This course aims to develop fundamental knowledge of and about marketing as a field of study and provoke critical thinking about the field. It provides an opportunity for students to consider alternative approaches to the study and practice of marketing. Readings and discussions examine the historical development of marketing thought and theory, as well as contemporary issues, alternative perspectives, and critical insights. The course considers the philosophical foundations of marketing practice and marketing thought and issues of scholarship and science in marketing. The course is interactive and involves critical discussion of the learning materials and readings during seminars.

(LO1) Support the development of marketing students as autonomous learners and independent thinkers.

(LO2) Extend the imagination to draw creative interdisciplinary links within a diverse field of study.

(LO3) Enable future marketing managers to engage with leading-edge theory in a positive and open-minded way.

(LO4) Envisage the impact of internationalisation and current and future trends on the role and implementation of marketing. Many of the topics discussed pertain to globalisation. In each question that students answer in the coursework they are encouraged to incorporate international perspectives and examples.

(LO5) To encourage further research and enquiry into the 'edges' and the ethical dimensions of the discipline. Each question that students answer in the coursework has an ethical dimension.

(S1) Commercial awareness

(S2) International awareness

(S3) Problem Solving

(S4) Ethical awareness

Teaching Method: Lecture
Scheduled Directed Student Hours: 24
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method: Seminar
Description: Students will have one-hour seminars per week. Seminars will be ‘on campus’ small group ‘active learning’ seminars that will facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experiences of cohort members.
Scheduled Directed Student Hours: 6
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Self-Directed Learning Hours: 120
Description: The module involves a range of teaching strategies including learning materials (delivered asynchronously online), seminars (delivered synchronously) and guest lectures (delivered asynchronously online). Additional material will be in the form of web-based reading and research, selected texts, journal articles and online books. Independent research and study will be encouraged to help students to develop their own research ideas and link these to the topics being covered. This will enable students to review the wide range of materials covered in the learning materials and during seminars to reach a holistic and considered view of the specific topic being discussed at the time.

Skills/Other Attributes Mapping

Skills / attributes: Commercial awareness
How this is developed: One of the lectures explores how one might attempt to succeed in a marketing career, thereby touching on commercial awareness.
Mode of assessment (if applicable): Coursework

Skills / attributes: International awareness
How this is developed: Many of the issues pertain to globalization, whether it is celebrity worship or the spread of supermarkets. A specific example would be a lecture that focuses on the global counterfeit trade.
Mode of assessment (if applicable): Coursework

Skills / attributes: Problem Solving
How this is developed: The module is designed to introduce students to the challenges that marketeers face and encourage them to develop an understandi ng of how to address them; for example how to respond to ethical consumers, how to market to vulnerable consumers amongst others.
Mode of assessment (if applicable): Coursework

Skills / attributes: Ethical awareness
How this is developed: Each essay that students write in the assessment has an ethical slant
Mode of assessment (if applicable): Coursework

Marketing ethics;

Gender and marketing;

Marketing to vulnerable consumers;

Consumer well-being;

Counterculture;

Critiquing fashion;

Critical consumption