Consumers do not always act or react as economic theory would suggest. Consumer preferences have always been changing and becoming highly diversified.

This course is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding and appreciation of diversified preferences and less predictable consumer purchase behaviour. For the purposes of this course, we define Consumer Behaviour  as those actions directly involved in obtaining, consuming and disposing of products and services, including the decision processes that precede and follow these actions.

This subject could then be approached from several perspectives –

  (i)Consumer influence; (ii) wholistic; and (iii) inter-cultural.  These perspectives do overlap to some extent.  The subject is of interest to those, who, for various reasons, desire to influence or change that behaviour, including those whose primary concern is Marketing, Consumer education and protection, International marketing and Public policy.

We would be approaching the subject of Consumer Behaviour from a global context to Consumer Decision making, managerial preparedness for analysing and understanding in the international context of marketing environment and designing managerial response to these opportunities and trends will be the major aim of this course.

At the end of the course students should be able to:

Understand cultural differences in consumer behaviour

Learn appropriate theories and concepts to understand consumer in global marketplace

Understand the complexity of consumer decision making process

Understand what drives consumers to choose one product over another and to take on a multicultural perspective in analyzing consumer behavior

- Interactive lectures will focus mainly on concepts/theory, however a strong emphasis is placed on -student research and participation in class discussion

- Case Studies, Group discussion and presentation to encourage students to apply theory to real-life situations faced by firms across global markets

Individual class attendance and participation (25%)

Students will be assigned a set of questions to answer in relation to the case/class lectures and essential readings. This will enable students to develop an understanding about the concepts and obtain marks for class participation. They will be expected to prepare ahead of class to ensure higher performance.

Group Presentations – 25% (20%project presentation + 5% confidential peer rating)

Students will be working in groups (2-3 persons in each group) to present a successful marketing mix strategy of a European product/brand in an emerging market (like India/China etc). The product category can be finalized after discussion with the instructor.

There are a number of key points you must pay attention to as you prepare your presentations:

1. The presentations will last 20-25 minutes, with an additional 5 minutes dedicated to questions and discussion around the topic. The presenting team will be assessed on the basis of their presentation and the quality of their responses to questions.

2. The format of the assessed presentation is entirely up to you but must be interactive – be as creative as you like, but you must ensure you cover the main theoretical material and demonstrate its application/use in marketing practice in emerging markets. You could also show videos or introduce other relevant activities. Use your imagination to bring your topic to life in a thoughtful way. You will be assessed on this aspect of the presentation.

3. All presentations must be using Microsoft PowerPoint only, and you must submit your slides to your tutor before your presentation.

4. Free riders will not be tolerated. A formal peer evaluation process will be introduced in cases where there an individual fails to display collaborative competence to achieve group objectives

Individual essay (25%)

The students are required to produce a 3000 words individual essay on an assigned topic (to be announced in session 1)

Key Points to note in relation to the essay:

1. Information as to when the essay is due will be announced in due course. Please submit your Microsoft Word document to kirti.sharma@mdi.ac.in

2. In order to do justice to the topic assigned, you must provide a discussion using the academic literature. You are expected to build on your work using additional material, e.g., news report, statistical information from databases.

3. You are expected to integrate both academic and non-academic sources wherever appropriate.

4. The word limit is 3000 words. There will be penalties for essays exceeding this word limit.

5. Essays must conform to the following format: Times New Roman Font; 12 point font; double spaced; Margins 2.5 cm; page number at the bottom; no other headers or footers.

6. No extensions will be allowed for the submission of coursework except in the case of certified illness or another substantial cause.

Quiz 10% (Individual)

In-Class exercise 15% (Group)

Total 60% - Individual & 40% - Group component of assessment

There are no pre-requisites for the module

imm@wu.ac.at    kirti.sharma@mdi.ac.in