A GRADUATE READINGS COURSE IN MARKETING STRATEGY Timothy C. Johnston, University of Tennessee at Martin ABSTRACT This paper describes a model for teaching a graduate readings course in marketing strategy. The readings format provides (1) a breadth of knowledge of several "cutting edge" business concepts, (2) a depth of knowledge of a few concepts, and (3) a means to synthesize the concepts into a coherent whole. INTRODUCTION This paper describes a model for teaching a , graduate readings course in marketing strategy. A "readings" course of study uses selected papers or books as supplements to (or substitutes for) a textbook-only course. Textbooks generally present a broad survey of the important concepts in a field. In mature fields the volume of "legacy" material is so large as to potentially limit the depth of attention given to new "cutting edge" topics in a textbook. "Legacy" concepts are defined here as ideas that are six years or more old, continue to be widely taught, and are understood to be established ideas among people versed in the field. Examples of legacy concepts in marketing strategy include the "cybernetic" marketing mix control model, market segmentation, the product life cycle, product portfolio, and the growth-share matrix. "Cutting edge" concepts are defined as ideas that are five years or less old. They have growing awareness and influence among people versed in the field. But they may be considered "immature" ideas, which continue to be debated and "fleshed out" in the popular and academic literature. Examples of cutting edge topics at this time include scenario planning, e-commerce, and disruptive technology. Textbooks are revised frequently to include new topics, but there is generally some lag between the time that ideas appear in other sources, and when they appear in textbooks. Also, textbooks present concepts in a degree of depth that may not satisfy mature students with significant business experience. Graduate students often have been introduced to the classic "legacy" concepts in their field. Additionally, they tend to seek knowledge that is currently having an impact on the field, and are less interested in topics of historical importance. It is argued that a model for teaching cutting-edge topics to graduate students is needed. The aim of this paper is not to denigrate textbooks or "legacy" concepts. Textbooks present influential ideas that should be a part of every marketer's vocabulary. The desire to provide cutting-edge material must be balanced with proven conceptual foundations that develop decision- making skills. Most textbooks are frequently updated, and new topics are often introduced at a web site throughout the life of an edition. This paper offers a means to "update" the marketing strategy knowledge of advanced students with "cutting edge" ideas, by using selected papers and books to supplement a textbook. This paper presents the motivation and goals for the course, followed by its implementation and student evaluations. It concludes with recommendations for, and limitations of, adopting the readings approach.

MOTIVATION AND GOALS FOR THE COURSE This teaching model was born of the author's conviction that many innovative and influential business ideas have emerged in recent years. Further, that the depth of their presentation in textbooks may not satisfy students with significant business experience. Courtney, Kirkland, and Viguerie (1997) suggest that traditional marketing strategies do not work in the current turbulent business environment. Traditional marketing strategy models project historic trends into the future. The uncertainty in a turbulent business environment renders historic models obsolete, which explains the current dissatisfaction with them (Montgomery and Weinberg 1998). In a turbulent environment, adaptation and innovation are company traits that are more highly prized than careful long-range planning. The traditional marketing strategy approach rarely invokes these traits, and by its very nature may inhibit the development of new ideas (Campbell and Alexander 1997). The focus has shifted from "winning" the competitive game to influencing the rules of the game (Markides 1997). Van Doren and Smith (1999) offered "scenario planning" as an alternative approach for teaching marketing strategy. They were motivated by the idea that "given the uncertainty in the world, strategy cannot be about gambling on one possible outcome five or ten years down the road." Business practitioners recognize the need as well. Kotler ( 1999) notes that businesspeople had frequently asked him for a written form of the "new" ideas that he had presented in seminars. Kotler on Marketing and books like it are potential supplements to textbooks. The course was designed with the following objectives: (1) To provide a breadth of knowledge of several "cutting edge" business concepts; (2) To provide a depth of knowledge of a few concepts; and (3) To provide a means to synthesize a coherent framework for the concepts, and to link this framework to "legacy" knowledge. The desired outcome of this course of study was for each student to become familiar with current marketing strategy concepts, in a brief time. Students accomplished this by becoming familiar with 39 recent, influential business books. IMPLEMENTATION The course was presented to 13 students in an MBA program. The program was offered by a small private university, and was delivered on-site to the managers of a medium-sized health care products company. This cohort had completed ten textbookstyle MBA courses together. Students and instructor met five times, in meetings that ranged in duration from four to seven hours. In addition, the students and instructor communicated regularly via email before and during the course. The readings format included the following activities: nominating of books; choosing of books; reading and reporting on books; and hearing peer presentations and critiquing memos on books. Nominating of books: First, the instructor nominated a set of books (see Appendix). The books were chosen by the following criteria: 1. Recent publication. The search was limited to books whose copyright date was five years or less from the current date. 2. Influence on the field. Influential books present ideas that have been read and received by people in the field, and which are credited with contributing to or changing business practice. 3. Substantial content. Books that distilled many ideas, or provided frameworks as tools for organizing ideas, were chosen. Preference was given to books that included empirical support and/or depth of content. Books without substantive content were not chosen, such as books with a motivational tone.

