Marketing Undergraduate Major (BA, BS, HBA, HBS)

The marketing curriculum provides students with technical marketing skills and leadership training. Opportunities exist for marketing graduates in a wide variety of organizations, including manufacturing firms, service firms, retailers, wholesalers, advertising agencies, the communications media and government agencies. Career options include sales, advertising, retailing, brand management, logistics management, market research, purchasing management and more. The heart of marketing is matching supply and demand in a complex, advanced economy. Marketing consists of a sequence of activities: identifying customer needs, developing goods and services to satisfy those needs, communicating information about products to potential customers, and distributing the products to customers. In small firms, a few people must carry out all the marketing functions or activities. Large corporations, on the other hand, tend to hire people with specific potential or skills to fill more specialized job requirements. Marketing major requirements are divided into two parts. The first part (the pre-Marketing major), usually taken in the first two years, must be completed before formal admission into the Marketing major. The second part (Professional School) is usually taken in the last two years after formal admission into the Marketing major. International Business option The International Business option prepares students for positions in organizations engaged in international trade. Students study the economic, political, geographical, and socio-cultural factors that impact business across national boundaries. Areas of greatest opportunity for overseas assignments are with service organizations such as banks, consulting firms and accounting firms; with import/export firms; with governmental organizations; and in marketing and financial management areas of multinational firms. A career in international business can lead to exciting and rewarding opportunities abroad. Most multinational business firms, however, hire new employees first for domestic assignments in order to provide them with a thorough knowledge of the firm, its products, and its policies, or for specific assignments in one of the functional areas of the business, before providing overseas opportunities. Marketing Career Options Advertising Retailing Brand Management Logistics Management Marketing Research Sales Marketing - Learning Goals and Objectives Understand the place and contribution of marketing to the business enterprise. Define primary and secondary sources of information; give examples of methods used to collect primary data; give examples of sources for secondary data; compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of both types of data Describe major bases for segmenting consumer and business markets; define and be able to apply the three steps of target marketing: market segmentation, target marketing, and market positioning; understand how different situations in the competitive environment will affect choices in target marketing Describe the major types of consumer buying behavior, the stages in the buyer decision process and completely outline the components of the marketing mix; identify how the firms marketing strategy and marketing mix must evolve and adapt to match consumer behavior and perceptions of the product (e.g., classification of products and services, brand image, price and value), the stage in the product life cycle and the competitive environment; summarize the importance of measuring and managing return on marketing