GC UNIVERSITY, FAISALABAD

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS & MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

LYALLPUR BUSINESS SCHOOL (LBS)

Course Specifications

Business to Business Marketing

BAM-735

Spring - 2024

http://www.gcuf.edu.pk/
 COURSE SPECIFICATIONS
Basic Information
Course Title: Business to business marketing
Course Code:
Course credits/week: Theory: 03 Lab: Nil Total: 03
Pre-requisite(s): There are no prerequisites for this course
and you do not need prior marketing
knowledge to understand the course
content.
Co-requisite(s):
Program(s) on which the course is given: MBA-4thSemester
Is the course major or minor element of the program: Major: Minor:
Department offering the program: Lyallpur Business School (LBS)
Department offering the course: Division of Marketing
Academic year/level: 4
Revision #: 1

Overall Aims of the Course

Course Description:
What is the real world of B2B marketing? Whether or not you will work in big organizations
or for your own businesses in the future, one surely will have to work with a B2B company at
some point in your journey. Thus, it is vital that one understands B2B marketing thoroughly, as
well as its key distinctions from B2C marketing.

Business to Business Marketing (B2B) has been one of the most discussed topics in marketing. It involves
all kinds of industries be it manufacturing or service-oriented ones. It encompasses small, medium and large
industries and creates employment for large number of people. Business organizations have been constantly
trying to optimize their processes and products in order to provide better products and services to other firms
and thus constant innovation in such organizations has been the norm. With growing technology, better
transport facilities and advanced research it has grown at a much faster pace in comparison to others.

This course aims at building a strong theoretical base as well as enhances the learner’s
knowledge on designing successful business strategies and programs. As a part of this course,
case studies from across the globe would be used to bring in an experiential learning among the
learners.

Course Objectives are:

1.To understand the distinction between B2B and B2C marketing and the differences of B2B
marketing in different Asian cultures and countries.
2. To share the hidden rules in B2B marketing and the integrity challenges.
3. To gain an insight to B2B organization restructuring and how to do self-networking and
marketing.
Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:

 Describe the applications, challenges and the dynamic environment of B2B marketing,
including the unique nature of organizational buying behaviour.
 Design strategies and structures to effectively serve the B2B market.
 Apply a systematic approach to problem solving and decision making in business
marketing organizations through the use of case studies.
 Develop a business marketing plan for a real local company that mainly targets business
customers.
 Demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles of B2B marketing.
 Demonstrate an understanding of the broad concepts of working with and marketing for
business-to-business companies
 Demonstrate the uses of the marketing mix elements in a B2B corporate strategy; and
 Demonstrate critical thinking skills through the completion of the marketing plan class
project.

Class Format & Weekly Work Plan:

In recent years, the importance of marketing in the business-to-business sector has

grown. Many companies operate now in a more volatile and changing market and have
to deal with fierce competition in an increasingly global market. B2B is a concept based
and discussion-driven course, thus the vast majority of our classes will be focused on
concept, articles & case discussion.

Our weekly class Instructions and discussions will follow this format:

1st – 2nd Week

Chapter – 1: Introduction to Business-to-Business Marketing (Page 2 – 25) (Business-to-
Business Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale, Joseph Giglierano,
Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2022)

3rd – 4th Week

Chapter – 2: Business-to-Business Environment: Customers, Organizations, and Markets (Page
28 – 52) (Business-to-Business Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale,
Joseph Giglierano, Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2022)

Case Study: LastMile Corporation II: Choosing a Development Partner

5th – 6th Week

Chapter – 3: Organizational Buying and Buyer Behavior (Page 52 – 79) (Business-to-
Business Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale, Joseph Giglierano,
Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2022)
7th - 8th Week
Chapter – 5: Concepts and Context of Business Strategy (Page 103-124) (Business-to-
Business Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale, Joseph Giglierano,
Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2022)

Mid Semester Examination

10th Week – 11th Week

Chapter – 7: Segmenting, Targeting, and Positioning (Page 148-173) (Business-to-Business
Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale, Joseph Giglierano, Waldemar
Pfoertsch, 2022)

Case Study: Dow Corning Success in China

12th Week – 13th Week

Chapter – 8: Developing the Product, Service, and Value of the Offering (Page 173-200)
(Business-to-Business Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale, Joseph
Giglierano, Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2022)

14th Week – 15th Week

Chapter – 10: Pricing in Business-to-Business Marketing (Page 218-253) (Business-to-
Business Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale, Joseph Giglierano,
Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2022)

Case Study: Marketing Plastic Resins: GE and BW II

Chapter – 11: Business Development and Planning (Page 253-279) Business-to-Business

Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale, Joseph Giglierano, Waldemar
Pfoertsch, 2022

