Retail Management

Marketng 337
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Semester I, 2004-2005

TR, 12:30-1:45, Dr. Marilyn Lavin

2:15:3:30 Office: 4026 Carlson
Phone: 472-4746
E-mail: lavinm@mail.uww.edu
Office hours: T,TR, 11-12,
3:30-5
E-hours: MWF, 9-10 am*

*Please Note: Unless other University business demands my attention, I will

respond to emails MWF from 9 to 10 am. These times I will guarantee. However, I
do check my email regularly every day, and I will also respond in a timely manner to
emails received on other days and other times. When emailing me, do not use
your hotmail account or route your UWW account through hotmail. My off-
campus ISP often bounces back my responses to hotmail—sometimes days after I
have sent responses! For this reason, I will not respond to hotmail. Activate (or
clean out) your UWW account and use that!!! Also be sure to use a subject line that
indicates this is a legitimate message. Spam is becoming an overwhelming
problem, and the UWW filters don’t seem up to the challenge. I trash all messages
that don’t have a reasonable subject line.

Course content: Retail Management will address the particular issues

related to marketing to ultimate consumers. Lecture-discussions and team
presentations will consider such general problems as merchandise management,
store location, pricing policies, and store layout. In addition, the development of
various retail strategies will be examined. Particular attention will be given to target
market identification, organizational strengths and weaknesses, ethical standards
and practices, the place of technology in current retail operations, and the
increasing importance of global efforts. Changes in the volatile contemporary retail
industry – including the impact of e-commerce – will also be closely monitored
during the semester.
The course serves to provide students interested in a retail career with the
necessary background to interview successfully for an entry-level management
position in the field. It offers other students a means of understanding issues
related to the critical marketing function of distribution. All students should
improve their abilities to use mathematical analysis as an aid to business decision-
making, to organize disparate data to solve unique problems, and to work with a
team to develop a major presentation.

Goals and Goal Assessment:

 1. Improved writing skills. This will be assessed through the essay
component of the 2 mid-terms and final exam. Note the explanation
given below under “exams.”

2. Improved oral communication skills. This will be assessed by a critique of

your participation in the group presentation outlined below.

3. Improved critical thinking skills. This will be assessed by your ability to

identify and integrate relevant information when writing the essays that
are major components of the two mid-terms and final exam.

4. Improved ethical awareness. Essay and/or fill-in-the-blanks questions will

assess your understanding of such issues as sweatshop sourcing, the
increasing impact of global sourcing on U.S. workers, retail efforts in
“inner city” areas, and efforts to appeal to such markets as pre-teens.

5. Exposure to “real-life” retailing. This will be assessed by your ability to

develop an appropriate class presentation following your visits to assigned
retailers. It will also be assessed by essay and fill-in-the-blanks questions
that require you to integrate information from a large number of Wall
Street Journal articles.

6. Improved international and cross-cultural awareness. Essay and/or fill-in-

the-blank questions will assess your knowledge of U.S. retail efforts
abroad and of foreign retailers’ operations in the U.S. Theses questions
will also assess your ability to identify retail strategies targeted at
racial/minority consumers in the U.S.

Requirements:

All students are expected to read the assigned chapters prior to class, and to
be informed about current retail issues as reported in the Wall Street Journal. All or
a portion of many classes will be devoted to a discussion of retail-related articles
appearing in the WSJ. The class also will be divided into six groups, each of which
will prepare a presentation related to a contemporary retail strategy.

Grading:
First Exam 20%
Second Exam 20%
Oral Presentation 20%
WSJ Participation 15%
Presentation Attendance 5%
Final Exam 20%

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Exams: All exams will include fill-in-the-blank answers, essay questions, and retail
math problems. Because a class period is not a reasonable time to complete such a
test, the essay component will be take-home. The fill-in-the blacks and math
problems will be done during the scheduled exam period. The essays related to the
two mid-terms are due during the scheduled exam periods; the essay related to the
final exam is due on Thursday, Dec. 9.
Essay questions that are a part of each exam will be distributed to students
at least one week before the scheduled test dates. Students are encouraged to
discuss these questions with other class members and to exchange information as
they develop their answers. They may also work with ONE OR TWO other students
in writing the essay.
The essays are important learning experiences that relate directly to the
Marketing Department’s goal of offering “unstructured problems” to its students—in
other words, there are no “right” answers easily available in the textbook. In
developing your answers, you must think through the question and integrate data
from a variety of sources. These exam questions are similar to issues confronted by
retail managers as they make strategic decisions; they are not meant to be “cruel
and unusual punishment” imposed by the instructor.
The writing as well as content of the essays is important. Consequently, you
should consider these assignments an opportunity to improve your basic writing
skills. To this end, you must word process your essays in a version of Word that
provides both spell and grammar checks (the red and green under linings.) You
will need to submit both a printed copy of your essay and an email version —save
your essay in Word and send it as an attachment. The latter should be sent to my
grad assistant. She will count the under linings (obviously omitting red under
linings that are idiosyncratic spellings of retail names, etc.) For every three under
linings she reports, I will deduct one point from your essay grade. Please Note:
Do not cancel spell and grammar checks and then email a “clean” copy of
your essay – one that does not contain under linings. I will be reading
your essays. If I find spelling/grammatical errors on your printed copy,
but the grad assistant reports no under linings, I will deduct 15 points
from your 35-point essay. This is a harsh penalty, but you must become a
competent writer. If you can’t figure out how to correct a problem that
Word identifies, you should consult me.

