Service Marketing

Unit 1 - Introduction of Services Marketing

• Services Marketing Concept, Distinctive Characteristics of Services, Services Marketing Triangle, Purchase Process for Services, Marketing Challenges of Services
• Role of Services in Modern Economy, Services Marketing Environment
• Goods vs Services Marketing, Goods Services Continuum
• Consumer Behaviour, Positioning a Service in the Market Place
• Variations in Customer Involvement, Impact of Service Recovery Efforts on Consumer Loyalty
• Type of Contact: High Contact Services and Low Contact Services
• Sensitivity to Customers’ Reluctance to Change

Unit 2 - Key Elements of Services Marketing Mix

• The Service Product, Pricing Mix, Promotion & Communication Mix,

Place/Distribution of Service, People, Physical Evidence, Process-Service Mapping-Flowcharting

• Branding of Services – Problems and Solutions
• Options for Service Delivery

Unit 3 - Managing Quality Aspects of Services Marketing

• Improving Service Quality and Productivity
• Service Quality – GAP Model, Benchmarking, Measuring Service Quality -Zone of Tolerance and Improving Service Quality
• The SERVQUAL Model
• Defining Productivity – Improving Productivity
• Demand and Capacity Alignment

Unit 4 - Marketing of Services

• International and Global Strategies in Services Marketing: Services in the Global Economy- Moving from Domestic to Transnational Marketing
• Factors Favouring Transnational Strategy
• Elements of Transnational Strategy
• Recent Trends in Marketing Of Services in: Tourism, Hospitality, Healthcare, Banking, Insurance, Education, IT and Entertainment Industry
• Ethics in Services Marketing: Meaning, Importance, Unethical Practices in Service Sector

E-Commerce and Digital Marketing

Unit 1 - Introduction to E-commerce

• Ecommerce- Meaning, Features of E-commerce, Categories of E-commerce,
Advantages &Limitations of E-Commerce, Traditional Commerce &E-Commerce
• Ecommerce Environmental Factors: Economic, Technological, Legal , Cultural & Social

• Factors Responsible for Growth of E-Commerce, Issues in Implementing E- Commerce, Myths of E-Commerce

• Impact of E-Commerce on Business, Ecommerce in India
• Trends in E-Commerce in Various Sectors: Retail, Banking, Tourism, Government, Education
• Meaning of M-Commerce, Benefits of M-Commerce, Trends in M-Commerce

Unit 2 - E-Business & Applications

• E-Business: Meaning, Launching an E-Business, Different phases of Launching an E- Business

• Important Concepts in E-Business: Data Warehouse, Customer Relationship Management , Supply Chain Management, Enterprise Resource Planning
• Bricks and Clicks business models in E-Business: Brick and Mortar, Pure Online, Bricks and Clicks, Advantages of Bricks & Clicks Business Model, Superiority of

Bricks and Clicks E-Business Applications: E-Procurement, E-Communication, E- Delivery, E-Auction, E-Trading.

• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) in E-Business: Meaning of EDI, Benefits of EDI, Drawbacks of EDI, Applications of EDI.
• Website : Design and Development of Website, Advantages of Website, Principles of Web Design, Life Cycle Approach for Building a Website, Different Ways of Building a Website

Unit 3 - Payment, Security, Privacy &Legal Issues in E-Commerce

• Issues Relating to Privacy and Security in E-Business
• Electronic Payment Systems: Features, Different Payment Systems :Debit Card, Credit Card ,Smart Card, E-cash, E-Cheque, E-wallet, Electronic Fund Transfer.
• Payment Gateway: Introduction, Payment Gateway Process, Payment Gateway Types, Advantages and Disadvantages of Payment Gateway.
• Types of Transaction Security
• E-Commerce Laws: Need for E-Commerce laws, E-Commerce laws in India, Legal Issues in E-commerce in India, IT Act 2000

Unit 4 - Digital Marketing

• Introduction to Digital Marketing, Advantages and Limitations of Digital Marketing.
• Various Activities of Digital Marketing: Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Content Marketing & Content Influencer Marketing, Campaign Marketing, Email Marketing, Display Advertising, Blog Marketing, Viral Marketing, Podcasts & Vodcasts.
• Digital Marketing on various Social Media platforms.
• Online Advertisement, Online Marketing Research, Online PR
• Web Analytics
• Promoting Web Traffic
• Latest developments and Strategies in Digital Marketing.