16th Week – 17th Week

Chapter – 13: Business-to-Business Branding: Creating and Fostering the Brand (Page
308-334) (Business-to-Business Marketing: Analysis and Practice by Robert P. Vitale,
Joseph Giglierano, Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2022)

Final Semester Examination

344
Week Module Intended Learning Objectives

1-2 Chapter – 1:  To understand marketing Fundamentals in Business-to-

Introduction Business Markets
  The Marketing Mix
PRODUCT
PRICE
to Business- PLACE
to-Business PROMOTION
Marketing  Marketing Philosophy and Culture
 Differences Between Business Marketing and Consumer
Marketing
 Derived Demand and Business-to-Business Supply Chains

 To understand Types of Organizational Customers

 Define Commercial Enterprises
INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTORS
VALUE ADDED RESELLERS
ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS
Chapter – 2: USERS OR END USERS
Business-to-  Government Units
Business  Nonprofit and Not-for-Profit Organizations
3-4 Environment:  Producer Types
Customers, RAW MATERIALS PRODUCERS
Organizations, COMPONENT PARTS AND MANUFACTURED
and Markets MATERIALS PRODUCERS
CAPITAL GOODS MANUFACTURERS
CUSTOMER SPECIFICATIONS
 Customer Needs Influenced by Classification of Markets
 Classifying the Business-to-Business Market Environment

 To understand The Nature of Buying

 The Consumer Buying Decision Process
Chapter – 3:  Organizational Buying
Organizational  The Buying Center
5-6
Buying and Buyer  Organizational Buyers’ Decision Process: A Stepwise
Behavior
Model
 Intricacies of the Buying Decision Process
 INDIVIDUAL ROLES AND PERSONAL NEEDS
7-8 Chapter – 5:  To understand What is Strategy?
Concepts and  Strategy-Making and Strategy Management Processes
Context of  Performing Strategic Management in the Business-to-
Business Business
Strategy  Company
 A Critique of the Model
 Key Strategy Concepts
 Strategic Resource Allocation
  Strategic Business Unit Management
 Tools for Designing Strategy
 The Growth-Share Matrix
 Find an article that you find interesting about any topics
related to B2B marketing. Write up the title and citation
Task and include a link to the full text of the article. Include a
brief description of the article. Include a statement about
how it fits into the course
 To understand the Relationship Between Segmenting,
Targeting, and Positioning
 Market Segmentation
Chapter – 7:  Basic Framework of Segmentation
Segmenting,  Value-Based Segmentation
9 - 11 Targeting, and  The Process of Determining Segmentation
Positioning  Choosing Target Segments
 Attractiveness of Segments
 To understand The Product Life Cycle and Life Stages of
Chapter – 8: Offerings
Developing the  Offering Development Stage
Product,  Offering Introduction Stage
12 - 13
Service, and  Offering Growth Stage
Value of the  Offering Maturity Stage
Offering  Offering Decline Stage
 Basic New Product Development Process
 To understand Pricing Basics
 Pricing to Reflect Customer Value
 Relevant Costs
 Contribution Analysis
Chapter – 10:  Demand Functions and Pricing
Pricing in
 Managing Price as Part of Marketing Strategy
14 - 15 Business-to-
Business  Strategic Context of Pricing
Marketing  Pricing throughout the Product Life Cycle and the
Technology
 Adoption Life Cycle
 Price Models
 Penetration Pricing and Price Skimming
16 - 17 Chapter – 13:  To understand Holistic Branding
Business-to-  Characteristics of Business-to-Business Branding
Business  The Role of Business-to-Business Brands
Branding:  Branding Dimensions
Creating and
 Brand Strategy
Fostering the
  Communication and Corporate Identity/Visual Identity
 Measuring Equity and Value
Brand  Competing Through Branding
 Importance of Brand in Business-to-Business Buyer
Behavior
 Branding as a Standard
 Students will be required to form teams of 2 or 3 people
in order to work together and turn in two separate
written group reports that are briefly explained below.
Your final report will be a formal marketing plan for an
Term Project actual major corporation, using Dr. Philip Kotler’s
(Marketing marketing plan method. Your Marketing plan will be
Plan) your creation of a plan for your firms marketing
activities for next year (2025). Handouts will be given to
assist you with each written report. For example, what
do you plan to do next year to increase your firms sales
(in 2025).

