Maketing Places

Strategies and Practices for Vietnam's Optimal Development

May 27 - June 21, 2002

Introduction

Teaching Team

Dr. Clifford J. Shultz, II, Instructor
Dr. Nguyen Dinh Tho, Co-instructor
Doan Huu Duc, Co-instructor
Nguyen Quy Tam, Interpreter
Tran Thi Kim Chi, Translator

Class Meetings

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

08:30-10:00 Lecture/Case/Exercises/Discussion
10:00-10:30 Break and networking
10:30-12:00 Lecture/Case/Exercises/Discussion
12:00-01:30 Lunch
02:00-03:00 Lecture/Case/Exercises/Discussion
03:30-05:00 Lecture/Case/Exercises/Discussion

Office Hours

Specific office hours of the members of the Teaching Team will be announced later. However, you are also encouraged to make appointments to meet at other times with members of the Teaching Team to exchange ideas and discuss course materials.

Course Objectives

Globalization, competition for foreign investment, decline in subsidies and grants from the central government and foreign sources require all towns, cities, provinces, regions and countries to 'market' themselves, if they are to grow, to prosper and to improve the welfare of the people who live in them. In the 21st Century, truly, more than ever, marketing is a vital component to any place. But effective marketing requires effective marketing leadership. Therefore, the objective of this course is to introduce provincial leaders and other authorities to the core concepts and tools of marketing, so they may develop and implement marketing strategies and to build their places into an alluring 'product,' with distinct features that are (1) valued by investors and (2) superior to other places against whom they are competing.

Marketing strategies require leaders of places not only to understand the needs of investors, partners or customers, but it also requires them to be deeply aware of their customers' decision-making processes. This understanding enables leaders to map out solutions to improve the competitiveness of their places -- to create differential advantages -- in comparison to other places.

Investors, foreign and domestic, will come to a place only if it offers them something that they need: adequate infrastructure, policy support, skilled labor, reasonable wage rates, natural resources, etc. Once core assets are determined, government managers can promote or 'sell' their place as a location for investment, tourism and/or export. In this context 'sell' means to enable the investor to have access to the assets of the place that the investor values, in exchange for something the leaders of the place value, e.g. capital, technology, information, revenue streams, employment for their people, etc. Foreign investors or customers simply buy the most suitable goods at the most reasonable price. The course also will help government leaders to think about markets for goods and products that are produced in their provinces and will help explore how places, including remote places, can gain access to world markets.

This course should be viewed as an 'applied' marketing course. Its purpose is to expose you to the processes, strategic decision-making and the practices of marketing. The course is designed to familiarize you with and to reinforce the concepts and tools of this discipline, the role marketing plays in organizations and in society, and the processes of strategic place marketing. By the conclusion of the course, students should have developed a methodology for approaching business problems -- a tool kit as it were -- to be able to develop marketing planning and a set of implementation programs in a variety of contexts, but particularly the context of place marketing.

The objectives are to create a challenging environment that will enable you to use marketing concepts and tools, but more importantly, to give you an opportunity to develop the analytical skills that will be demanded of you in an increasingly competitive, global marketing environment. As part of the learning process, the course will force you to grapple with ambiguity, partial truths, and incomplete data sets; in short, real-world problems faced by all managers.

To summarize, the objective of the course is to create an environment in the classroom and via assignments that will enhance your ability to learn and to apply the fundamental concepts of marketing strategy in a dynamic and challenging marketing context: place marketing.

Course Description

This course is primarily designed to help decision-makers from provincial governments develop rational development strategies that take advantage of both local conditions and external markets.

The course will help government managers develop and utilize a strategic thinking framework to identify and analyze strengths and weaknesses of their own provinces and in turn to discover differential advantage(s) that can be leveraged to prosper in an increasingly competitive and global market. That same framework will also be applied to the issue of foreign markets and gaining access to international opportunities.

As part of this course, participants will develop a 'marketing strategy' for their province and will employ this strategy to:

- Attract investment capital

- Develop human resources

- Attract tourists

- Enhance production and exports

- Improve the welfare of the province

- Improve life-quality for the citizens of the province and Vietnam

Teaching and Learning Approach

'Education is not about filling buckets, it is about lighting fires.'