Sales and Distribution Management

Unit 1 - Introduction

a) Sales Management:
 Meaning, Role of Sales Department, Evolution of Sales Management
 Interface of Sales with Other Management Functions
 Qualities of a Sales Manager

 Sales Management: Meaning, Developments in Sales Management- Effectiveness to Efficiency, Multidisciplinary Approach, Internal Marketing, Increased Use of Internet, CRM, Professionalism in Selling.
 Structure of Sales Organization – Functional, Product Based, Market Based, Territory Based, Combination or Hybrid Structure
b) Distribution Management:
 Meaning, Importance, Role of Distribution, Role of Intermediaries, Evolution of Distribution Channels.
c) Integration of Marketing, Sales and Distribution

Unit 2 - Market Analysis and Selling

a) Market Analysis:
 Market Analysis and Sales Forecasting, Methods of Sales Forecasting
 Types of Sales Quotas – Value Quota, Volume Quota, Activity Quota, Combination Quota
 Factors Determining Fixation of Sales Quota
 Assigning Territories to Salespeople
b) Selling:
 Process of Selling, Methods of Closing a Sale, Reasons for Unsuccessful Closing
 Theories of Selling – Stimulus Response Theory, Product Orientation Theory, Need Satisfaction Theory
 Selling Skills – Communication Skill, Listening Skill, Trust Building Skill, Negotiation Skill, Problem Solving Skill, Conflict Management Skill
 Selling Strategies – Softsell Vs. Hardsell Strategy, Client Centered Strategy, Product-Price Strategy, Win-Win Strategy, Negotiation Strategy
 Difference Between Consumer Selling and Organizational Selling
 Difference Between National Selling and International Selling

Unit 3 - Distribution Channel Management

• Management of Distribution Channel – Meaning & Need
• Channel Partners- Wholesalers, Distributors and Retailers & their Functions in Distribution Channel, Difference Between a Distributor and a Wholesaler
• Choice of Distribution System – Intensive, Selective, Exclusive
• Factors Affecting Distribution Strategy – Locational Demand, Product Characteristics, Pricing Policy, Speed or Efficiency, Distribution Cost
• Factors Affecting Effective Management Of Distribution Channels
 Channel Design
 Channel Policy
 Channel Conflicts: Meaning, Types – Vertical, Horizontal, Multichannel, Reasons for Channel Conflict
 Resolution of Conflicts: Methods – Kenneth Thomas’s Five Styles of Conflict Resolution
 Motivating Channel Members
 Selecting Channel Partners
 Evaluating Channels
 Channel Control

Unit 4 - Performance Evaluation, Ethics and Trends

a) Evaluation & Control of Sales Performance:
 Sales Performance – Meaning
 Methods of Supervision and Control of Sales Force
 Sales Performance Evaluation Criteria- Key Result Areas (KRAs)
 Sales Performance Review
 Sales Management Audit
b) Measuring Distribution Channel Performance:
 Evaluating Channels- Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity
 Control of Channel – Instruments of Control – Contract or Agreement, Budgets and Reports, Distribution Audit
c) Ethics in Sales Management
d) New Trends in Sales and Distribution Management

Strategic Marketing Management

Unit 1 - Introduction to Strategic Marketing Management

 Marketing: Nature of Marketing, marketing as an art, science and business discipline, marketing as a value creation process
 Strategic decisions: Nature of strategy, the marketing strategy interface, difference between marketing planning and strategic planning
 Identifying the market: The five C framework-customer, company, collaborator, competitor, context
 The 7 tactics of Marketing mix: Product, service, brand, price ,incentives, communication and distribution
 Business Model and Strategic Marketing Planning: Meaning, Role of Business models in marketing management, Strategies for developing a business models: top-down business model generation, bottom up business model generation, The G-STIC frame work for marketing planning: Goal-Strategy-Tactics-Implementation-control

Unit 2 - Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning and Creation of Value in the context of Strategic
Marketing:

 Segmentation: Essence of segmentation, Factors to be considered while segmenting, key segmenting principles- relevance, similarity, exclusivity
 Identifying Target Customers: Factors to be considered while targeting, targeting strategies-One for all strategy, one for each strategy, Strategic Targeting criteria: target attractiveness, target compatibility

Essential strategic assets for target compatibility: business infrastructure, collaborator
networks, human capital, intellectual property, strong brands, established customer base, synergistic offerings, access to scarce resources and capital.
 Creating Customer Value through Positioning: Role of strategic positioning, strategic positioning options: The quality option, value option, the pioneer, a narrow product focus, target segment focus; strategies for creating superior customer value.
Creating Company Value: Understanding Company Value: Monetary, functional and psychological value; strategically managing profits--increasing sales revenue-through volume, optimizing price, lowering costs
Creating Collaborator Value: Meaning of collaborators, collaboration as business process, advantages and drawbacks of collaboration, levels of strategic collaboration: explicit, implicit; alternatives to collaboration: horizontal and vertical integration, managing collaborator relations; gaining collaborator power: offering differentiation; collaborator size, strategic importance, switching costs

Unit 3 - Strategic Decisions in Product, Services and Branding

 Managing Product and Services: factors affecting product and service decisions- performance, consistency, reliability, durability, compatibility, ease of use, technological design, degree of customization, physical aspects, style, packaging.

