Assignments

Each group will be required to hand in two case write-ups. You may choose any TWO of the following four cases (no case is due in the last week to allow you time to focus on the final project):

• Calyx and Corolla
• Southwest Airlines, 1993
• Swatch
• Tweeter, etc.

The reports should consist of (at most) four pages and should address the discussion questions. You are allowed, but not required, to have a small number of exhibits. Your reports must be handed in at the start of the class in which the case will be discussed. These cases will be graded and will determine 30% of your overall grade.

Questions for each case can be found on the web site. Use these questions to guide your reports (and to help prepare for our discussion of the other cases). Some additional recommendations:

1. Your write-ups may be in bullet-point form.
2. Separately answer each discussion question. Use headings to highlight which questions you are answering.
3. Start with the most obvious points and then work from there. Do not omit the obvious points.
4. I am more interested in the quality of your analysis than any specific set of conclusions. Make sure that you give both the pros and the cons of each alternative. Describe the theory and process by which you arrived at your conclusions.
5. Review the lecture notes before writing your analysis. The theory presented in the lectures will help guide your analysis.
6. Structure your answers using sub-headings, if necessary, to make it clear that you have used an analytical approach to reach you answers. (Apparently) random lists of issues without structure leaves the TA guessing as to which issue you consider most critical to the case analysis.
7. Quality is more important than quantity.

A common remark made by students after the case discussions is that their group talked about most of the important points but ran out of space in which to write them all down. The role of the course is to help you to identify which of the details hidden in the myriad of facts comprising each case are most relevant. The page constraint forces you to reveal to me what you think is relevant.

However, do not despair during the case discussion - sometimes we run out of time in a single class before all of the important points are discussed. When this happens, I try to cover these same points in another, later, case. A point that you make in your written discussion may still be very important, even if it is not discussed in that particular class. Look for it in a later case discussion.

Individual Assignment

In addition to your two team-based case write-ups, each person must hand in an individual assignment that answers the following question

"What are the three most important lessons that you learned about marketing in this course that will help you as a manager?"

This assignment should be no more than one to two pages in length and should briefly summarize each of the three lessons.

You will receive credit simply for handing in this assignment on or before session 17. This assignment will not be individually graded or returned, however, answers will be used to help determine final grades for students close to the letter cutoffs.

Assignments for Each Session

For each session there is a single sheet summary of the assignments. Each summary sheet lists discussion questions, readings, background readings, optional readings, and/or assignments for that session. An overview of all assignments is also available (PDF).

†  Product, Promotion, Price, Place and Customer, Company Skills, Competition, Collaborators, Context
*  Case eligible for group case write up