4. Strategic. Books that dealt with the big picture and a long- term time frame were nominated. Books with primarily "how-to" or tactical content were avoided. 5. Outward-focused. Books were chosen if they dealt with market, customer, or marketing environment issues. Inward- looking books on corporate culture or other organizational behavior issues were declined. Books were identified from "Business Week" bestseller lists, the "New York Times" bestseller lists, and from browsing the business sections of major-chain bookstores. Some books were identified from reviews by major business publications. Some books were identified by other books as influential, either as a supporter or a rival to their ideas. Students nominated books as well. Generally, the authors were academics, consultants, or journalists. Choosing, reading and reporting on books Each student received the list of nominated books, along with a description or review of each book. He or she chose one book in a "draft" of titles, and this process continued until each student had chosen three books. Each student read and reported on his or her three books. The purpose of the assignment was to give students a deep understanding of a few new ideas that were impacting the practice of marketing strategy. The format of a class meeting was as follows. Prior to class, each student read a book, and wrote an analysis of the book in memo form (not more than four single-spaced typed pages). Specifically, students were asked: (1) How do the book's ideas fit with "traditional" marketing strategy thought, (2) What impact do these ideas have on marketing strategy decision-making, and (3) How useful or true are these ideas from your perspective? In addition, students discussed the relevance of the topic to their company. Students positioned the concepts relative to the traditional "cybernetic" model of marketing strategy. In the cybernetic model, a manager first chooses a target market. Then he or she sets "marketing mix" variables (price, product, promotion and distribution) that fit with the needs of the target market. As conditions change (such as shifts in competitor or consumer behavior, or in the environment) the manager adjusts the marketing mix variables to maintain the appropriate strategy. This action-feedback-reaction sequence describes the cybernetic model of control. Students used this model as a benchmark to illustrate how the "cutting edge" ideas served to inform or update traditional marketing strategy. In class, each student presented a 10-15 minute spoken report on a book, and distributed to classmates a copy of his or her analysis memo. Presentations on pairs of books with sympathetic ideas, or competing viewpoints, were scheduled at proximate times. Each student received written feedback on his or her presentation from members of the audience immediately following the class meeting. As homework, each student analyzed the feedback and reported "what they (the audience) learned, what they liked, what needed work." Based on this feedback, each student suggested improvements to incorporate into future presentations.

