Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Postgraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2010-2011 (archived)

Module BUSI42515: BUYER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Department: Economics, Finance and Business (Business)

BUSI42515: BUYER BEHAVIOUR AND MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

Type Open Level 4 Credits 15 Availability Available in 2010/11 Module Cap
Tied to N1K607
Tied to N1K807
Tied to N1K507
Tied to N1KL07

Prerequisites

  • None.

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • None.

Aims

  • To provide a comprehensive introduction to the specialised area of buyer behaviour and the management of customer - centric Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) strategies.
  • To develop advanced conceptual and empirical skills;
  • To equip the student with the advanced conceptual and practical skills needed to successfully develop a professional multimedia marketing communications plan.

Content

  • Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and the Customer-Oriented Organisation;
  • Customer Behaviour Analysis - a historical perspective;
  • Marketing communications and the purchasing environment;
  • Attitudes, emotional responses, and the buyer's learning history;
  • The behavioural perspective model - an integrative framework;
  • Promotional activities, information processing and the buying decision;
  • Marketing communications and the Stone Age brain - an evolutionary perspective;
  • Individual versus organisational buying decisions;
  • Managing marketing communications - predicting and controlling buyer behaviour.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • To have an advanced understanding and critical appreciation of customer responses to the products and services of everyday life, and to the marketing of those products and services.
  • To have a critical appreciation of the complex nature of the customer decision-making process and the methods of studying these processes, together with the challenges marketers face in seeking to influence that process.
Subject-specific Skills:
  • To have acquired the specialised skills needed to develop a comprehensive marketing communications strategy that is founded upon a grounded knowledge of how and why customers behave as they do.
Key Skills:
    Enhanced skills of: written communication; planning, organising and time management; problem solving and analysis; using initiative; computer literacy.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • The learning outcomes will be achieved through a combination of lectures, guided reading, and group discussion of case studies.
  • The assessment of the module, by written assignment, is designed to:
  • test the aquisition and articulation of knowledge;
  • test conceptual understanding and skills of application and interpretation within the business context.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
Lectures 9 weekly 2 hours 18
Seminars 4 fortnightly 1 hour 4
Preparation & Reading 128
Total 150

Summative Assessment

Component: Assignment Component Weighting: 100%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
written assignment 2,500 words (max) 100%

Formative Assessment:

Student presentations, case study preparation.


Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University