Yeats

This course will require participants to actively participate through classroom attendance, case discussions, written assignments and projects, and field trips.

The best strategy for successful participation in this course is to read ahead and come to class having already read and summarized the assigned material. If you come to class not having read the assigned materials you will not be able to make useful contributions to the discussion.

Readings

There are a number of books and readings for this course, which include material from the following books:

Aaker, David, Building Strong Brands, The Free Press.

Capon, Noel, et al, Marketing Management in the 21st Century, Prentice Hall

Kotler, Philip, Marketing Can Ban, Statistics Publishing House

Porter, Michael, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, The Free Press

Kotler, Philip, et al, The Marketing of Nations, New York, The Free Press

Kotler, Philip, et al, Marketing Asian Places, John Wiley and Son (Asia)

Fairbanks, M. and Lindsay, S., Plowing the Sea, Harvard Business School

McCrone, David, et al, Scotland the Brand, Polygon Press.

Other authors and titles are denoted accordingly and topical readings and cases may be required and/or administered in class. Please note that no course can include all the relevant literature that may be helpful to each student. However, as a participant in FETP, you will continue to have access to these books and other relevant place marketing materials that will be kept in the library.

Course Philosophy and Pedagogy

Completing these objectives will not necessarily be easy or devoid of frustration. Similarly to most intellectual disciplines, marketing frequently has no hard and fast "rules" and "established procedures" that ensure business, organizational or place success. This reality will become obvious as the course unfolds.

Diligent students will find the readings to be comprehensive; but in the compressed format of this course, it will be difficult to complete all the readings. Rather than simply reiterate the readings or outline a series of "right" answers in structured class sessions, the instructor will present concepts and ideas that will challenge you to think about and to comprehend marketing issues, and ultimately prepare you to analyze, develop, and implement successful marketing strategies once you have moved beyond the relative safety of the classroom.

Each session will typically begin with a case or topic discussion, unless the syllabus suggests otherwise and a discussion and further development of concepts/materials. Students are encouraged to use their "tool kits" from the lectures and the readings to analyze the cases and to recommend solutions to the challenges provided therein. Analyze each case within the decision-making parameters -- e.g., social, political, legal, temporal, developmental, technological constraints -- provided in the cases. We will then bring the case up to date and extend the case's lessons during our discussion(s). We occasionally may deviate from the schedule, depending upon the schedules of guest lecturers, opportune times for field trips, etc. So, while you are expected to prepare based on the schedule, we also expect you to be flexible should schedule changes arise.

The specific topics/cases to be addressed are listed below. Additionally, because the world in which we are asked to excel becomes increasingly interactive and competitive, an understanding and appreciation of six rudimentary themes are crucial if managers are to compete effectively. Thus, you will note that these themes will interfuse many lectures and assignments; they are: international/global perspectives, team work, prudent risk-taking, total quality, differential advantage and ethical decision making and behavior. Please note: It is critical that you READ and CONTEMPLATE the assigned materials PRIOR to each class. This is your responsibility: you must come to class prepared.

To facilitate group interaction and lively discussion, you are required to bring a name tent to each class; i.e., if you do not have your name tent with you, do not attend class. If you lose your name tent you may make/use a replacement. Also, please submit your student data cards to the instructor at the conclusion of the first class.

The schedule of the course is given below in the course outline, but invariably some topics are covered in more detail than others as a function of student needs and interests and instructor discretion, so the schedule will require some flexibility on our parts. You are encouraged to stay ahead in your reading and preparation.

Student teams and assignments

You are required to participate in a team for your final project. The team responsibilities are to complete a Marketing Project and to initiate the discussion for cases or special topics. Team size may be determined partially by class size. A cooperative team is necessary for efficient preparation of your Marketing Project and a thorough, but concise case presentation; you will be expected to use internal group pressures to assure these outcomes. Each student's team contributions also will be evaluated by other members of that team; these "peer" evaluations will contribute to your final grade.

Participants may be required to submit a number of written assignments in addition to the major marketing presentation. In the preparation of these assignments, you are encouraged to use resources in the library to gain extra information that can assist in your analysis.

