Marketing Strategy

3 credits · GSB

This course demonstrates the role of marketing within the firm and teaches students to make core marketing decisions with a quantitative, data-driven approach. Students learn to control the elements of the marketing mix (product policy, channels of distribution, communication, and pricing) to satisfy customer needs profitably. A central focus is how to design marketing strategies and measure their effectiveness through experimentation and causal inference. The course combines case discussions with lectures. Cases come from both U.S. and international markets and span many industries. They are chosen to illustrate timeless marketing problems in various contexts. Lectures build the quantitative tools behind the cases: conjoint analysis, price optimization, customer lifetime value, optimal targeting, and A/B testing for advertising measurement. The course treats the social impact of marketing as part of strategy. Data privacy, governance, and the ethics and fairness of data-driven decision-making come up throughout the cases and tools. Coursework includes case assignments and some quantitative assignments.