Required Learning Resources

Text Book(s): 1. Business-to-Business Marketing: Analysis and
(Title, Author, Edition, Publisher) Practice by Robert P. Vitale, Joseph Giglierano,
Waldemar Pfoertsch, 2022
Reference Book(s): 1. BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING
(Title, Author, Edition, Publisher) FIFTH EDITION, Ross Brennan, Louise Canning
& Raymond McDowell
2. Business to Business, Marketing Management
A global perspective, SECOND EDITION
Alan Zimmerman and Jim Blythe
Articles/Journals/Periodicals:  Already Mentioned in Weekly Plan.
(Title, Publisher)
Pedagogy Adopted & Tool
The pedagogy adopted by teachers shapes their actions, judgments, and teaching strategies by
taking into consideration theories of learning, understandings of students and their needs, and the
backgrounds and interests of individual students.
1. Integrative approach
The integrative pedagogy approach allows students to learn by connecting their learning across
horizons. Integrative teaching methods have four main objectives:
o Understand the learning process
o Divide problems based on relevancy
o Showing the use of the theoretical lessons in practical scenarios
o Incorporating concepts in normal routines

Tools
White Board
 Projector – Slides
Book Reading
Case-Studies
Articles
Assignments Schedule & Quiz
No. Week Assigned Week Due QUIZ TESTS
Two surprise quiz tests will be conducted
1 3 4
during the semester, best of two will be
counted for final grade. There will be no
2 11 12 makeup of these tests.

Examination / Weighting of Assessments & Quizzes

Quizzes + Assignments + Class Participation + Projects 20 %
Mid-semester examination 30 %
End-semester examination 50 %

Grading Criteria
Letter Grade Percentage Marks
A 80 -100 EXCELLENT
B 65-79.99 GOOD
C 50-64.99 SATISFACTORY
D 40-49.99 PASS

DRESS CODE:
Formal business attire only (Dress Trouser, Shirt, Tie, Dress Shoes) Jeans and Joggers
NOT ALLOWED.
Not sure what this dress code means? Read When Job-Hunting: Dress for Success.

Instructor Responsibilities:
In keeping with the format of this class, I see myself as your immediate
supervisor. In that sense, I plan to mentor each of you so that you learn how to
make the best decisions possible, to understand and apply key marketing
concepts, and to prepare you to become productive employees upon graduation.
I will do my best to help each of you grow into the best marketer you choose to
become. Thus, besides class time -- where I will often put you on the spot -- I
expect there will be many times we will communicate outside of class, and I will
do my best to help you in a timely fashion.

Student Responsibilities:
You are expected to arrive to class on time, professionally dressed, and
prepared for the day. You should be fully prepared to discuss and debate the
 course material assigned for that date. You are expected to participate at all
levels and offer objective praise and criticism of your classmates’ analyses and
conclusions. This course is not for the meek or timid. You must contribute to the
greater understanding of marketing and marketing management. This course is a
combination of doing (homework), thinking, and discussing.

Class Participation and Individual Conduct

You should make every effort to attend each class meeting. In addition, it is
important that you prepare for each class by reading the relevant book chapters
before the class session in which it will be discussed. You will also be expected to
participate in class discussion and complete in‐class exercises that will be based
on these reading assignments. Your participation grade will be based on
contribution and attendances (be punctual, attend classes, come prepared by
doing the readings, show initiative in the discussion). Note that students who
only “show up” should not expect even an average score. You must be present in
class in order to receive credit for in‐class exercises, quizzes, participation, etc.
Eating, sleeping, reading, texting, listening to or working on unrelated materials,
sidebar conversations, or “multi‐tasking” using a computer or other electronic d-
evice is not permitted. Laptops (and similar devices) may be used in class for
course related activities such as taking notes. Students may bring drinks such as
water.

General Expectations & Classroom Etiquettes.

In terms of performance in this class, I have very high expectations and

anticipate outstanding work from each of you. I hope for a very positive
experience for us all. Keep in mind that if you do not deliver outstanding work
then you will be graded to reflect this. I ask that you contact me directly and
immediately if you ever have any questions or concerns regarding the class, any
particular assignments, or your grade(s). I am always willing to help.
I do ask that all students be respectful and courteous to other class members as
well as the professor. This includes turning off cell phones and other electronic
devices before class begins and arriving to class on time, as walking in late is
disruptive to other classmates and the professor. Those who walk in late will
likely not receive attendance credit for that day.
Useful Tools / Advice:
This course is time and labor intensive. Be certain to schedule enough time in
your weekly planning to accommodate.
You need to have good access to the Web and an e-mail account.
Please always do your best work.
Contact Details:
Dr. Ayesha Sharif Assistant Professor
 Lyallpur Business School (LBS),
Faculty of Economics & Management Sciences,
GC University, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Office Hours Monday: 10:00 to 04:00 PM
Phone(office): E-Mail: ayeshasharif@gcuf.edu.pk
Course Specifications Developed By: Reviewed By HOD, LBS
Ayesha sharif Dr Rizwan
Bloom Taxonomy
The Question papers will be designed based on the following bloom taxonomy
parameters.