Marketing

Mission

Audience

The marketing master's programme is open to Bachelors Economics & Business, International Bachelors Economics and Business, and to International Bachelors Business Administration. Other students can be admitted following special transition programmes.

Curriculum

Marketing typically consists of three components; marketing strategy, organizational and consumer behaviour, and market analysis. The ESE Marketing master?s programme is focused on the advanced study of one of these components in knowledge- and technology-intensive economies.

Teaching is carried out by ESE academic staff, top ranked visiting international
scholars and senior practitioners assuring top-tier scientific research-based and practice relevant courses.

As a primary emphasis three core concentrations are offered; (1) Technology Marketing, (2) Consumer Channel Dynamics, and (3) International Marketing & Research.

? Technology Marketing
High-technology industries are increasingly assuming a central role in modern
economies. These markets are characterized by high knowledge-intensity and abrupt
technological shifts. To maintain their competitive advantage, firms in these markets
have to constantly readjust their marketing strategies to ever-changing demand
patterns and a shifting technological landscape. Marketing managers in high technology markets need to understand unarticulated customer needs and forecast the
development of nascent markets. This seminar will give you a detailed understanding
of these markets - technological evolution, network externalities, consumer lock-in,
technological compatibility and standards, the Internet, technology acceptance - and
how they are critical in developing successful marketing strategies.

? Consumer Channel Dynamics
Increasingly firms and consumers work closely together in the value creation process.
For example, firms such as Dell allow their customers to tailor products to their own
tastes, while other firms such as Amazon rely heavily on consumer input to provide
in-depth information about the products or services that they sell. These types of
interactions often use non-conventional marketing channels and strongly rely on new
information technology such as the Internet.

The objective of this seminar is first to provide students with a good understanding of
the stages in the value creation process at which firms and consumers can interact to
create greater consumer value and the marketing channels that can be used for these
interactions. Secondly, students will learn how to analyze consumer channel usage
decisions in each of these stages with a specific focus on: consumer information
search, consumer purchase decisions, and consumer product use and evaluations.
Finally, the seminar will provide an overview of current examples of firms? usage of
the Internet to support consumer decisions.

? International Marketing & Research
In the current globalisation context driven by the increasing mobility of consumers,
the emergence of global media, as well as the growing availability of various
distance-spanning technologies (like internet), one of the most important issues facing
managers is the development of international marketing strategies.
The objective of this seminar is to focus on the international aspects of the marketing
research process. Several international-oriented issues will be envisioned like the
choice between standardising and localising marketing strategies; how to develop
branding, product, services, pricing, distribution, promotion, advertising and
communications strategies that are global in scope; and how to size the opportunity to
enter new markets.

In addition, this seminar will provide an overview of the methodological aspects of
international marketing research. Specifically, the students will learn how to conduct
cross-national research and which specific issues are related to cross-national
research.

A secondary emphasis is built on deep training in a set of marketing skills connected to these primary topics; Innovative Branding, Advertising, Marketing Research &
Analysis, Marketing Models and Large Datasets, New Product Development &
Innovation, and Knowledge-Based Marketing.

The ESE Master Marketing consists of five modules:

Modules 1 & 2

Core courses

• Seminar Marketing and Account Management
  
• New Product Development & Innovation
  
• Marketing Research and Analysis

Modules 3 & 4

Choice between Marketing Seminars

• Seminar Technology Marketing
  
• Seminar Consumer Channel Dynamics
  
• Seminar International Marketing Research
  

Choice between Elective 1 Courses

• Knowledge-based Marketing
  
• Advertising
  
• Marketing Engineering

Choice between Elective 2 courses

• Innovative Branding
  
• Marketing Models and Large Databases

Module 5

• Master's thesis Economics & Business Economics

Building the Foundations
Modules 1 & 2 consist of required core courses (20 ECTS) building the foundations of marketing in international technology-intensive economies; Seminar Strategic Marketing & Account Management, New Product Development & Innovation, and Marketing Research and Analysis. The seminar is designed for advanced level-setting, combining practice in case studies with an introductory study of the most recent marketing literature.

Core Concentrations
During Modules 3 & 4 students focus their marketing studies by choosing a marketing
seminar focusing on one of the three core concentrations, and two electives counting
towards 20 ECTS in total. Electives are freely chosen from the marketing master programme electives list.

Master's thesis
Module 5 consists of a 20 ECTS master?s thesis. The goal of writing the master?s thesis is to attain knowledge on and experience in designing and carrying through scientific, empirical research in the field of marketing. Subjects have to be chosen within one of the abovementioned core concentrations.

A mandatory Thesis Seminar provides guidance to students to help them achieve the high quality standards required from the master?s thesis and to help them finish their thesis in due time. The latter consists of seminar-type sessions focusing on research methodology, data analysis and subject matter choice and preparation. The deliverable of the Thesis Seminar is a written thesis proposal presented to student?s tutors and their peers. Its delivery is a prerequisite for starting the thesis process in Module 5.

Classes

The Marketing master's programme consists of a unique modular structure of five 7-weeks modules immediately followed by exams. Each of the first four modules focuses on one seminar or two courses. Classes are held 2 times a week in 3-hours sessions.

Figure 2 provides an overview of the programme?s modular schedule during the first 4
modules of the programme. The fifth module is reserved for thesis writing.

The Marketing Master programme starts with a two-day Introduction Programme where
students are trained in group dynamics, analytical, creative, and presentation skills.
Student working groups will be formed and kept constant for all courses in the Marketing Master. Students are allowed to modify their groups before the start of Module 3.

Entry requirements

Students must have at least a Bachelor degree in Economics & Business to enter the Master?s programme.

Job opportunities  

ESE Marketers are employed:

• As a business/marketing strategist or market researcher in consulting firms like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Accenture, or Deloitte & Touch, or in marketing research & strategy houses.
  
• As a marketer or business development manager in technology-intensive industries like Philips, Vodafone, Pfizer, Roche-Genentech, IBM, Microsoft, or Oracle. Or in marketing functions in knowledge-intensive companies like P&G, Unilever, KPN, or ABN-Amro.