MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (MDI), GURGAON

PGPM (2018-20) Term-V

Course: BUSINESS MARKETING

Instructor: Prof. Vibhava Srivastava

INTRODUCTION

This is a course on Business to Business (B2B) Marketing and deals with issues pertaining to
marketing of products and services to various types of organizational customers, as distinct from
individual or household consumers. Organizational customers are very different in many respects
– they are usually more knowledgeable, more resourceful, more powerful and more demanding.
Markets composed of such customers throw up different kind of challenges, be it in
understanding buyer behavior, segmenting markets, forming relationships with customers,
organizing the selling function or managing pricing. But a business marketer’s challenges are not
confined only to external customers; they also have to perform a very strong role on many
internal challenges on organizational processes, structures, people competencies and
relationships without which their effectiveness with their external customers is seriously
affected. It is for such reasons that there are many instances where successful B2C firms have
found it difficult to become successful in B2B marketplace, and vice versa.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The objective of the course is to help the student develop an understanding about the differences
in consumer marketing and business marketing, how the core marketing concepts and tools need
to be applied and practiced very differently for success in business or industrial markets. Another
objective of the course is to help the student to appreciate the role of a business marketer, how it
is distinct from a consumer products marketer and what kind of skills he or she requires for
playing this role effectively. The course aims to cover both the operational as well as strategic
issues a Business Marketer is faced with. Overall, the student should develop an understanding
about all aspects of marketing to organizational customers and be able to formulate as well as
implement business marketing strategies for success in B2B marketplace.

PEDAGOGY

The course shall be covered predominantly through case studies, theoretical and practical
discussions and projects. Students would have to form groups to work on various assignments.
They are required to study the background readings and analyze the case before the session in
which a case is scheduled. Any group would be picked up randomly to present the case analysis.
All the groups have to submit a hard copy of their PPTs (Handouts with four readable slides,
printed both sides) before start of the session. The first slide must have correct group number
and names & roll numbers of all group members. Groups who do not get any presentation
opportunity would be evaluated on any selected case PPTs submitted during the course.
Plagiarism of any kind would invite very serious consequences.

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There will be one term-long group project. Students will be marked on the creative approach,
depth of research and presentation. The periodic unannounced quizzes based on the readings and
cases will be administered to check on the level of preparedness. Any member of a group may
be asked to present Case Analysis or the Project on behalf of the group, so all group
members need to be fully prepared.

Group Project: Guidelines

• Step 1: The premise of the project should be Marketing function of a B2B firm (point
of reference) that should be chosen by respective group. It can be Industrial
supplier/OEM/IT Service Provider/Institutional Supplier/Intermediaries etc.
• Step 2: Explore the scenario which seems problematic for the said firm (one can refer
to chronology of events with respect to the firm)
– Identify symptoms
– Suggest the PROBLEM and draw the PROBLEM STATEMENT
• Step 3: Carry out the study:
– Data collection: Primary and/or Secondary
– Data analysis: Quantitative and/or Qualitative
• Step 4: Develop alternatives
– Mapping with concepts/theories/tools
– Pros and Cons
• Step 5: Recommend the appropriate alternative(s); and
• Step 6: Suggest the respective course of action to implement

Project Report (a suggestive outline is given below)

• Firm: Situation Analysis (5C’s Analysis)

- Context
- Company
- Competitor
- Customer
- Collaborator/Complementer
• Problem: Symptoms
• Problem Statement
• Data Set (Primary and/or Secondary)
• Analysis (Quantitative and/or Qualitative)
• Alternatives: Pros and Cons
• Recommendations and course of action to implement the same
• Bibliography

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The schedule for the Project submissions are as under, and delays would result in deduction of
marks:
1. Submission of group members names Beginning of 2nd Session
2. One page report giving Company name, project title, Beginning of 4th Session
scope & methodology
3. Project Report (Preliminary): It should comprise of Beginning of 10th Session
Situation Analysis, Problem Symptoms and Problem
Statement.
4. Project Report (Final) One day before the 18th session

EVALUATION PLAN

Sr. No. Name of Component Number Weightage assigned

1 Quizzes 4 20%
2 Projects 1 20%
3 Mid-Term Examination 1 20%
4 End-Term Examination 1 30%
5 Case analysis and participation 10%
Total Weightage Assigned 100%

TEXT BOOK

B2B Marketing: A South-Asian Perspective by Sharma Dheeraj, Michael D. Hutt and Thomas
W. Speh (11th edition), Cengage Learning India.

