The domain of Business Marketing spans the range of activities in business-to-business marketing. Often also termed industrial marketing, business marketing is a key part of the marketing spectra in the work place. More than half of business graduates will spend a better part of their professional careers in this domain. While the basic principles of the marketing discipline still applies to business marketing there are significant differences with the traditional consumer marketing. The differences span the gamut from business customers and partners, to considerations of the firm structure itself. On the one hand, business customers tend to be more sophisticated and often engage with much greater involvement in the purchase process. Additionally, the purchase unit in a business transaction is rarely, if at all, a single person and involves multiple levels of stakeholders. Understanding this becomes a key determinant of a business marketer's effectiveness. Business partners also play a greater role in the ultimate delivery of goods and services – whether on the supply or the distribution side. An effective business marketer therefore needs to develop a set of skills and sensitivities to understand the partner incentives as also think through structural issues of contracts and relationships. Fewer customers tend to account for a larger part of the firm's business. These customers may then sell to yet other customers. To be effective in the business marketing domain, business marketing strategies often need to take into account not only the customer but also the customer's customers, therefore. Costs of failure with even one customer often reflect immediately in the P/L statement, making it a very high stakes game. Lastly, business marketers exercise perhaps the greatest influence on corporate strategy. This course will teach the students the basic institutional details and principles of Business Marketing. It will give the students tools and frameworks to think strategically in a fast changing Business Marketing landscape. The students will learn about best practices in Business Marketing as well as engage in practical learning experiences.
No Scheduled Class Meetings, January 15 - April 14 (Online)
Location:
ONLINE
Instructor:
Bradley Munro
Notes:
Riipen Project - You will gain access to your online course three days before the course start date. Please note registering after the course start date may delay course access and does not permit exceptions to coursework due dates, late textbook purchase
Instructors
Bradley Munro
Bradley Munro is the Principal at RS4 Marketing Group, a Toronto-based consulting firm. His previous positions include Vice President of Rogers Communications and General Manager of Bell Canada. He holds an M.B.A. from Queens University. Bradley has taught both in-class and online marketing courses at McMaster since 2008.
