COURSE NUMBER: MBA260.1

COURSE TITLE: Consumer Behavior

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3

INSTRUCTOR: Eduardo Andrade

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

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION:

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30 - 11:00AM

PREREQUISITE(S): MBA 206

CLASS FORMAT: Interactive lectures, case discussion, lab experiments, videos, and other activities.

REQUIRED READINGS: Cases, articles, and chapters. NO textbook required.

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:  2 group projects, a final exam, and class participation.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:  The Marketing discipline proposes that in order to be competitive companies should follow a customer-centric approach. In other words, they should continuously try to understand their actual and potential customers in order to satisfy them in the long run, and as a result, increase profitability. To achieve this goal, marketing managers must then have a good sense of how customers think, feel, and make decisions in the market place, which tools companies can employ to learn about them, and how the acquired information can be used to modify the marketing mix in an effort to increase competitiveness.

Consumer Behavior addresses these issues. The course is based on three main objectives: (1) what marketing managers should know about consumer psychology, (2) which research tools, other than traditional surveys, they can use to better understand their customers, (3) and how customer knowledge can help managers adjust the marketing mix in an attempt to increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and, eventually, profitability.

Consumer psychology refers to the study of consumer perception, memory, emotions, personality traits, and decision making processes. It allows us to understand, for instance, how package size and color influence perceived quality (perception), how store ambiance influences product evaluation (emotion), and why consumers make different choices when an apparently irrelevant alternative is added to the choice set (decision making).

To investigate consumers’ thoughts, feelings, and choices, researchers have relied on several research tools. Our focus will be on discussing the qualitatively and quantitative techniques other than traditional surveys. On the qualitative side, emphasis will be given to focus groups since this represents one of the most used qualitative techniques in marketing. On the quantitative side, we will discuss and execute the technique of experimentation. Either in the laboratory or in the field, experiments help managers to carefully manipulate (one by one) the elements of the marketing mix in an attempt to test for its impact on customer judgment, choice, satisfaction, and repeated purchase.

Finally, the topics above will provide students with the necessary tools to help firms (a) make optimal decisions about the marketing mix, and consequently, (b) increase satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability in the long run.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Please visit my homepage for detailed information about my interests and background.  http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/andrade.html