This course is focused on establishing a framework for creating and managing customer value, and emphasizing the key linkage between customer value and long-run firm value. While the course is formally called Marketing 1, we will also refer to it as Managing Customer Value (or MCV). The act of managing customer value has several key components. First, it is critical to understand and articulate what customer value is, and how it can be created by the positioning of products and services. Second, it is important to relate this to customer behaviour and specific customer-related actions that the organization can take in order to create and manage value over time. Third, it is important to analyze customer needs in the relevant market context. Finally, it is necessary to apply these ideas in a changing marketplace.

The MCV course is structured accordingly. We begin with a discussion of the fundamentals of the strategy for managing customer value, which entails the understanding of segmentation, targeting and positioning decisions as they relate to customers, the competitive environment, and the strengths and weaknesses of your company (known as the 3 Cs). We then explore the tactical decisions that marketers make to manage customer value, and how they relate to the motivations and choices of individual consumers. The core tactics are pricing decisions, promotion/communication decisions, product decisions, and place/channel decisions (known as the 4 Ps). We next spend several sessions understanding the customer more deeply, focusing on marketing research, design, the value of customers, and analytics. We finish by applying the ideas in several contexts.

The course is composed of a mixture of lectures and case discussions. The purpose of the lectures is to present and discuss theories, concepts, analytical techniques and empirical findings. We will discuss cases with the goal of applying the concepts to the context provided by the case and to make decisions.