Hearing presentations and critiquing memos on books During class each student heard presentations from 12 classmates. They evaluated the presentations with the following questions: (1) What did you learn (take away) from this talk, (2) What did you like? (What was the best feature of how the information was presented?), and (3) what features of this presentation could be improved or omitted in future presentations? As homework, each student read the 12 memos associated with that day's presentations. Each student wrote a brief critique of each memo, based on the following questions: (1) How well does this memo give insights on the impact of the book's ideas on marketing strategy and to their relevance to your company, and (2) What did you like best and least about this memo? Each student submitted his or her critiques as homework via email to the instructor, who forwarded them (anonymously) to the appropriate authors. Each author then read 12 critiques of his or her memo, and made adjustments before writing a memo on a subsequent book. Integrating concepts Two tasks were designed to prompt students to integrate the course concepts: the "real-world strategy" and "mental model" assignments. The purpose of the "real- world strategy" assignment was to give the student an opportunity to apply a marketing strategy framework to a real-world setting, A list of business units and products within the company (the students' employer), and corresponding managers, was generated. Then students selected a manager and interviewed him or her. Similar to the book assignment, each student presented his or her analysis to the class in written and spoken form. The purpose of the "mental model" assignment was to integrate the ideas from the books into a coherent whole. The assignment was designed to prompt students to make mental connections between the concepts, create categories, and to place the concepts within the categories (Hill and Levenhagen, 1995), and thereby better understand and remember them. The assignment was open ended so as to not impose a framework on the student's thinking, and to encourage creative frameworks to emerge. Students were instructed to: (1) think about what themes run across different ideas, and (2) categorize the ideas under each theme. Students were asked to present their results in a visual model, such as a table or picture. Books could be represented more than once in the model, since its elements were "ideas" and not book titles. Some of the results were quite creative. One student identified 35 concepts, and presented them as answers to questions that were listed in Jeopardystyle categories. For example, the answer (for "$300") in the "vision" category was "a company that learns and adapts, and is not afraid to diversify." The question: What is "the living company?" Another student also saw 35 concepts, but placed them within "great themes of literature" categories. Marketing strategy, like life, has but a few truly great themes. These are: birth and death, love and sex, money and power, finding one's true self and class issues. For example, the student chose from The Living Company the idea that "corporate life expectancy is related to a company's cohesion, its strong sense of identity" and placed it in the category of "finding, one's true self." In summary, the course was designed so that each student got a depth of knowledge in a few topics by reporting on three books. He or she got a breadth of knowledge of several topics by reading and critiquing memos on 36 books. And each student synthesized his or her knowledge by applying it in a real world context, and by creating a mental schema of the concepts.

EVALUATION Students were invited to give feedback on the course. Students responded to the following: (1) Please explain how the "readings" format was more (or less) useful to your learning than "traditional" format classes that you have experienced, (2) What was the most (and least) useful element of the class to your learning, and (3) What did you enjoy most (and least) about the class, and why? One response arrived by letter (anonymous), and eleven responses were transmitted via email, with one non- response. "Readings" versus "textbook-only" course A traditional "textbook" class was defined as a survey of a subject area based primarily on a textbook, and delivered in a lecture and discussion format. A "readings" class was defined as a selection of influential, cutting edge ideas based on current books and delivered in a student-led format. All students thought that the readings format was a useful supplement to the textbook-only format. One student said, "The readings format was a phenomenal approach at conveying the most important points in marketing in a real world setting." Two students stated that they felt that the readings format offered a 1. wealth of knowledge" and "much more information" that a textbook- only format. Two students believed that the readings format delivered "fresh, relevant concepts" and current marketing thought." One student said reading the assortment of books gave us a fresher, more recent concept of what is being utilized in business today." Three said that they believed that the material in textbooks was more "dated" or "boring" than the readings. Six students saw the course as "very demanding ... .. intellectually challenging," or a "challenge on their time" (students took the course in a compressed format during the summer). One student said "the reading format, while very demanding, was much more beneficial than a traditional textbook class format." Four students mentioned that they "learned a great deal." Another said, "This class exposed us to a lot more marketing ideas than a traditional class would have." In summary, students felt that the readings format was a useful supplement to a textbook-only course. It presented knowledge that was current and relevant to the students as practitioners. Its disadvantage was that, given time constraints, the format was demanding and gave insufficient time for discussion. Students missed using a textbook to get a "big picture" of the field. Usefulness to learning and enjoyableness The responses to the questions of usefulness and of enjoyableness are presented below, and categorized by the most-mentioned course elements: choosing books, reading the books, making reports on books, hearing presentations, critiquing memos and presentations, and integrating concepts. Two students mentioned the need to choose their book assignments to ensure that they were interested in, and had "buy-in" commitment to, the choices. One alternative mentioned was for students to have the opportunity to visit a bookstore and "preview" the nominated books. Four students mentioned that reading the books was useful. One student enjoyed reading as her "most private pleasure." The students enjoyed and were comfortable reading, and this was a key factor leading to the success of the course. Three students stated writing an analysis of a book in memo form was useful. "This really forced me to analyze the information and boil it down to what I considered to be the most important and influential points" remarked one student. Two students said that presenting their analysis to their peers was a useful activity. One remarked "it isn't until you teach the material to someone else that you internalize it yourself."

