The discipline of marketing is eclectic in nature. In developing and expanding its content, it draws from and interchanges with the quantitative and social sciences. As such, the areas of accounting, economics, law, mathematics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and other related disciplines are used as resources for the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical underpinnings of the marketing discipline.
What product or service, and how much of it, should a company provide for its consumers? How should the product be distributed? How should the company inform consumers of the product’s existence and merits? What price should consumers pay for it?
Every organization, profit or non-profit, must answer these questions in one form or another. It is the purpose of the marketing program to provide the student with the necessary concepts and background for examining these questions. The program’s objectives are to make the student aware of the role of marketing in society and in the firm, where it interrelates with almost all organizational functions and influences virtually all plans and decisions.
The marketing program intends to introduce the student to the role of marketing, both in the firm and in society. Case analyses, computer simulation, discussion groups, experiential exercises, research reports, seminars, field projects, lectures, outside speakers, and the Advertising and Marketing Association (AMA), together with national marketing/advertising competitions (AAF, the American Advertising Federation competition), are utilized to accomplish this purpose. The marketing program is intended to meet the basic educational needs of students planning graduate study or entering profit or non-profit organizations in such areas as client relations, sales, advertising and promotion, brand management, distribution, international marketing, marketing research, marketing consulting, logistics, purchasing, product management, retailing, and positions in the service industries.
Required courses for the marketing concentration are COMM 3330 and two 4000-level marketing courses.