Market Relationships

AY2019/2020 Semester 2

As a result of the interconnected nature of the global economy we need to acknowledge the role that Business-to-Business, Business-to-Consumer and Consumer-to-Consumer relationships plays in marketing. The impact and prevalence of these relationships mean that they should be at the center of firms' decision making. This course helps students to understand the reality of the business markets and the tasks of managing the complex multiple and overlapping relationships in which firms are enmeshed and on which they can rely for competitive success. It moves away from the traditional 4Ps (product, pricing, promotion and place) paradigm and take a more holistic and integrated approach in understanding marketing. In addition, a strong relational approach is used in oppose to a transactional view of marketing. Marketing is viewed in this course as the process of managing and optimizing relationships, networks and interactions. Due to the limitation of the course duration, it is impossible to provide a how-to for managing all these relationships. Instead the course looks closer into the topic of customer relationship management and provides students with the tools and techniques to effectively use CRM.