The seminar will be help online.

The aim of the seminar is to a current trend in marketing practice by means of practical Harvard Business Case studies.

The first sessions lay groundwork both on selected current trends in marketing practice (e.g., sustainability and green marketing; positioning in social media, digital business models) and recommendations for effective story lining and presentation. Then several Harvard Business School cases are presented and the seminar participant select their preferences on the case study that they will work on in the rest of the course.

For each case study there is a list of questions and literature references available, which supports to carry out a situation analysis and the derivation of strategic recommendations for the company concerned. These considerations are presented in the form of an individual seminar paper.

Scientific literature should be consulted in a problem-oriented way in the seminar work. A comparative literature analysis is not necessary. The own results are discussed in seminar groups (3-5 participants) and brought together to a joint presentation in a final session in the seminar. Here, all case studies are presented, which approaches and discusses the transferability of the presented concepts to individual company situations. The seminar and all materials will be in English.

At the end of this course, participants develop the ability to transfer theoretical approaches to the practical application case.

The seminar participants are enabled to read relevant facts from a variety of information, raise the right questions, critically reflect on initial considerations and to prepare the management decision in a structured way. At the same time, rhetorical and presentation skills will be strengthened in order to be able to better represent one's own positions in a later practical decision situation.

Participation in all sessions is mandatory.

· Lectures and in-class discussions on theoretical foundations

· Hands-on workshop on top-down communication and story lining

      · Individual coaching sessions to prepare seminar paper on case study

· Self-study (reading of scientific articles and own researches of articles related to case study, preparation of joint presentation)

· Team presentation of case study

Your grade will be the sum of the following components (max. 100 points)

· Seminar paper: 50 pts (10-15 pages, including references, guidelines on scientific writing will be provided, deadline for submission: December 18 noon)

· Group presentation: 40 pts (presentation of case study in final seminar session, ca. 15 min per participant plus discussion; grade based on content and presentation skills, deadline for submission: January 20 noon)

· Peer evaluation of group work: 10 pts

Both the seminar paper and the group presentation is graded at the individual level. The peer review is used to assess the individual contribution of each group member to the group presentation.

Grades are as follows:

90 pts or more: 1 (= excellent), 80 pts or more: 2 (= good), 70 pts or more: 3 (=satisfactory), 60 pts or more: 4 (= sufficient), 59 pts or less: 5 (= fail). 

No specific theoretical skills except proficiency in English is required. A pronounced team orientation is required (group presentation, informal exchange during the block seminar).

christina.schamp@wu.ac.at