Managing New Products: Forecasting new product demand using Primary Data and secondary data: offering specific forecasting, forecasting by analogy, category based forecasting.
New product adoption: Understanding new product adoption, factors influencing diffusion of new offering, new product development process, managing risk in new products- market risk and technological risk, Moore’s Model of adoption of new technologies, managing product life cycle at various stages, extending Product lifecycle.
 Managing Product Lines: Managing vertical, upscale, downscale, horizontal product-Line
Extensions, Managing Product Line Cannibalization, Managing Product lines to gain and defend market position-The Fighting Brand Strategy, The sandwich strategy, The Good- better-best strategy

 Brand Tactics: Brand: Meaning, brand identity, brand as value creation process brand hierarchy-Individual and umbrella branding, brand extension: vertical and horizontal, brand equity and brand power, measuring brand equity-cost based approach, market based approach and financial based approach.

Unit 4 - Strategic Decisions in Pricing, Promotion and Distribution and strategic growth management

A) Managing Price: Major approaches to strategic pricing-cost based pricing, competitive pricing, demand pricing; Price sensitivity: meaning, psychological pricing, Five psychological pricing effects: reference price effects, price quantity effects, price tier effects, price ending effects, product line effects; Understanding competitive pricing and price wars: factors affecting price wars, Approach for developing a strategic response to competitors price cut, Other pricing strategies-captive pricing, cross price elasticity, deceptive pricing, everyday low pricing, experience curve pricing, loss leader pricing, horizontal price fixing, price signalling.
B) Managing Promotions and incentives: Promotion mix strategy, Factors affecting strategic decisions in promotion mix, Promotion expenditure strategy, Methods to determine promotion expenditure-Breakdown Method, Buildup Method, Push and Pull promotions. Managing incentives as a value creation process, Goals of using customer incentives, Monetary incentives for customers, Non monetary incentives for customers. Collaborator incentives meaning, monetary incentives-slotting allowance, stocking allowance, cooperative advertising allowance, market development allowance, display allowance, spiffs
C) Managing distribution: Distribution as value creation process, distribution channel design process- Channel structure: Direct, indirect and hybrid channel; channel coordination- common ownership, contractual relationship, implicit channel coordination; channel type, channel coverage, channel exclusivity
D) Strategic Growth Management: Gaining market position: strategies to gain market position: steal share strategy, market growth strategy, market innovation strategy; Pioneering new markets: Meaning, Types of Pioneers: technology, product, business model, markets; benefits and drawbacks of being a Pioneer.
Defending market position: Strategies to defend market position- ignoring competitors’ action, repositioning the existing offer- repositioning to increase value for current customers, repositioning to attract new customers.

Corporate Communication & Public Relations

Unit 1 - Foundation of Corporate Communication

a) Corporate Communication: Scope and Relevance
 Introduction, Meaning, Scope, Corporate Communication in India, Need/ Relevance of Corporate Communication in Contemporary Scenario
b) Keys concept in Corporate Communication
 Corporate Identity: Meaning and Features, Corporate Image: Meaning, Factors Influencing Corporate Image, Corporate Reputation: Meaning, Advantages of Good Corporate Reputation
c) Ethics and Law in Corporate Communication
 Importance of Ethics in Corporate Communication, Corporate Communication and Professional Code of Ethics, Mass Media Laws: Defamation, Invasion of Privacy, Copyright Act, Digital Piracy, RTI

Unit 2 - Understanding Public Relations

a) Fundamental of Public Relations:
 Introduction, Meaning, Essentials of Public Relations, Objectives of Public Relations, Scope of Public Relations, Significance of Public Relations in Business
b) Emergence of Public Relations:
 Tracing Growth of Public Relations, Public Relations in India, Reasons for Emerging International Public Relations
c) Public Relations Environment:
 Introduction, Social and Cultural Issues, Economic Issues, Political Issues, Legal Issues
d) Theories used in Public Relations:
 Systems Theory, Situational Theory, Social Exchange Theory, Diffusion Theory

Unit 3 - Functions of Corporate Communication and Public Relations

a) Media Relations:
 Introduction, Importance of Media Relations, Sources of Media Information, Building Effective Media Relations, Principles of Good Media Relations
b) Employee Communication:
 Introduction, Sources of Employee Communications, Organizing Employee Communications, Benefits of Good Employee Communications, Steps in Implementing An Effective Employee Communications Programme, Role of Management in Employee Communications
c) Crisis Communication:
 Introduction, Impact of Crisis, Role of Communication in Crisis, Guidelines for Handling Crisis, Trust Building
d) Financial Communication:
 Introduction, Tracing the Growth of Financial Communication in India, Audiences for Financial Communication, Financial Advertising

Unit 4 - Emerging Technology in Corporate Communication and Public Relations

a) Contribution of Technology to Corporate Communication
 Introduction, Today’s Communication Technology, Importance of Technology to Corporate Communication, Functions of Communication Technology in Corporate Communication, Types of Communication Technology, New Media: Web Conferencing, Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
b) Information Technology in Corporate Communication
 Introduction, E-media Relations, E-internal Communication, E-brand Identity and Company Reputation
c) Corporate Blogging
 Introduction, Defining Corporate Blogging, Characteristics of a Blog, Types of Corporate Blogs, Role of Corporate Blogs, Making a Business Blog