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BU.460.710.XX – Business-to-Business Marketing – Instructor Name – Page 1 of 7
Business-to-Business Marketing
2 Credits
BU.460.710.XX
[NOTE: Each section must have a separate syllabus.]
[Day & Time / ex: Monday, 6pm-9pm]
[Start & End Dates / ex: 3/24/15-5/12/15]
[Semester / ex: Fall 2016]
[Location / ex: Washington, DC]
Instructor
[Full Name]
Contact Information
[Email Address]
[Phone Number, (###) ###-#### (Optional)]
Office Hours
[Please specify the day and time of the 2 hours that will be dedicated to office hours each week. For evening classes,
faculty may wish to hold their office hours by phone or email. While faculty are permitted to state “and by appointment,”
office hours should not be held exclusively by appointment.]
Required Text(s) & Learning Materials
The textbook for this course is: Michael D. Hutt and Thomas W. Speh (2012), Business Marketing Management, (11th
edition), Publisher: Cengage Learning.
Case studies and articles required for this course are listed below and must be purchased by all students directly from
Harvard Business School Publishing. A coursepack with electronic copies of all cases and articles has been created and
can be accessed via the following link after registration: [HBS web link]
ID
Title
Session
W12785
Boise Automation Canada Ltd.: The Lost Order at Northern Paper
Class 1
913505
PV Technologies, Inc.: Were They Asleep at the Switch?
Class 2
CMR527
Customer Centric Leadership: How to Manage Strategic Customers as
Assets in B2B Markets
Class 2
9507014
Lenovo: Building a Global Brand
Class 3
UV5142
Heinz Ketchup: Pricing the Product Line
Making stickK Stick: The Business of Behavioral Economics
Class 4
KEL579
Cisco Systems: Launching the ASR 1000 Series Router Using Social
Media Marketing
Class 5
HKU395
Shanghai General Motors: The Rise of a Late-comer
Class 6
9514019
Class 5
Students are strongly advised to purchase required materials in advance of the first class. All other course materials
and resources (case questions, assignments, etc.) will be posted on the school’s Blackboard site.
Course Description
This course provides a managerial introduction to the strategic and tactical aspects of business marketing decisions.
Students examine the strategic concepts and tools that guide market selection, the development of a customer value
proposition, and successful competitive differentiation in contemporary business markets. They also study how this
strategic analysis serves as the integrating theme for creating a firm’s B2B marketing programs and managing strategic
customers as assets. A mixture of lectures, discussions, cases, and readings are used to examine how product and service
decisions are designed to deliver the B2B value proposition, how pricing captures customer value, how value is
BU.460.710.XX – Business-to-Business Marketing – Instructor Name – Page 2 of 7
communicated to and among customers, and how marketing channels are used to make this value accessible to target
customers. Students will compare and contrast how the strategic and tactical processes of developing and managing
value-generating relationships differ between B2B and B2C markets.
Prerequisite(s)
None
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Gain a managerial perspective on the marketing function in firms that target business and government customers
in both domestic and global contexts;
2. Learn practical concepts and tools for analyzing market opportunities and company capabilities as the basis for
market selection, developing customer value propositions, and competitive differentiation in contemporary
business markets;
3. Understand the process by which strategic market analysis guides the development of B2B marketing programs
that integrate product pricing, communications, and channel decisions;
4. Develop a managerial orientation to implementing and controlling B2B marketing programs and managing
alliance relationships.
To view the complete list of Carey Business School’s general learning goals and objectives, visit the Carey website.
Attendance
Attendance and class participation are part of each student’s course grade. Students are expected to attend all scheduled
class sessions. Failure to attend class will result in an inability to achieve the objectives of the course. Regular attendance
and active class participation are required for students to successfully complete the course.
Due Date Policy
For written reports, students should submit an electronic copy of assignments via Blackboard before the beginning of
class. For presentations, PPTs slides are due via Blackboard by 5pm one day before the presentations. Due dates are
strictly followed, therefore students should note due dates listed in the syllabus and plan accordingly. Late submissions
will not be accepted.
Assignments
Assignment
Attendance and Participation
Group Case Analysis Presentation*
Individual B2B Firm Study
Group B2B Alliance Project*
Final Exam
Total
Course Learning Objective(s)
1, 4
1, 2, 3
1, 2
1, 2, 3, 4
3, 4
Weight
15%
15%
15%
35%
20%
100%
* Peer evaluation will influence group work score
Attendance and Participation (15%):
Student performance is evaluated weekly based on attendance, active in-class participation, and contribution to weekly
discussion topics/questions. Additionally, students must demonstrate active involvement and meaningful contributions to
class discussions and the learning process. Toward this end, students are strongly encouraged to complete assigned
readings prior to class, raise important questions or issues regarding the B2B environment, share current and/or personal
examples of principles “in action,” or offer unique views that challenge conventional thinking and ideas.
