COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA 268B-1

COURSE TITLE: International Marketing

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units

INSTRUCTOR: Wasim Azhar

E-MAIL ADDRESS: azhar@haas.berkeley.edu

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL):

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Monday, 6:00pm-9:30pm

PREREQUISITE(S): Core Marketing course or exemption from the core course

CLASS FORMAT: Case discussions and short lectures.

REQUIRED READINGS: TBD - there will be a textbook for the course.

FINAL GRADE:
There will be 2 Group written analyses of cases, each counting towards 25% of the course grade. Class Participation will count for 25% of the grade. A group exercise will count for 15% of the grade and take-home quizzes will count for the remaining 10% of the grade.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:

This course focuses on the design and implementation of marketing strategies in developed and emerging international markets. It aims to provide managers with the frameworks, knowledge, and sensitivities to better formulate and effectively implement marketing plans in various countries and regions of the world. The course examines the added dimensions of opportunities and challenges faced by companies operating in the global marketplace. Operating in an international environment provides companies with access to new markets, additional resource supplies and new sources of ideas to stimulate innovation. However concomitant with these new opportunities come the challenges of formulating and managing marketing strategies in an innately more complex, diverse and changing socio-economic, cultural and competitive environment. Multinational corporations (MNCs) play a much more complex competitive strategic game on an international chessboard with options of fighting skirmishes in various countries or regions. The course will develop frameworks for selectively competing in the international arena by identifying comparative advantages and weaknesses across countries and regions. The course will examine the challenges faced by MNCs in managing global brands and new product introductions across regions where local cultural and market demands conflict with the need for global consistency and efficiency. A module in the course will cover the strategic decision MNCs face in selecting the sequence in which to enter foreign markets by evaluating macro-level country information with market focused customer and competitive information and their own strengths and weaknesses. Regions and countries will be analyzed and compared as markets for making decisions regarding appropriate marketing strategies and resource allocations. Regions and countries covered will include North and South America, Europe, Japan, China, India, Russia, and the Asia-Pacific. The course will also cover the added dimensions introduced in the marketing mix elements for companies operating beyond their national boundaries. This will include issues of global versus local advertising, international pricing strategies, selecting and managing distribution channels in different regions of the world, managing international brands and product lines through the product life cycle, and international retailing. Sessions in the course will also raise and discuss issues regarding selection and management of various types of strategic alliances between MNCs and local companies including how these partnerships evolve over time. The course will also cover the integration of international marketing strategies with other functional strategies to optimally configure and manage activities in the value chain for obtaining more effective synergies. The course will also discuss international marketing organization and control issues including formulating and managing headquarter - subsidiary relationships to best leverage the potential advantages of global efficiency with localized responsiveness to achieve maximum sustainable competitive advantage.
The course will be a blend of practical knowledge and frameworks and templates useful in analyzing situations and developing and implementing strategy. We shall study frameworks and constructs developed by Kotler, Prahalad, Porter, Kashani, and Burgelman, amongst others. Midterm and Final written deliverables will be group papers to enable participants to learn from each other's perspectives and experience.

The course will primarily use Cases supplemented by lecturettes to cover the material. The case discussions will be interactive with short summary lectures providing further insights and managerial takeaways and lessons. Wherever possible, relevant articles from Wall Street Journal and other business media will be discussed as well. Guest Speakers will share their perspectives and add to the learning.

The course is primarily intended for those aiming for a marketing career in companies that operate internationally or compete with MNC's in their local markets. The course should also be of interest to those who wish to learn more about how differences in local market structure, as well as consumer behavior and culture impact the development and management of marketing strategy.

There will be 2 Group written analyses of cases, each counting towards 25% of the course grade. Class Participation will count for 25% of the grade. A group exercise will count for 15% of the grade and take-home quizzes will count for the remaining 10% of the grade.


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Wasim Azhar is currently a Lecturer in Marketing at Stanford University. From 2001-2004, he was Visiting Professor at Stanford University. Previous to that he was at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan where he was Professor of Business Policy and Marketing from 1989 to 2001, Dean of the University from 1989-2000 and Pro-Vice Chancellor from 2000-2001.

Office Hours & Contact Information
Prof. Wasim Azhar
Office Hours: TBA
E-mail: azhar@haas.berkeley.edu
Faculty Assistant: John Bird
E-mail: johnbird@haas.berkeley.edu