Students most often mentioned that hearing presentations by their peers was a useful and enjoyable element of the course. One student said "the greatest take- away was listening to the oral reports and gathering a better understanding of how different people within the class internalized the information given." Students read the memos from their peers as homework, and wrote brief critiques. Two students mentioned this as a useful activity. One said, "I got a better understanding of what marketing is from critiquing (classmates') papers." Another thought that reading memos was "overkill" considering his time constraints at home. Students found that reading the memo critiques from their peers was not useful. Four students thought the memo feedback they received from their peers was redundant, and not very useful after the first round. One student said, "I was so focused on the next assignment that I did not take the time to outline their reviews and really digest them." Perhaps the critics were more motivated to read the memos, but the benefits to the authors diminished after the first instance. Three students mentioned that reading the presentation feedback from their peers was not very useful. The audience members may have been more motivated to pay attention, but the benefits to the speaker diminished after the first instance. Regarding the integrating assignments--the "real- world strategy" and the "mental map"--one student found most useful "the emphasis on the four Ps (price, product, promotion, and place) and how these factors interrelate. It certainly pulled it all together for me because it moved this concept from a theoretical sense to the real world and gave it credence." In summary, students found their experiences with reading books, writing an analysis memo, telling what they learned, and listening to their peers to be useful and enjoyable. They found writing feedback to, and receiving feedback from, their peers to be marginally useful. From the instructor's perspective, the course was a success and a pleasure to teach. It was a success because it gave the students a depth and breadth of knowledge of, as well as an organizing framework for, cutting edge concepts. It was a pleasure because the instructor learned a great deal from the presentations of the concepts by students. RECOMMENDATIONS AND LIMITATIONS This paper examines a "pure" readings-only course. Instructors are cautioned to use a textbook provide a depth of background in marketing strategy, or to determine that students have this background, before relying solely on books. Given this caveat, it is recommended that books should be nominated and assigned based on the needs of the students, and that criteria for nominating books be developed to this end. The format could be adjusted to meet the needs of more theoretically oriented students, for example, by nominating books or journal articles that are written for an academic audience. Students should focus their energy on reading the books and preparing written and spoken reports. Students learned a great deal by reading about a concept, restating it into his or her own words, and communicating it an audience of peers. Given limited time for class meetings, time for presentations should be constrained so that time is available for discussion among students, and for summary comments by the instructor. Students should receive feedback from their peers for the first memo and presentation only.

Students must be prepared. The success of a course depends on the class having students who are "literate" in the fundamental concepts of their field. Many graduate students in business have a background in marketing strategy from an upperdivision undergraduate business course. Practitioners in the field have additional exposure to fundamental ideas through their work and life experiences. Students who enter with a low level of preparation may struggle in a readings course. The readings format is less suited for undergraduate students, or for graduate students without work experience. Students must be motivated. Students who are motivated to learn and to teach others excel in a readings course. The motivation of students is critical because their performance impacts the experience of fellow students. A high percentage of "slackers" would sink a readings course. Students should be comfortable learning some topics indepth, on their own, and from a book. The readings format is better suited for small classes. Clow and Wachter (1996) found that the use of "high student involvement" approaches, like the readings format, was associated with smaller classes. CONCLUSION The readings format was a means to engage instructor and students in an enjoyable process to learn relevant, cutting-edge knowledge. It supplemented the broad content of a "textbook-only" course in this regard. The "readings" format gave students (1) a breadth of knowledge of several "cutting edge" business concepts, (2) a depth of knowledge of a few concepts, and (3) a means to synthesize a coherent framework for the concepts, and to link this framework to "legacy" knowledge. The format is well suited for a small class of mature students who have some background or experience in the field. Participating in the course was demanding, but the process improved students' skills in critical analysis, and in communicating in written and spoken formats. Students "learned a great deal" and found the format to be useful and enjoyable. They preferred it to a traditional textbook-only format. The instructor also enjoyed the course and learned a ,great deal from the students. REFERENCES Campbell, A., and M. Alexander (1997), "What's wrong with strategy?," Harvard Business Review, 75:6, 42-5 1. Clow and Wachter (1996), "Teaching Methodologies Used in Basic Marketing: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of Marketing Education 17 (Spring), 48-59. Courtney, H., J. Kirkland, and P. Viguerie (1997), "Strategy under uncertainty," Harvard Business Review, 75:6 (1997), 66-79. Kotler, Philip (1999), Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win, and Dominate Markets. New York: Free Press. Markides, C. (1997), "Strategic Innovation," Sloan Management Review (spring), 9-23. Montgomery, David B. and Charles B. Weinberg (1998), "Toward Strategic Intelligence Systems," Marketing Management, 6:4 (winter) 44-52. Postma, Paul (1998), The New Marketing Era: Marketing to the Imagination in a Technology-driven World. McGraw Hill.

