Course syllabus

Course-PM

TEK262 TEK262 Business marketing and purchasing lp2 HT26 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Technology Management And Economics

Examiner and course responsible teacher

Ala Arvidsson

E-mail: alap@chalmers.se

Division of Supply and Operations Management,

Department of Technology Management and Economics    

Teachers

Ru Chen

E-mail: ruche@chalmers.se

Dawid Pasternak

E-mail: dawidp@chalmers.se

Luciana Alcantara

E-mail: luciana.alcantara@chalmers.se        

 

Course objectives                     

This course examines business marketing and purchasing through a relationship and network perspective, emphasizing how firms create value through interactions with customers, suppliers and other actors in interconnected business networks. The business processes will be studied from the perspectives of both selling and buying firms. After the course students should be able to:

• Describe central features of business markets
• Assess the purchasing strategies and processes of buying firms
• Analyze different marketing situations and their characteristics for the selling firms
• Explain and analyze the role of business relationships and business networks
• Evaluate the role of the extended business networks in marketing, purchasing and the relationship
• Frame sustainability as part of the current business landscape
• Reflect on the impact and role of digitalization for business marketing and purchasing

AI use

The use of generative AI tools is not permitted in the writing or creation of any material submitted for assessment in this course. Students may use AI tools as part of their learning. However, any ideas, analyses, arguments, and conclusions presented in assessed work must be the students' own. Where AI has been used as a learning aid, students are expected to clearly state how it was used and provide a critical reflection on the AI-generated output, including which aspects they agree with, disagree with, or have modified, and why.

 

Course content

Business processes between firms are studied from different perspectives and with different emphases across academic disciplines. A basic point-of-departure in these courses is that the efforts of a selling firm are directed towards satisfying needs, or solving problems, for potential customers. A vast number of activities and functions are included in the general notion of “marketing” or “purchasing”. These functions cover identification and analysis of needs, product development, communication, organizing of distribution and activities brought to life after the formal business transaction, such as after-sales-services, warranties, and product responsibilities. The magnitude and variety of these activities and processes make planning a central issue, involving various actions from the formulation of a business mission, strategy and particular tactics. The course aims to provide students with models and analytical tools that contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of buyer-seller operations.

Successfully applying these models and tools will require knowledge and abilities in, firstly, the organization on the seller and the customer side, in terms of their needs and problems, their use context as well as their behavior and strategies. Firms most often act both as sellers and buyers on business markets and their marketing and purchasing activities are thus highly interlinked. The second area concerns the interaction and the relationship between buyer and seller in the business processes. Relationships between customers and suppliers in business markets are often characterized by mutual adaptations in terms of product features, technical development, production systems, and distribution arrangements. These adaptations are means for improving the performance of the operations of the two firms. Business relationships and their development and features are, therefore, basic themes in the course. One significant aspect of a business relationship is that it must be analyzed in its business network context since both the buyer and the seller are involved in other relationships as well.

 

Teaching and learning forms

Lectures: The course schedule is divided into lectures and group sessions with teachers from Chalmers and guest speakers from industry. Lectures will be a combination of lectures and discussions of the course literature. Therefore, it is expected that students have gone through and are familiar with the content of the part of the literature that is allocated to the various sessions.

Group work: The Sustainability Project is another group assignment where the opportunity is given to focus on sustainability in the business landscape. Sustainability in relation to the supplier relationships and networks focusing on the textile and manufacturing industries or your own choosing. The group assignment is designed in such a way that it is possible to have a broader sustainability focus in either of those industries or to go in-depth in one case in those industries.

Seminars: In the course, the students will get the chance to discuss different topics in class in smaller groups. Participation in the case seminar session is part of the examination. You will submit hand-ins for each seminar that will also be graded.

Learning logs: The students are expected to hand-in a reflective written learning log of their learning related to the topics of the modules at the end of the course. The purpose of the learning log is to encourage students to critically reflect on how course concepts relate to business practice and their own learning. These learnings will be graded and part of the examination.

 

Examination

The examination involves the following parts:

 

-  Written examination                        Maximum score: 40 points    

-  Sustainability Project                      Maximum score: 30 points

-  Discussion seminars                        Maximum score: 20 points (5, 5, 5, 5)

- Learning log             Maximum score: 10 points

                                                            Maximum points: 100 points     

 

Grades:            40 %: 40+ = grade 3  60 %: 60+ = grade 4          80 %: 80+ = grade 5

Passing the course will require a minimum of 40% of the score in the written exam (16 points), and the discussion seminars (8 points).

Changes made since the last occasion

A summary of changes made since the last occasion.