Case study discussion is a critical aspect of class participation. Students will analyze all cases for class discussion,
creating numerous opportunities for them to individually impact the group learning experience. The cases selected for this
course provide enduring lessons about the strategic and tactical aspects of B2B marketing decisions.
BU.460.710.XX – Business-to-Business Marketing – Instructor Name – Page 3 of 7
The grading rubric for class participation is posted on Blackboard. Students should carefully review the grading criteria at
the beginning of the term to understand how individual participation performance will be assessed in this class. Students
will be notified if their participation score for any class session is less than satisfactory.
Group Case Analysis Presentation (15%):
Students will form groups of five-six persons (the number will depend on final course enrollment) on the first day of
class. Case studies or articles will be randomly assigned to groups. Each team will be required to present their analysis of
one assigned case or article. The suggested case analysis / discussion questions each team is responsible will be provided
at Blackboard. Note that while the discussion questions must be covered in your presentations, they are there only to help
you think about the case and you should not assume that the discussion questions lay out the core problems, thus relieving
you of the responsibility to define fundamental issues / problems and identify a list of areas of analysis. You are also
encouraged to comment on other issues you feel that may contribute to our understanding. If a group is assigned to
present an article, the group will create their own discussion questions.
Each case team is expected to provide a rigorous analysis, wage a compelling defense for its strategic recommendations,
and address strong counterarguments presented by fellow students. Presentations should include a brief situational
analysis to provide context to the class. Teams have 30 minutes to present the case/article, including a Q&A session on
the presentation, with active facilitation of the open class discussion to follow (no pre-determined time limit).
Presentations should effectively incorporate any tools, audio visuals, props or learning supplements that underscore the
nature of the B2B issues and concepts addressed by the case study.
When you are presenting a case, assume that you are a consulting group asked by the Board of Directors of the firm in the
case to analyze their situation and give an overview of the manner in which you would solve their problems. Questions
from the “Board of Directors”, i.e., your classmates and me, may come up while you are presenting, so be prepared to
clarify or defend your points within your presentation. I will take the remaining class time to make additional comments,
to explore further on some specific issues as well as to summarize the discussion and generalize the lessons we learned
from the case.
Group case presentations (slide deck) should be submitted via Blackboard by 5pm one day prior to the class session.
NOTE: Use of existing case questions, essays, and presentations previously submitted by students at Carey or
other institutions is forbidden and will result in a score of zero. Accessing case materials provided by the
publisher or case authors is forbidden and will result in a score of zero. Use of unauthorized materials
represents a violation of the Carey Honor Code and is subject to disciplinary sanctions imposed by the Honor
Council as detailed on the following website: http://carey.jhu.edu/students/student-resources/honor-code/.
Individual B2B Firm Study (15%):
Objective/ Overview: This assignment helps you gain a managerial perspective on B2B firms that target business and
government customers. You will also apply class contents and analyze new B2B marketing practices.
Description: You are to identify companies predominantly in the business-to-business marketplace. You must identify
one B2B company. The company should be from one of the following industries:
1. Manufacturing
2. General services
3. Professional services
4. Information/communications technology
5. Media
6. Wholesaling
7. Financing
For purposes of this assignment, you may include business-to-government (B2G) firms.
For the selected company, you should (1) briefly describe the company’s B2B products and services (and include the
company’s website); (2) identify at least one B2B customer of the company. If you choose a B2G company, you should
specify what department or agency of the federal, state or local government is the customer; (3) analyze the company’s
customer value propositions and competitive differentiation in the business markets, and (4) identify one new B2B
marketing practice the company is engaged in. Explain what topic(s) covered in this course can be applied to the analysis
of this new B2B marketing practice (Note: A “New” B2B marketing practice means a B2B marketing practice the
company plans to adopt or adopted within the past six months from the due date of this assignment). The topics covered
BU.460.710.XX – Business-to-Business Marketing – Instructor Name – Page 4 of 7
in this course include organizational buying behavior, CRM for business markets, business marketing planning, product
strategy in B2B markets, B2B marketing channels, supply chain management, pricing strategy in B2B markets,
communication strategy in B2B markets, business marketing strategies for global markets, strategic alliances, marketing
performance measurement, etc.
The report should be single-spaced in 12-pt. font and should not exceed 2 pages of text. A Word document is expected.
Resources: In addition to internet search, it might be helpful to consult:
 The Washington Business Journal, and if you locate it, the Washington Business Journal Book of Lists
 The Washington Post, particularly the Business Section
 The Johns Hopkins University Library data bases
 Local and regional Yellow Pages
There are other specialized directories and resources you can use.
When to summit: The individual B2B firm study report is due in electronic form (via Blackboard) at the beginning of the
3rd class.
