Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing
Ideas and resources for teaching marketing
This activity is designed around a marketplace (such as a small city), where there are a set number of known competitors.
Student groups need to review and discuss the case materials to consider whether the firm’s performance is favorable or concerning?
“Burgers Galore” is a hypothetical fast food chain in a hypothetical … See the full activity...
In this activity, students look at the output from a market share (market concentration) spreadsheet and attempt to interpret the results and consider the how it may affect marketing decisions.
Additional Resource: Guide to Market Shares, with free Excel templates
Review the following table, which shows the unit market share and the market … See the full activity...
In this activity, students look at a simple output from a market share spreadsheet and attempt to interpret the results and consider the difference between unit and revenue market share.
Additional Resource: Guide to Market Shares, with free Excel templates
Review the following table, which shows the unit market share and the revenue … See the full activity...
Wet ‘n Wild is a chain of waterparks that are operated across Australia, the United States, and now China. The first waterpark in the chain was opened on the Gold Coast in Australia in 1984. Since that time they have expanded to eight locations, including Hawaii and Las Vegas.
In 2013, they opened a new water … See the full activity...
In this mini-case, you will review the efforts of the J.C. Penney department store to more efficiently compete on price, primarily underpinned by a cost-cutting program. But is this the best approach?
ACTIVITY/TASK
The J.C. Penney department store chain is currently through a major cost-cutting program, associated with its transformation strategy. The firm’s goal is to cut expenses by … See the full activity...
Allocating fixed costs to products, in order to more fully assess product profitability, can be determined in different ways with different outcomes. In the following example, the firm was allocated its fixed costs equally each of its products – what impact does this have?
ACTIVITY/TASK
| Product A | Product B | Product C | Product D | TOTAL | |
| Gross profit | $4m | $1m | $2m |
In the following case study, your task is to determine whether the firm should continue with its current strategy (which is mainly priced-based) or does it need to adopt a new approach?
ACTIVITY/TASK
Credit unions are like small banks that usually only offer services to individual customers (that is, non-businesses). What is unusual about many of them is that they … See the full activity...
Retailers often face the challenge of deciding between ‘everyday low pricing’ and ‘high-low’ pricing. As suggested by the names, the first approach uses a consistent low pricing approach, where the second approach utilizes higher prices combined with frequent specials/discounts. Your task is to help determine what would be the best pricing approach.
ACTIVITY/TASK
Greg:
At this meeting we need to … See the full activity...
One of the key requirements for achieving success as an ongoing price discounter is to create a cost leadership position. That means that the firm has built some cost advantages over their competition.
This activity quickly highlights some of the practices that Aldi Supermarkets (a relatively new discount supermarket in Australia) have adopted to achieve a cost leadership position and … See the full activity...
As part of the marketing mix, pricing is an aspect that can help communicate and reinforce the firm’s positioning. For many consumers, price also acts as a guide to quality. In this activity, there is a key pricing decision to be made in the two situations presented. Keeping in mind the firm’s/brand’s positioning, outline whether these decisions are logical.
ACTIVITY/TASK… See the full activity...
In this exercise, you are presented with eight product alternatives, as you would find in a supermarket environment. As you will see, price is simply one aspect of the consumer’s perception of value. So review the following list of pasta sauces, which one would you buy?
ACTIVITY/TASK
|
Brand |
Positioning/Marketing |
Price |
|
A |
The leading brand name – heavily advertising on TV |
In this activity, your task is to set the price for a new home-delivered spring water (the large bulk bottles) company. To complicate matters, you have a few different viewpoints on the best pricing approach. What would you decide?
ACTIVITY/TASK
Spring water is a product that has become popular over the past 10-15 years or so. During the growth … See the full activity...
While it is generally acknowledged that it is best to stay out of a price-cutting war, sometimes competitor actions will force you into one. In this activity, your firm is restaurant C and one of your competitors has recently cut their prices. The question is how you will respond.
ACTIVITY/TASK
Three Blue Mountains Restaurants
Let’s assume that there are three … See the full activity...
Firms need to take care when responding to competitor’s action with a pricing change, as this could trigger a potential price war. Therefore, in this activity you need to identify what would be the most appropriate pricing reaction for the following generic situations actions.
ACTIVITY/TASK
This activity requires you to determine a price solely based on what value your product generates for the customer. As there are only insignificant variable costs involved, what price would you set?
ACTIVITY/TASK
Assume you are the marketing manager for a large sales training company. Over many years, your firm has developed a unique set of sales training techniques. They … See the full activity...
Here is a hypothetical situation that you could potentially face in your career. Assume that you decide to start a business as a marketing consultant. Complete the following activity to determine how much would you charge for your consulting services?
ACTIVITY/TASK
A charity organization has approached you to write a marketing plan for them. From your previous market intelligence, … See the full activity...
The following is an excerpt from a manager’s meeting for firm that produces entertainment/game consoles (like PlayStation, Xbox, Wii). They are trying to decide whether to use a price penetration or price skimming strategy in the upcoming launch of their game console. Can you help them decide?
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Ken:
Thanks for coming everyone. This is our price setting meeting … See the full activity...
Many consumers are surprised at the (profit) margin that some retailers make on their sales. However, they do need fairly large margins to cover their significant rent and staff costs that they incur. In this activity, your task is to determine what average prices will need to be charged by these small retailers so they end up making a good … See the full activity...
Marginal analysis is based on the assumption that as the product’s price alters, so will its level of demand (sales). Therefore, this approach looks for the maximum profit point, when considering the firm’s cost structure and the likely sales at different price points (which is essentially the product’s demand curve).
ACTIVITY/TASK
Determine the best price point (that is, what is … See the full activity...
As the term suggests, target profit pricing is designed to determine how many units we will need to sell to both cover costs AND achieve a set profit. In some firms, marketers are allocated a profit contribution goal/target for the year, and they will use this approach to estimate the required sales volume. Work through the following two examples to … See the full activity...