Van Doren, Doris C. and Darlene Brannigan Smith (1999), "Scenario Planning: A New Approach to Teaching Marketing Strategy,' Journal of Marketing Education, 21:2 (August), 146-55. APPENDIX: BOOKS NOMINATED FOR A MARKETING STRATEGY READINGS COURSE Marketingenvironment/technology/globalization 1. The Living Company by Arie De Geus, Peter M. Senge 2. The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World by Peter Schwartz 3. The Winner-Take-All Society: Why the Few at the Top Get So Much More Than the Rest of Us by Robert H. Frank, Philip J. Cook (Contributor) 4. The Borderless World by Kenichi Ohmae 5. Business @ the Speed of Thought: Usinig a Digital Nervous System by Bill Gates, Collins Hemingway 6. Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thouhts on the Information Highway by Clifford Stoll 7. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter L. Bernstein 8. The 500-Year Delta: What Happens After What Comes Next by Jim Taylor, Watts Wacker, Howard Means (Contributor) 9. Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy by Carl Shapiro, Hal R. Varian 10. The Big Ten: The Big Emerging Markets and How They Will Change Our Lives by Jeffrey E. Garten 11. Reputation: Studies in the Voluntary Elicitation of Good Conduct by Daniel B. Klein (Editor) Competition 12. The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen 13. The Death of Competition: Leadership and Strategy in the Age of Business Ecosystems by James F. Moore 14. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance by Michael E. Porter 15. Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company by Andrew S. Grove 16. Co-Opetition: A Revolutionary Mindset That Redefines Competition and Cooperation by Adam M. Brandenburger, Barry J. Nalebuff (Contr.), Ada Brandenberger

Customer/market issues 17. Market-Driven Health Care: Who Wins, Who Loses in the Transformation of America's Largest Service Industry by Regina E. Herzlinger 18. Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity by Francis Fukuyama 19. The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement 1945-1995 by Robert J. Samuelson 20. Net Gain: Expanding Markets Through Virtual Communities by John Hagel, Arthur G. Armstrong 21. Balanced Sourcing: Cooperation and Competition in Supplier Relationships by Timothy M. Laseter Business strategies/relationship marketing/success stories 22. Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World's Best Unknown Companies by Hermann Simon 23. Alliance Advantage: The Art of Creating Value Through Partnering by Yves L. Doz, Gary Hamel 24. Jack Welch and the GE Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO by Robert Slater 25. At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric, and the Pursuit of Profit by Thomas F. O'Boyle 26. Enterprise One to One: Tools for Competing in the Interactive Age by Don Peppers, Martha Rogers 27. Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition by B. Joseph Pine, Stan Davis 28. The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine, James H. Gilmore 29. Concurrent Marketing: Integrating Product, Sales, and Service by Frank V. Cespedes 30. Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends, and Friends into Customers by Seth Godin, Don Peppers 31. The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow's Profits by Adrian J. Slywotzky, David J. Monison, Bob Andelman (Contributor) 32. Value Migration: How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition by Adrian J. Slywotzky 33. Competing for the Future by Gary Hamel, C. K. Prahalad 34. Radical Marketing: From Harvard to Harley Lessons from Ten That Broke the Rules and Made It Big by Sam Hill, Glenn Rifkin 35. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High- Tech Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore, Regis McKenna

36. Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win, and Dominate Markets by Philip Kotler 37. The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market by Michael Treacy, Frederik D. Wiersema 38. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by James C. Collins, Jerry 1. Porras 39. The Force by David Dorsey 40. Power Pricing: How Managing Price Transforms the Bottom Line by Robert J. Dolan, Hermann Simon