Grading: Grades will be curved. Anyone obtaining a total score of 90 or better

is guaranteed an "A". Depending on the distribution of class scores, however, some
totals below 90 may also receive an “A” grade. The same rationale applies to other
grades. For this reason, to be able to assess "where you stand" in the class, you
should keep track of your numeric scores and the grade distribution for the rest of
the class (a distribution will be provided when exams and projects are returned).

Oral presentation: All team members should be involved in the group presenta-
tion. Each member will evaluate the contribution of his or her colleagues, and this
information will be taken into account in assigning individual student grades.
Please note, however, that this is a group project; the overall outcome as well as
individual achievements will be taken into account. If any members of a particular

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group are failing to do their "fair share," contact the instructor at once. She will
assume the responsibility for scheduling group meetings and monitoring laggards.
Each presentation should take one class period. Under no circumstances
should the presentation extend beyond that time.
Before a group begins its work on its presentation, all members
should meet with the instructor to obtain direction on the project.
Preparation for the presentation should include extensive research that takes
account of retail analysts’ assessments of operations. The most accessible source
of such materials is ProQuest, or one of the other on-line indices to major
newspapers and periodicals. You will also find useful information, including annual
reports and publicity releases, on retailers’ web sites. Do not, however, use
materials taken from web sites as the sole source of your presentation --
they present the organizations in their best light and are not unbiased sources.
All members of Groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 must together visit each of the
retailers that will be considered in the respective presentations. Group members
should take photographs of the stores. Use a camera with a flash and high speed
film or a digital camera with flash. (You will need to scan your photos if you elect
the former option.) The photos must be incorporated into your PowerPoint
presentation. You should also try to obtain a store tour or an interview with the
store’s manager. It is the group's responsibility to gain permission for store visits
and for photographing. The retail organizations will be cooperative, but you must
be persistent in your efforts to gain access. Members of group six will not have to
do store visits; they must, however, have slides or other visual materials to support
their presentations. A catalog page or web site page is the equivalent of a place in
the store; the class will need to know how merchandise is displayed, described,
priced, etc. at those non-store locations.
A NOTE OF WARNING: The retailers you will be considering maintain web
sites on the Internet. You may find annual reports and other useful information at
those locations. You must, however, recognize that the retailers use their web sites
for public relations purposes. Do not uncritically accept information taken from a
web site. Instead, compare information taken from the site with that reported by
retail analysts in the business press (the articles you will find using ProQuest or one
of the other on-line indices or in WSJ articles that appear during the semester.)
At the time of the presentation, each team member must submit to the
Instructor five articles, downloaded from an on-line data base, (not from the
retailer’s web site) that are pertinent to the topic he or she discussed. The
material in each article that was incorporated into the presentation must be
highlighted on the submitted copies. Please be certain to staple the copies together
and put your name at the top of the first page.
Grading of the presentation will equally take account of content and effort to
communicate that information to the class. Do not read material at your audience.
This practice bores your audience, and you need to break the habit before you go
into the “Real World.” Also do not “hog” time. Each member should have equal
opportunity to present his/her materials. Students who consume excessive
amounts of the team’s time will be penalized.
The classroom is equipped with a computer projection system. It is expected
that each group will use Power Point or comparable software to prepare slides to be

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used in the presentation. Keep in mind, however, that the slides and any handouts
you may provide the class should facilitate the understanding of your audience.
They should not replicate the information that is imparted by the respective
speakers. The appropriateness of the use of presentation software and other visual
aids will be considered in determining the grade for this exercise.
Grading of Presentation: Content (includes thoroughness of research,
integration and organization of information as well as use of
photographs/PowerPoint ) 10 points
Oral communication: (includes willingness to “talk to
class,” absence of reading from PowerPoint slides, notes, etc., ease with which class
can follow your discussion)
7 points
Cooperation with team members (includes leadership and
willingness to assist fellow team members)
3 points

Please Note: Any team member who does not accompany his or her team
on the store visits will automatically forfeit 50 percent of the project
grade. There will be no exceptions to this rule. Retailing happens in
stores. It is important that you become familiar with a variety of
operations. Also you must visit together, so that all team members have a
common base of knowledge upon which to structure the presentation.

Participation Grade: Please note that 15 percent of the total course grade is
dependent upon your participation in class discussion of the Wall Street Journal
articles. This is a significant proportion of the grade and will affect your final
outcome either positively or negatively. During the days set aside for WSJ
discussions, the instruction will record student participation. Each student should
participate regularly. Although student input should be relevant, the instructor
recognizes that much of the material contained in the WSJ materials may be new to
the class. Consequently, quantity rather than the strict quality of participation will
count toward the participation grade.

