Unit name | Understanding Customers, Consumers and Markets |
---|---|
Unit code | EFIMM0058 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | M/7 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. David M Evans |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Management - Business School |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Understanding customers, consumers and markets is an essential part of the marketing process and function. This core unit equips students with the knowledge and skills to analyse markets and recognise the range of actors within them. It encourages students to distinguish between the concepts of customers and consumers, evaluate a range of approaches to consumption, and explore the different ways in which ‘markets’ can be defined and understood. The unit will draw on a range of disciplines from psychology and economics, through neuroscience and STS (Science and Technology Studies), to sociology and anthropology. Students are encouraged to explore actors’ motivations when entering a market and to analyse the factors that frame the encounter between supply and demand. They analyse the different ways consumers behave across a range of contexts, within and beyond markets. Students are then required to reflect critically on the relationships between markets, marketing and consumption.
On completion of this unit, students will be able to:
ILO 01: Consider and distinguish between a range of approaches to the concepts of customers, consumers and markets.
ILO 2: Analyse a given market environment and appraise the range of factors that might affect the behaviour of actors within it.
ILO 3: Demonstrate an appreciation of how an understanding of customers, consumers and markets contribute to effective marketing practice.
ILO 4: Critically assess the ethical issues associated with marketing practice, its role in the organization of markets, and its influence on the behaviour of consumers and customers.
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions including lectures, tutorials, drop-in sessions, discussion boards and other online learning opportunities
Single invidual assessment incorporating learning portflio & a piece of reflective writing, c. 3000 words (100%). Formative assessment to take many forms including feedback on 1 draft portfolio entry (500 words)
The core text for this unit is:
In addition, it is suggested that students read around the subject and may choose to draw from a range of texts including (but not limited to) the following:
Academic Textbooks
Academic and Practitioner Journals
Other news media