MSc Strategic Marketing

The programme is a one-year, full-time, triple-accredited programme designed to extend the knowledge and skills of those wishing to develop a successful career in marketing. The programme allows students to explore the dynamic role and value of marketing in a variety of consumer, industrial and international markets.

It provides a demanding and rigorous grounding in marketing concepts, techniques and applications and allows its graduates to apply these to a variety of organisations. Important concerns for contemporary and future marketing campaigns are explored, such as marketing’s social role, data-driven interactive marketing, internationalisation and behavioural aspects of marketing.

The programme is designed to be practical as well as theoretical in its outlook. Cardiff has replaced the traditional dissertation requirement with a practical Marketing Plan, giving students the opportunity to work with external organisations in a practical environment, testing the skills acquired throughout the programme.

MSc in Strategic Marketing consists of two stages: the taught component and the Marketing Plan.

Stage 1: The Taught Component

Students study eight compulsory modules, designed to give a thorough understanding of the dynamic role and value of marketing and the changing marketing paradigm in a variety of consumer, industrial and international markets and in a variety of sectors. Teaching sessions in both semesters use combinations of formal lectures, student-led seminars, discussions of key texts and video material, case study analyses and group problem-solving exercises.

Semester 1

Strategic Marketing Management

This module aims to explore and critically evaluate the theory, role and practice of strategic marketing management. In addition, the module aims to develop an appreciation of the theoretical and practical difficulties of devising and implementing market-led strategic change in a variety of contexts. Syllabus includes the marketing model; organisational dynamics; marketing planning processes; marketing strategy and programmes and strategic approaches to relationship marketing.

Research in Strategic Marketing

This module aims to enable students to understand the main research methodologies and techniques within a marketing context, choose a suitable method for a given research problem, conduct research and interpret findings. The syllabus includes: marketing information systems;stages in research process; research proposal; exploratory and conclusive research; secondary and primary data; sampling issues, observation; qualitative research, questionnaire design, interviewing; omnibus surveys; experimental design; continuous research; market research; product research; brand share prediction; innovation research; branding and packaging research; pricing research: simulated tests; retail and distribution research; promotion research; data preparation, entry and analysis, research reporting; research ethics and environmental scanning.

Behavioural Aspects of Marketing

This module aims to develop a critical understanding of the behavioural aspects of marketing in both theory and practice in national and international contexts. In this regard, the focus is on developing a critical understanding of consumer and organisational buying and marketing communications in an ever-changing market environment. This will be accomplished by a critical review of conceptual and practical applications of behavioural aspects of marketing as well as the underlying processes, policies and practices.
Syllabus includes cognitive and situational underpinning of consumer and organisational buying; negotiation skills in personal selling; creativity in message formation across marketing communications.

Integrated Marketing Communications

The aim of this module is to develop an applied and practical approach to understanding of marketing communications theory and practice in the national and international contexts. The module develops a more practical and applied approach in assessing and managing integrated marketing communication strategies and plans based on briefs and scenarios. Previous and current marketing communication campaigns and case studies inform the theoretical and practical contents of this module.
Syllabus includes integrated marketing communications models, tools, media and message strategies; strategic aims of marketing communications; utilising communication strategies to achieve competitive advantage and creating value; marketing communication planning frameworks and executions in different contexts; strategic role of branding and corporate identity, role and value of agencies in marketing communications; selecting and managing agencies; agency-client relationships.

Strategic Marketing Systems

This module aims to enable students to develop both a theoretical and practical understanding of pricing policies in national and international markets. It also provides an underpinning of quantitative method knowledge for later modules and provides students with a detailed knowledge of supply chain management systems.
Syllabus includes financial and accountability systems; pricing systems, analysis of variance; supply and distribution channel management systems and sales systems.

Semester 2

Employment Relations

The regulatory context in which an organisation operates has an important bearing on corporate human resource management policies. Systems of employment regulation vary across firms, industries and countries, and are heavily influenced by prevailing management practice, state policies and worker/trade union organisation. This module explores all of these issues, using case studies to provide a practical context. Students undertake a Photoshop training programme as part of the practical element
of the module.

International Marketing

This module aims to provide an understanding of the contextual factors, strategic and administrative mechanisms and organisational processes relevant to establishing and maintaining effective international marketing strategies. This will be accomplished by exploring the practical and theoretical foundations of international and global marketing activities.
Syllabus includes the scope and challenge of international marketing; the international business environment; the international technology environment; researching international markets and the development of international marketing strategies.

Behavioural Aspects of Marketing

Marketing and Society

This module aims to expand students’ strategic marketing knowledge and increase students’ understanding and skills to incorporate a critical consideration of social, ethical and environmental issues and concerns. It provides ethical frameworks within which marketing and marketers can operate and enables students to apply strategic marketing practices within social and not-for-profit contents.
Syllabus includes role and consequences of marketing in society; marketing and regulation; social responsibility; sustainability; globalisation and development; gender and ethnicity; pressure groups and consumer resistance; social and not-for-profit marketing.

Electronic and Interactive Marketing

This module provides a framework for implementing data-informed marketing and interactive marketing within a strategic marketing context, paying due regard to changes in the traditional marketing paradigm, to the dynamic digital technological environment and to social responsibilities of marketing.
Syllabus includes reasons for the growth of interactive and e-marketing; marketing databases; implications for integrated marketing; data fusion and data mining; customer-marketer interaction; issues of privacy, security and social responsibility.

Stage 2: The Marketing Plan (Post Spring Semester)

The development of a marketing plan is a critical part of the programme and indeed important to the role of strategic marketing in an organisation. The aim is to integrate and apply core programme concepts, skills and techniques holistically, experientially and in a self-guiding context in order to construct and present a complete marketing plan for an external organisation.

Assessment

Most modules are assessed by the equivalent of one 3000 word assignment and one 2 hour examination. Some modules are assessed by continuous assessment (individual assignment and a group presentation). Others require smaller assessments to evaluate the more quantitative material (e.g. Strategic Marketing Systems).

Duration 1 year

Admissions Tutor Dr Ahmad Jamal
E-mail carbs-pg-admissions@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone +44 (0) 29 2087 6953

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MSc Strategic Marketing

Stage 1: The Taught Component

Semester 1

Strategic Marketing Management

Research in Strategic Marketing

Behavioural Aspects of Marketing

Integrated Marketing Communications

Strategic Marketing Systems

Semester 2

Employment Relations

International Marketing

Behavioural Aspects of Marketing

Marketing and Society

Electronic and Interactive Marketing

Stage 2: The Marketing Plan (Post Spring Semester)

Assessment

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