, airlines, automobiles)
• The sustainability conscious consumer (e.g. personal care products, fashion)
• The Korean cultural fanatic (e.g. restaurants, fashion)
• Young couples without children (e.g. dance classes, housekeeping)
• Multi-generational families (three generations living together) (e.g. travel agencies, private car hire)

Please submit a one-page document (on eLearn on the section-specific page) outlining the chosen segment and a tentative description of the product/service by February 3 11:59 p.m. If you have multiple ideas, you may submit them all and I can help you choose. I will set up discussion slots for in-person meetings about your project later in the term. Every group must meet with me at least once before the term break. I just want to ensure that what you are attempting is feasible, well-defined and appropriate for this course.

Guidelines for conduct of the project

1. Selecting a target market and product.

The four bases of segmentation we will discuss in class are

Geographical (different parts of Singapore, or city versus heartlands)

Demographic (based on gender, age, occupation, income, religion, social class or a combination)

Behavioural (based on the product category e.g. heavy/medium/light user, or trier-non trier)

Psychographic (based on lifestyle and values, e.g. environmentally conscious, or conservative/liberal)

In the above example – young couples without children would be an example of a demographic segment that combines two bases (age and whether they have children or not).

Note that the segment can consist of individuals, or couples or households as the basic unit.

Brainstorm with your groupmates on various segments that you think are growing in Singapore, and products/services that are currently not serving them well.  If you have a few ideas, I could guide you on selection that’s suitable for this course project.

The product/service you choose could be an existing one in Singapore, or one that is available elsewhere in the world but not yet in Singapore, or one that is completely new to the world. Ideally, it should be a new offering of a current firm operating in Singapore. If there is no fit for an existing company, then the product could be the first offering of a start-up.

Note that Business-to-Business (B2B) segments, while alright for this course, are extremely difficult to research and make marketing plans for unless you have connections within the industry.  So a focus on recyclable disposable containers focused on restaurant owners may be a good idea, the customers in that case would be restaurant owners who might be difficult to research. It is best to work on Business-toConsumer (B2C) segments, where the market for the product/service is ordinary residents of Singapore seeking to fulfil their own needs.

2. Developing the Marketing plan.

a. Attempt to estimate the size of this market in terms of number of consumers, and if it would be worthwhile breaking up the segment into more sub parts. g. young Singaporean couples and young expat couples.

b. Take on the role of a current brand/firm that might find this segment attractive.

c. Look up the various library and internet resources (e.g. Factiva, Passport) to learn more about this segment, and about their preferences, and product categories, and current efforts of marketers to engage them. There might be Facebook groups, blogs, Youtube channels, and other social media (e.g. Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn) channels too related to this segment. Websites and social media pages of various competitors may also have information on what the companies are doing right now to address the needs of this segment.

d. Do a survey or in-depth interviews or a focus group of consumers in this category. Aim for a sample of at least 50 if doing a survey, or a focus group of 8 participants, or 10 indepth interviews. I will upload templates for these research efforts and will help you with survey design.

e. Brainstorm about the combination of product characteristics, promotional methods, pricing system and distribution mechanisms that will constitute the marketing plan. As the course progresses, you will learn the elements of the different parts of the marketing mix. So you should meet as a group, periodically, to brainstorm on these aspects of your marketing plan, and then finally see how to combine them into an integrated whole.

f. On a best effort basis, estimate the costs of the promotional campaign for the initial year.

3. Presenting the Marketing plan.

The presentation will be done online (through an unlisted streaming video on Youtube, due by Sunday, April 5 11:59 p.m. A one-page managerial summary of the marketing plan is also due by that deadline, as is a summary of AI use (see below).  I will go over the structure of this presentation and write up later this term.

On Tuesday, April 7 (week 13), I will have an in-person conversation in class, with each group, for an interactive discussion of your project. You will have to only attend the 10-15 time slot for your group that day.  You will also be required to give feedback and ask questions (online on an eLearn forum) for three other groups in your class.  And then each group will respond to the feedback from the three groups.

Rubrics.

There will be peer evaluations conducted at the end of the term, and where there is consistent feedback from multiple members of the group about sub-par or dysfunctional behaviour of one or more members, those students will have some percentage of the overall score deducted (in the past deductions have varied from 5% to 50%). In the worst case, some groups have told me that they would like to “eject” someone from the group, and that that person has to do a solo project (with a maximum score of 20, as you have created an additional grading burden through your negligence). It is your responsibility to be responsive to the group’s communications, and to report back in a timely fashion about tasks assigned to you. Also, try to be an active contributor to the discussions, by doing some research and thinking by yourself before you attend group meetings. There is a lot of scope for interesting, even exciting and intellectually challenging discussions in coming up with a marketing plan as a team. The more you participate, the more you will learn about the Marketing discipline as well as about the art of teamwork.

Note that peer evaluations are affected tremendously by communication. As you will experience later in working life, it is not sufficient to just do the work; you must also communicate what you are doing and interact with others in the team, so that your presence and work is “felt” by the group.

Policy on Use of AI tools for Group Project

Usage of AI is allowed, indeed encouraged for

1. brainstorming for ideas on underserved segments and products/services for these segments
2. ascertaining costs of production, distribution, and of communication programs
3. graphic design for product, packaging, service outlet, promotions (static and animated/video ads)
4. creating presentation slides

Usage of AI is not allowed for:

1. Developing the marketing plan
2. Voice over for the presentation
3. Writing the managerial summary

Please submit a one-page (600 word limit) description of (1) how you used AI tools in this project (specifying which tools you used for which stages) (2) your evaluation of the AI tools used. This write-up is due on Sunday, April 5, by 11:59 p.m. If you did not use AI tools at all, please submit a one-line write-up saying so.