Providing technologically progressive programs and services designed to enhance the skills and competencies of university students and working professionals in the five-county region.

We achieve this through a variety of flexible partnerships, programs, and scholarship within a "second circle" model that bridges the university and the domestic and international community.

The course will provide you with an understanding of the knowledge, insights, tools, and techniques that constitute the strategic planning process in marketing. The course will provide you with the information necessary to make informed product, promotion, distribution and pricing decisions. The course will also provide information, insights and understanding required for decisions concerned with the identification and selection of target markets and the strategies appropriate for identifying and capitalizing on market opportunities.

This is an INTERNET COURSE. This means that the course will be offered wholly on the Internet. As such, an independent study format will generally be used. The text, reading and other online materials will be broken up into modules. Accordingly, each week's materials will be presented in one or more modules. (Please review the browser information on the web site. You may also want to test your online skills by working through the online tutorial provided).

Each week the instructor will address any problems that you may have experienced with the material. A discussion of the issues and subject matter will be prompted by but not confined to the questions and issues assigned for the class or by student questions. Student questions, comments, and or observations should be posted on the class Web Board and will form one aspect of the participation element of the classroom experience. WebBoard discussions will be prompted by but not confined to the material and thoughts contained within specific assignments or assigned readings.

Each student is required to actively participate in this aspect of the class experience. It is important that your WebBoard participation be reflective of the materials from the modules, the assigned textbook chapters and outside readings. In graduate classes, most learning should occur outside the classroom. The WebBoard sessions should be regarded as an opportunity to put the pieces of your "marketing knowledge" together in a meaningful and coherent manner. Feel free to bring discussion points, cloudy issues, or answers to the attention of the class by posting those issues on the WebBoard. You will submit written (typed) summaries of assigned readings at the beginning of each week. Your weekly submissions are due via e-mail (hrogers@fgcu.edu) by 11:00 p.m. each Sunday night (see course schedule for due dates). These will be graded and will form part of your semester grade.

I print and grade your assignments. The grades will be posted to the grade book located in ANGEL. If you would like to receive the hard copy of the graded paper please send me your mailing address (that is --- your US Postal Service address).

Electronic based lecture/discussion, and individualized learning formats will be used in this course. Readings, quizzes, and written reports make-up the primary assignments in this course. Each student is required to prepare three page max (typed and double spaced) summaries of assigned readings. Auxiliary readings will be assigned on a regular basis. Students are also required to fully participate in web-board discussions as this is part of the participation grade. I will be following the weekly discussions and will assign the participation grade based on the quantity and quality of your weekly participation.

Once a (Wednesday's from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. - starting on August 25, 2004) week students will be involved in a one (1) hour on-line chat session. This one-hour chat is VOLUNTARY. Please note that your readings and assignments tend to be "front loaded." By that I mean that hopefully the course load gets lighter as we get further into the semester. This should run counter to most of your other classes and allow you time to keep up with the increasing course load in your other classes.

My approach to this course is to have you, the student, work through the material to better understand and appreciate the role of marketing within the organization.

By the end of the semester students will be able to:

• Differentiate between and discuss the elements of marketing.
• Identify and discuss the elements of the environment and their relationship to the practice of marketing.
• Define market segmentation and discuss the various methods of segmenting markets and identifying target markets.
• Differentiate between the concepts of mass marketing, segmentation, target marketing, differentiation and positioning.
• Identify and discuss the steps in the marketing research process
• Discuss the consumer decision marking process
• Discuss various methods of classifying products
• Discuss the Product Life Cycle as it relates to the development of marketing strategy
• Discuss the market entry strategies open to firms wishing to become involved in international marketing.
• Discuss some of the basic issues involved in developing and executing a marketing strategy.
• Discuss a framework and the theoretical perspectives relevant to making ethical marketing decisions
• Discuss the issues relevant to developing new products and setting branding strategy
• Discuss the differences between goods and services and designing and managing services
• Discuss the pricing element of the marketing mix and the development of pricing strategies and programs
• Discuss the development and management of marketing channel networks
• Discuss the elements involved in the development and management of the marketing communication mix