REFERENCE BOOKS

1. Anderson, J. C., Narus, J. A., Narayandas, D. & Seshadri, D. V. R. (2011), Business

Market Management (B2B), Pearson Education: India.
2. Dwyer, F. R. & Tanner, J. F. (2013), Business Marketing, Tata McGraw Hill: India.
3. Sarin, S. (2013). Business Marketing, Tata McGraw Hill: India.
4. Reeder, R. R., Brierty, E. G. & Reeder, B. H. (1991), Industrial Marketing, PHI: India.
5. Vitale, R., Giglierano, J., & Waldemar, P. (2011). Business to Business Marketing:
Analysis and Practice, Pearson Education: India, 1st edition.

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COURSE PLAN

Session Topic Reading Materials

Session 1-2 Business Marketing Perspective Chapter 1
Understanding Organizational Chapter 2
Session 3-4
Buying and Buyer Behaviour Case
Linking Organizational Buyer Chapter 4
Session 5 Behaviour with Marketing How to segment industrial markets.
Strategy Case
Chapter 7 & 8
Session 6 Managing Product Lines Customer value propositions in business markets.
Case
Chapter 9
Augmenting Product through
Session 7 Make sure your customers keep coming back.
Service
Case
Session 8 B2B Branding Case
Chapter 12
Session 9-10 Pricing Issues in B2B Markets
Case
Chapter 14
B2B Selling & Sales Industrial selling: beyond price and persistence.
Session 11
Management Teamwork for Today’s Selling.
Case
Chapter 10
Industrial Distributors – When, Who and How?
B2B Distribution Channel
Session 12 Turn industrial distributors into partners.
Management
Rechanneling Sales.
Case
Session 13 Key Account Management Case
Chapter 13
Session 14-15 IMC for B2B Markets
Case
B2B Marketing: Organization,
Chapter 1 and 5
Roles & Relationships:
Session 16 Can Marketing and Manufacturing Coexist?
Managing Internal and External
Case
Linkages
Making sense of emerging market structures in
Session 17 B2B E-commerce Business to Business E-Commerce.
Case
Chapter 5
Session 18 B2B Marketing Strategy
Case
Session 19-20 Group Project Presentations
* Case to be given prior to the respective session.

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 MDI GURGAON
ASSURANCE OF LEARNING
ELECTIVE COURSE: Business Marketing
TERM 5 – Sept 2019 (PGPM)
Among others, this course seeks to impart the following learning goal(s) and associated learning outcomes.
Students’ performance on these learning goals and demonstration of the associated outcomes will be specifically
assessed through the mid-term and end-term examinations.
Learning Goal Learning Outcomes
LG3: Analytical LO1: Be able to identify symptoms
and Integrative and key factors of a business
Thinking problem. Clearly define a business
problem using key facts.
LO2: Be able to critically analyze
the identified business problem using
analytical techniques, models, or
frameworks in order to integrate
different aspects of business.
LO3: Be able to propose potential
alternative solutions, evaluate them
and recommend an appropriate
solution
LG5: Functional LO1: Be able to demonstrate
Competency functional competency in identifying
and analyzing business problems and
recommending appropriate solutions.
Definition of satisfactory performance
Identify adequately the symptoms and key
factors of the business problem, and therefore
appropriately define the business problem
using the key facts.
Be able to analyze the defined business
problem using appropriate analytical
technique(s), model(s) or framework(s) and
adequately integrate the analysis.
Be able to propose at least two potential
alternative solutions, evaluate them and
provide self recommendation
Able to demonstrate adequate understanding
of the fundamental frameworks/concepts/
competencies of the functional area and its
application on overall management decision
making.