Introduction to Strategy and Marketing

The objective of this course is to provide a general introduction to the world of business strategy and marketing for student studying non-business disciplines. The course is divided into two modules and the students will study a core selection of topics in the business strategy module and subsequently in the marketing module. As such, the course builds a foundation for developing the business knowledge and skills within the above business disciplines. Those can be further applied in everyday lives, by aspiring entrepreneurs or in careers which are likely to have a significant managerial/business component. The business strategy module will explore the underlying theory, frameworks and tools which allow for a successful strategic and strategy formulation. The focus will be on the understanding of how firms set their direction, choose their activities, select, formulate and implement strategies as well as how they strive to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Basic economic concepts such as supply, demand, inflation and unemployment will also be discussed in order to facilitate the understanding of the business strategy choices. Furthermore, current issues of globalisation, entrepreneurship, corporate governance scandals, and the latest strategy headlines will be discussed during lectures. The marketing component of the course will aim to show how environmental forces shape the firm?s marketing strategy. It will allow the students to understand the principles of consumer behaviour, the choices related to the marketing mix, how the firms position their products/services and how they segment the market and identify their target customers.

The course has a small and medium business orientation, focuses on current business issues and considers both international and local contexts. In order to complement their understanding of general business principles, students on this course re encouraged to register for BUS1004S Introduction to Financial Management, offered in the second semester.

DP requirements: Satisfactorily submit business strategy and marketing plan project; write both class tests; attend all specified compulsory lectures; obtain a minimum semester mark of 40%; obtain a sub-minimum of 40% in the final examination to pass the course.

Assessment: All students will be required to write a summative examination that will count 50% of the coursework.Class test 1 -15%; Class test 2 -15%; Business strategy and marketing plan assignment (group assignment) -0%.Coursework 50%; examination 50%

The University of Cape Town awards credits based on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) to determine course and contact hour recommendations per course. 1 NQF credit represents roughly 10 notional hours of work which includes study time, assignments and examinations. Notional hours may very per courses depending on the course level and modality therefore, CEA recommends using NQF credits as a basis to determine U.S. equivalencies (1 NQF=.222 semester credits)