Comments: You are urged to look at firms that you might want to work for. Learning a little about them for this
assignment may help you in getting a job after graduation.
Group B2B Alliance Project (Report: 25%, Presentation: 10%):
Project purpose: This project is designed to (i) enhance your understanding of various marketing factors and their
performance impact on marketing alliances; (ii) provide you with hands-on experience of doing marketing research and
formulating marketing plans for real-world companies involved in B2B relationships.
Project description: Marketing alliances perform important functions in the B2B marketplace. These alliances are formed
primarily for the partner firms to collaborate on the marketing functions, such as new product development, advertising,
distribution of products, and market expansion. From online sources, news, magazines, library databases, etc., identify an
existing marketing alliance (Hint: choose the alliance based on your team’s interest and / or information availability).
Perform the following in your analysis (at a minimum):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Provide the brief background information of (i) the industry where the alliance operates; (ii) the partner firms.
Evaluate whether the alliance is doing well or not. Your evaluation could be based on information from many
sources. For example, a company’s website may report that its managers are satisfied or disappointed about a
marketing alliance. Another example could be that a magazine or a website points out that a particular marketing
alliance is a success or failure. Or, you found that the consumers of the alliance are satisfied or dissatisfied with
the value they receive. Further, you may be able to identify financial performance information of the alliance or
both partner firms (you need to think carefully about how to link the financial performance change of partners to
the alliance performance). These are a few examples that could help you justify your evaluation of the alliance
performance.
Completely analyze the factors of the partner firms and / or the alliance that positively or negatively influence
the performance of the marketing alliance. In particular, you should focus on the analysis of marketing factors
(e.g., company strengths/weaknesses, customers, competitors, products, pricing, promotion, distribution, and a
variety of environmental factors) which you feel are important in explaining the performance of the alliance.
Important non-marketing factors should be briefly mentioned.
Research and report the advantages (benefits) or disadvantages that this alliance brings to each partner firm.
For the partner firms, perform marketing forecast to determine the long run quantifiable and realistic marketing
objectives that they can expect to achieve through this alliance. The marketing objectives could be sales, profit,
or market share goals. Feel free to include additional marketing objectives if you think they are appropriate for
the partners. You don’t need to cover all the previously mentioned objectives if no data is available. Formulate
marketing strategies for the partner firms that would enable them to gain more benefit from the alliance. Clearly
outline your assumptions and thought process.
What to submit:
(1) Project alliance proposal: Groups should submit the name(s) of one or two marketing alliances to me via email
on one single-spaced page by the beginning of the 2nd class. Place team members’ names and email addresses on
BU.460.710.XX – Business-to-Business Marketing – Instructor Name – Page 5 of 7
the paper. I need the source where you located the alliance. You also need to briefly explain on paper why you
think the alliance is doing well or not. You can provide me with the website, magazine, or database information
to justify your evaluation. I will decide if it is a good choice for you to pursue further marketing research.
(2) You are expected to submit a clear, concise, and persuasive report. This assignment must be professionally done,
typed single-spaced in 12-pt. font and should not exceed 7 pages of text, plus up to 3 additional pages of
supporting materials (appendices, figures, tables, etc.). Include a cover page with every team member’s name
and email address. Also include citations / websites within the text of your report along with a reference section
at the end of your report. The page limit does not include the cover page, table of contents, reference or
appendices/figures/tables. The team project report is due both in hard copy form (one copy of paper) and in
electronic form (via Blackboard) at the beginning of the 7th class.
(3) Team Project Presentations: At the 7th class each team will have about 10 minutes to present the outcomes of the
project, including but not limited to: the marketing research you conducted and findings you obtained, the
marketing strategies you formulated and recommendations you made, and how you would advise the partner
firms to implement your recommendations. Each team will have an additional 3 minutes Q&A. Every member of
your team needs to present. I will grade the project presentations by the same criteria used to evaluate team case
presentations. Submit your project presentation PPT slides via Blackboard by 5 pm one day before the 7th class.
Final Exam (20%):
A final exam will consist of short answer and essay questions pertaining to conceptual, managerial, and analytical topics.
The questions are based on all reading assignments (textbook, cases, articles, etc.), lectures, and in-class discussions.
Rubrics:
Please see Blackboard for grading rubrics for class participation, group assignments, and individual B2B firm study.
Grading
The grade of A is reserved for those who demonstrate extraordinarily excellent performance. The grade of A- is
awarded only for excellent performance. The grade for good performance in this course is a B+/B. The grades of D+, D,
and D- are not awarded at the graduate level.
Please refer to the Carey Business School’s Student Handbook for grade appeal information.
Tentative Course Calendar*
*The instructors reserve the right to alter course content and/or adjust the pace to accommodate class progress. Students
are responsible for keeping up with all adjustments to the course calendar.