Attendance Grade: You must be present during team presentations. The team
needs the experience of speaking before a large group, and you will need the
information that is presented to complete class exams successfully. (Information
from the presentations will be tested with the fill-in-the-blank questions and take-
home essays.) Attendance will be taken on presentation days, and attendance will
count toward 5 percent of the final grade. .

Attendance Policy: Class lectures, discussions, and group presentations will

contain much information that is beyond the scope of the class text. All of this
material is testable. Consequently, it is strongly advised that you attend class on a
regular basis. Except for days of team presentations, however, attendance in this
class will not be taken, and attendance per se will not be considered a component
of the final grade.

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Assigned Readings:

Levy and Weitz, Retailing Management. 5th edition, 2001. Cited hereafter as
Text.
Wall Street Journal. All enrolled students are required to subscribe to this
publication, or to have available an alternate means of obtaining the retail-related
articles that will be regularly discussed in class and which will be tested on the
various exams.

The University of Wisconsin—Whitewater is dedicated to a safe, supportive and non-

discriminatory learning environment. It is the responsibility of all undergraduate
and graduate students to familiarize themselves with University policies regarding
Special Accommodations, Academic Misconduct, Religious Beliefs Accommodation,
Discrimination and Absence for University Sponsored Events. For details please
refer to the Undergraduate and Graduate Timetables; the “Rights and
Responsibilities” section of the Undergraduate Bulletin; the Academic Requirements
and Policies and the Facilities and Services sections of the Graduate Bulletin; and
the “Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures (UWS Chapter 14); and the “Student
Nonacademic Disciplinary Procedures” (UWS Chapter 17).

The following is the anticipated schedule of assignments and class activities. Every
effort will be made to adhere to this schedule. Unforeseen events, however, may
force some adjustment in the calendar of activities.
Schedule of Assignments

Sept. 2 Organizational Meeting

Sept. 7 Careers in Retailing

Text, Appendix 1A, pp. 25-29

Sept. 9 Contemporary Retail Issues

Lee Scott’s presentation to National Retail Federation
1/04
Text, Chapters 1 and 2

Sept. 14 The Retail Customer: Seniors, Kids, and Consumers in China

Text, Chapter 4

Sept. 16 Retailers and Racial/Ethnic Minority Markets in the U.S.

“Inner City” Retailing

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Sept. 21 Discussion of WSJ articles

Sept. 23 Retail Market Strategy

Text, Chapter 5

Sept. 28 Discussion of WSJ article

Sept. 30-Oct.5 Financial Strategy

Text, Chapter 6

Oct. 7 Discussion of WSJ articles

Oct. 12 Exam 1 (fill-in-blank and math problems in class; take-

home essay due)

Oct. 14 Group Presentation and Discussion

Topic: Category Killers
PetsSmart
Ikea
David’s Bridal
Home Depot

Oct. 19 Return Exams

Discussion of WSJ articles

Oct. 21 Information Systems and Supply Chain Management

Text, Chapter 10

Oct. 26 The Saks Distribution Center

Discussion of WSJ articles

Oct. 28 Group Presentation and Discussion

Topic: Grocery Stores
Aldi
Wal-Mart Supercenter or Sam’s
Sentry—Hilldale in Madison
Whole Foods

Nov. 2 Planning Merchandise Assortments

Text, Chapter 12
Discussion of WSJ articles

Nov. 4 Buying Systems

Text, Chapter 13

Nov. 9 Group Presentation and Discussion

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 Topic: High Service Retailers
Nordstrom's—N. Michigan Ave.
Lord & Taylor—N. Michigan Ave.
Neiman Marcus —N. Michigan Ave.
Marshall Field's --Flagship, The Loop

Nov. 11 Exam 2 (fill-in-the-blanks and math problems in class;

take-home essay due)

Nov. 16 Ethical Issues in Retailing: Sweatshops and Global

Sourcing
Discussion of WSJ articles, if time

Nov. 18 Return of exams

Discussion of WSJ articles

Nov. 23 Group Presentation and Discussion

Topic: Discounters
Wal-Mart
Target
Kohls
Sears

Nov. 25 Happy Thanksgiving!

Nov. 30 Pricing

Dec. 2 Group Presentation and Discussion

Topic: Retailtainment
Build a Bear Workshop (Navy Pier)
Toys “R” Us (large location)
Borders (N. Michigan Ave.)
American Girl Place

Dec. 7 Group Presentation and Discussion

Topic: Multi-channel Retailers
Barnes and Noble
QVC
Lands’ End
The Gap

Dec. 9 International Retailing

Discussion of WSJ articles
TAKE-HOME ESSAY DUE

Dec. 14 Final Exam (fill-in-blanks and math problems)

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Dec. 21 Return of Exams
Sec. 1 – 1 p.m.; Sec. 2 – 10 a.m.