Marketing Analytics Curriculum

Foundation Work

To prepare for the Core, students may be required to take up to three foundation courses which include: Economics, Statistics and Marketing.

Pre-Program Foundation (six credits)

Any student who has taken statistics or economics at the undergraduate level may be eligible to waive each course, subject to a transcript review.

GR521 Managerial Statistics

This course covers basic statistical techniques in a managerial setting featuring case studies and conceptual exercises. Statistical topics include effective use of numerical and graphical summaries, estimation and confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and regression. A few more advanced topics such as data mining, the Bayesian paradigm and principles of model building may be encountered during projects.

GR522 Economic Environment of the Firm

This course examines managerial decision making from an economic standpoint. The first half (microeconomics) explores how prices, wages, and profits are determined in market economies; the advantages and disadvantages of unfettered competition; and the impact of government intervention on market outcomes. The second half (macroeconomics) investigates the factors influencing Gross Domestic Product, interest rates, unemployment, inflation, and growth; the causes of the business cycle; the role of the federal government and the Federal Reserve in stabilizing the economy; the impact of technology on productivity and growth; and the influence of international trade and finance on economic activity.

GR523 Marketing Management

This course covers the processes involved in the creation, distribution and sale of products and services, and explores the tasks and decisions facing marketing managers. It focuses on market and competitive analysis, customer behavior, and the design and implementation of marketing strategies in domestic and international markets, including product, price, promotion, distribution and customer service decisions.

MSMA Curriculum

Required Marketing Courses

MK612 Strategic Marketing

Advanced applications course dealing with formulation of marketing strategies, evaluation of alternatives and implementation of marketing programs. Examines segmentation, positioning and marketing mix issues as a part of strategic marketing planning. Also includes discussion of specific marketing management problems in a variety of situations involving consumer and industrial products and services in profit and nonprofit institutions.

MK711 Marketing Research and Analysis

Focuses on the development of questionnaires and other vehicles for collecting marketing data, the methodology for analyzing these data (with the use of sophisticated statistical software), and reaching conclusions based on the analyses. Real-world questionnaires and real-world data are utilized.

MK726 Customer Data Analysis and Relationship Marketing

Focuses on the analysis of customer data as the primary input to developing strategies for relationship marketing. Examines customer acquisition and retention, segmentation, customer loyalty, lifetime-value analysis of the customer, and direct-response modeling - all as part of customer relationship marketing strategy. Hands-on experience in data analysis receives heavy emphasis.

Required Quantitative Courses

ST625 Quantitative Analysis for Business and Finance

This course provides students with an in depth coverage of regression methods and an introduction to the anaylsis of time series data. Topics include simple and multiple linear regression techniques, the use of transformations such as squares and logarithms, interactions, heteroscedasticity and multicollinearity. Issues with outlying and influential observations are also covered.The art and science of model building are demonstrated with the help of practical applications from business and finance. An introduction to autocorrelation and the modeling of time series is provided. The course utilizes statistical packages such as SAS and SPSS.

ST635 Intermediate Statistical Modeling for Business

The course focuses on modeling situations dependent on multiple variables, as commonly found in many business applications. The issues addressed include: How do we predict who is more likely to respond to a direct mail offer? How can we identify important segments in our customer base? How do we summarize large sets of variables? A central objective of the course is for participants to be able to determine the appropriate multivariate methodology based on the anaylsis objectives and available data, carry out the analysis and interpret the results. Typical topics include logistic regression, cluster analysis, factor analysis, decision trees and other multivariate topics as time permits. The course utilizes statistical packages such as SPS and SPSS.

Elective Courses (15 credits required)

Select three courses from the following list:

MK701 Internship in Marketing Practice

Affords students the opportunity to enhance self-realization and direction by integrating classroom study with experience in vocational learning situations. Requires development of a study plan to identify the student's professional goals and to demonstrate how these goals can be enhanced through an internship experience. Includes regular meetings in which students discuss issues and business problems related to their work experience, and defend proposed solutions before fellow students and the internship coordinator.

MK712 Consumer and Buyer Behavior

Studies the purchase decision for individual consumers and industrial users. Examines various models of buyer behavior. Explores motivations, influences and roles played in purchasing products and services.

MK713 Marketing Promotion and Communication

Examines marketing promotions from a communication standpoint. Discusses advertising, sales promotion, personal selling and publicity as components of the promotional program of an enterprise, including profit and nonprofit institutions marketing products and/or services. Emphasizes the planning, design and implementation of advertising campaigns.

MK714 Marketing Channels and Logistics

Examines the institutions involved in the marketing of products and services and the physical distribution systems for delivery of these products. Explores the interrelationships between manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, and focuses on issues of cooperation, conflict, coordination and control, and power relationships in channels. Overall, the course looks at distribution systems from a managerial viewpoint. It employs systems and behavioral approaches to study strategic distribution choices and management of interorganizational relationships.

MK715 New Products: Planning, Developing and Marketing

Considers the role of new products in the survival and growth strategies of organizations. Focuses on the major problems firms encounter in directing and managing their product development and marketing activities. Examines the development process from conception of ideas to commercial introduction, and the marketing life cycle from introduction to deletion of products.

MK716 International Marketing

Focuses on the decision-making process in marketing products and services across national boundaries. Examines the design and modification of marketing strategies; identifies potential markets; and considers product, promotion, price and distribution decisions within the constraints of a particular cultural, economic and political setting. Studies challenges facing multinational enterprises as well as smaller firms marketing internationally.

MK718 Marketing of Services

Emphasis is placed on developing an understanding of marketing principles that are generic to the entire service sector rather than just to selected service industries. New marketing approaches uniquely applicable to services are considered as well as the reformulation of traditional marketing principles from consumer and industrial goods marketing. Marketing strategies of a variety of service firms from many service industries are evaluated.

MK725 E-Marketing

Builds critical skills for individuals who will practice the art and science of Internet marketing in the future. Covers the important frameworks, principles and contexts in this domain that are likely to endure, for example, auctions, customer relationship management, privacy, the communication e-mix, and channel adaptation and coordination.

MK755 Special Topics in Marketing

Focuses on the design, development and execution of a marketing project on a marketing plan. Studies management issues in implementing marketing plans and activities. Examines how specific projects related to an organization's overall marketing strategy and the resources needed to implement such activities. Discusses criteria used to measure effectiveness of specific marketing activities.

MK758 Enhancing Creativity

This class will focus on the nature of creativity and the creative process. We will discuss several definitions and theories of creativity, and apply these theories to enhance your own creativity. Several techniques will help you to recognize and remove barriers to creative thinking. We will apply these techniques to develop creative approaches to business and marketing cases and your own business and academic problems. While the focus of the class is on individual creativity, we will also discuss the pros and cons of team creativity and apply techniques to improve team efforts. Organizational creativity and implementing creative solutions will also be covered.
Select two courses in Marketing or any other discipline at the 600-, 700- or 800-level provided prerequisites are satisfied.