Week
1
Topic
Course Overview
B2B Marketing – A
Strategic Framework
2
CRM Strategies for
Business Markets
Business Marketing
Planning
Reading
Chapter 1: A Business Marketing Perspective
Chapter 2: Organizational Buying Behavior
Due
Team Formation
Case Study: Boise Automation Canada Ltd.: The Lost
Order at Northern Paper
Chapter 3: Customer Relationship Management
Strategies for Business Markets
Chapter 5: Business Marketing Planning: Strategic
Perspectives
Article: Customer Centric Leadership
Case Study: PV Technologies, Inc.: Were They Asleep
at the Switch
Group B2B Alliance Project
Choice due
Group Case Analysis
Presentation: Team TBD
BU.460.710.XX – Business-to-Business Marketing – Instructor Name – Page 6 of 7
3
4
5
Product Strategy in
B2B Markets
Chapter 7: Managing Products for Business Markets
Chapter 10: Managing Business Marketing Channels
B2B Firm Study Report due
B2B Marketing
Channels
Case Study: Lenovo: Building a Global Brand
Group Case Analysis
Presentation: Team TBD
Supply Chain
Management
Chapter 11: Supply Chain Management
Chapter 12: Pricing Strategies for Business Markets
Group Case Analysis
Presentation: Team TBD
Pricing Strategy in B2B
Markets
Case Study: Heinz Ketchup: Pricing the Product Line
Communication
Strategy in B2B
Markets
Chapter 13: Business Marketing Communications:
Advertising and Sales Promotion
Chapter 14: Business Marketing Communications:
Managing the Personal Selling Function
Group Case Analysis
Presentation: Team TBD
Case Study: Making stickK Stick: The Business of
Behavioral Economics
Case Study: Cisco Systems
6
Strategic Alliances in
the Global Markets
Performance
Measurement for
Success
7
Group Project
Chapter 6: Business Marketing Strategies for Global
Markets
Chapter 15: Marketing Performance Measurement
Group Case Analysis
Presentation: Team TBD
Article: Alliances and Networks (Strategic
Management Journal (1998), Vol. 19, p. 293-317)
Case Study: Shanghai General Motors: The Rise of a
Late-comer
Group Project Presentations
Course Summary
Project presentation slides
due by 5pm one day before
Class 7 for all teams.
Group Project Report due at
the beginning of class.
Peer Evaluation
8
Final Exam
The Final Exam includes short answer and essay
questions.
BU.460.710.XX – Business-to-Business Marketing – Instructor Name – Page 7 of 7
Carey Business School
Policies and General Information
Blackboard Site
A Blackboard course site is set up for this course. Each student is expected to check the site throughout the semester as
Blackboard will be the primary venue for outside classroom communications between the instructors and the students.
Students can access the course site at https://blackboard.jhu.edu. Support for Blackboard is available at 1-866-669-6138.
Course Evaluation
As a research and learning community, the Carey Business School is committed to continuous improvement. The faculty
strongly encourages students to provide complete and honest feedback for this course. Please take this activity seriously;
we depend on your feedback to help us improve. Information on how to complete the evaluation will be provided toward
the end of the course.
Disability Services
All students with disabilities who require accommodations for this course should contact Disability Services
([email protected] or 410-234-9243) at their earliest convenience to discuss their specific needs. If you have a
documented disability, you must be registered with Disability Services to receive accommodations. Please note that
accommodations are not retroactive. Therefore it is strongly encouraged that you identify your needs to Disability
Services as early as possible.
Honor Code/Code of Conduct
The Carey community believes that honesty, integrity, and community responsibility are qualities inherent in an
exemplary citizen. The objective of the Carey Business School Honor Code is to create an environment of trust among all
members of the academic community while the qualities associated with success are developed in students. All students
are expected to view the Carey Business School Honor Code/Code of Conduct tutorial and submit their pledge
online. Please contact the student services office at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Students are not allowed to use any electronic devices during in-class tests. Calculators will be provided if the instructor
requires them for test taking. Students must seek permission from the instructor to leave the classroom during an in-class
test. Test scripts must not be removed from the classroom during the test.
Student Success Center
The Student Success Center offers free online and in-person one-on-one and group coaching in writing, presenting, and
quantitative courses. The center also offers a variety of workshops and exam study sessions, and provides a list of selfguided resources. Most of the tutors are current Carey students. For more information or to book an appointment, please
visit the Student Success Center website.
Other Important Academic Policies and Services
Students are strongly encouraged to consult the Carey Business School’s Student Handbook and Academic Catalog and
Student Resources for information regarding the following items:
 Statement of Diversity and Inclusion
 Inclement Weather Policy
Copyright Statement
Unless explicitly allowed by the instructor, course materials, class discussions, and examinations are created for and
expected to be used by class participants only. The recording and rebroadcasting of such material, by any means, is
forbidden. Violations are subject to sanctions under the Honor Code.