Course requirement

Exam                                     35%

Professionalism                        20%

As a student at FETP, you are training to become a (more) professional manager. Therefore, the extent to which you conduct yourself, professionally, over the course of the semester, will be assessed. You are asked to attend class regularly, and are responsible for making your contributions heard and your presence felt in class. Simply attending class, though very important, does not count very much toward class professionalism. To receive high marks for professionalism you are expected to make consistent and high-quality observations, analyses and comments throughout the course. You are expected to be proactive, resourceful and to demonstrate to me (the CEO or senior manager) that you are a 'cut above' and are indeed on the 'fast track' to professional success. Students are encouraged to share their observations, analyses and experiences via formal presentation or class discussion, but it is important to keep remarks relevant, timely, and constructive.

Punctuality and time management are crucial to professionalism. Please note that all deadlines are final. Thus, please manage your time wisely.

Cell phones, beepers, other electronic communications devices are not to be used during class. Please do not bring them or turn them 'off' before entering the class.

If a medical or personal emergency causes you to miss a session, get the notes of the class from a colleague and consult your syllabus for the next set of assignments.

Reading and reflecting upon real world marketing problems enhances your marketing education and since this is an 'applied' course, you should always be prepared to discuss the required readings. You should analyze and discuss cases with your team, before class. Usually there will be a brief presentation by a team, but this presentation, merely introduces the case for further discussion. The responsibility will be on the class, not the instructor for analyzing the cases/topics. Students who are unprepared to discuss a case or the assigned topic waste valuable class time, jeopardize their class professionalism grade, and risk embarrassment. Don't short-change your education or risk embarrassment: Prepare.

Team Case Presentation & Exercises            10%

A team will (1) initiate the discussion of one case or (2) select a topic or market analysis tool, analyze and/or apply that topic or tool within a 'real-world' context and discuss it's appropriateness/effectiveness (your topic must be relevant to one of the subheadings for which we do not have a HBS case; that is, do not pick a topic for the same day we have a group case presentation). Topics might include Vals or Vals2, applications of previously learned tools to contemporary topics. Your presentation, analysis and recommendation will be evaluated by the instructor and your colleagues).

Team Projects (presentation & report)                   35%

Students, historically, have found the project to be one of the most valuable and rewarding parts of the course. The project may take several forms. You may determine a market opportunity/challenge and provide recommendations to the "firm;" you may develop a marketing plan for a product or service of your choice; you may negotiate with your instructor some other project. Whatever form the project takes it must incorporate fundamental course concepts --and thus demonstrate depth and breadth of understanding-- and be relevant to your professional growth. To demonstrate proactive learning, external sources must contribute to your final document and they must be cited, accordingly.

This will be a team effort and note that team members are responsible for managing group dynamics and for producing a "quality product." At the conclusion of the course each team member will be required to assess the contributions made by his/her teammates. Occasionally we will use class time to allow groups to discuss emerging project issues.

A 1-page executive summary will be submitted as part of this requirement. A 5-10 page articulation of the course model also is required. Students must include a reference page (or pages) and appropriate appendices to illuminate and to clarify text. Among the appendices will be copies of all slides you present. These are due the day of the oral presentations. Report and appendices format will be discussed in class. As part of this project, you and the members of your group are to prepare one 20-30 minute oral presentation to the class. This presentation will be evaluated on the basis of overall communication effectiveness, the degree to which course concepts are integrated into the presentation, and time management. The specific format of the presentation and the document will be discussed in class.

Grades:

Each course requirement is weighted. You will receive an accumulation of points over the course of the semester for each requirement. You will not be "graded" as such; that is you will not receive an "A", "B", etc. until the end of the course. Please note that I do not change grades unless I have made an arithmetic error on an individual requirement. This policy is based on the fact that assignments and exams are graded in the context of performances by your peers, and it is unfair to re'examine and thus to reward outside this context. Also note that I do not deliberately grade on a statistical curve. If everyone in the class performs brilliantly, everyone receives an "A." If everyone performs less than brilliantly, everyone receives less than an "A."

And finally

The shared Odyssey of your instructors has brought them to the Harvard FETP because we have a keen scholarly interest in Viet Nam. We sincerely believe that, for a number of reasons, this institution is uniquely qualified to offer extraordinary learning opportunities, to the benefit of Viet Nam and the global community. We hope you share our enthusiasm for the FETP and these opportunities, and we look forward to working with you.