BUSN612 - Managing Market Environments

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Teaching organisation

150 hours over a twelve-week semester or equivalent study period

Unit rationale, description and aim

The aim of this unit is to enhance knowledge of external environments in which organisations operate and apply this knowledge to activities relevant to the marketing function.

Organisations need to evaluate, analyse and respond to external forces. Key amongst the environments within which organisations operate are legal, political, economic and consumer environments. This unit considers the required knowledge effective managers need for analysing the challenges of the changing external environment by learning strategies to support effective decision-making in Marketing, Business Law and Economics.

This unit also develops an understanding of the potential risks and opportunities of doing business in competitive consumer and business markets. Key legislative and economic frameworks relevant to business, with a particular emphasis on consumer and business law perspectives, are considered. The knowledge applied is relevant to the outwardly focused management function of marketing.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Evaluate key legal dimensions of organisational marketplace actions (GA5)

LO2 - Critically appraise the main concepts in economics including basic economic analysis and key market structures (GA4, GA5)

LO3 - Synthesise and evaluate core marketing models and concepts for sustainable business and social outcomes (GA5, GA8)

LO4 - Select and use analytical skills for informed marketing decision-making (GA5, GA6)

LO5 - Apply effective verbal and nonverbal communication skills, both individually and collaboratively (GA5, GA9).

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account  

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include:

• fundamentals of legal and regulatory business compliance in Australia
• key economic theories
• types of competition
• individual respect and diversity at marketplace
• introduction to marketing and the consumer orientation
• business sustainability and social issues in market environment
• the marketing mix
• segmentation, targeting and positioning
• marketing research
• professional marketing presentation and communication

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Attendance mode

This unit takes an active learning approach to guide students in the analysis and synthesis of knowledge associated with the interaction of external environments on organisational business functions. Students are able to explore the knowledge base underpinning markets, economics and business law in a series of workshops. These workshops allow students to actively acquire knowledge both individually and collaboratively. Students will systematically develop their understanding of the impact of changes in the macro and micro (market/industry) environments on the organisation’s marketing (and other) operations. Students will acquire economic, legal, regulatory and marketing knowledge useful in analysing business actions in the marketplace. In doing so, individual and collaborative verbal and non-verbal communication skills are developed.

ACU Online

This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to the discipline. Students are provided with choice and variety in how they learn. Students are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions. Active learning opportunities provide students with opportunities to practice and apply their learning in situations similar to their future professions. Activities encourage students to bring their own examples to demonstrate understanding, application and engage constructively with their peers. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. Such procedures may include, but are not limited to: essays, reports, examinations, student presentations or case studies.

To pass this unit, students must demonstrate competence in all learning outcomes and achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50%. Marking will be in accordance with a rubric specifically developed to measure students’ level of achievement of the learning outcomes for each item of assessment. Students will be awarded a final grade which signifies their overall achievement in the unit.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Armstrong G, Adam S, Denize S, Volkov M, and Kotler P, 2017, Principles of Marketing, 7th edition, Pearson.

Ciro T, Goldwasser V & Verma R 2019, Law and business, 4th edn, Oxford University Press, Sydney.

Davenport, S., & Parker, D. (2020). Business and law in Australia (2nd ed., Thomas Reuters)

Gans, J King, S Stonecash, RE & Mankiw, N 2018, Principles of economics, 6th edn, Cengage Learning Australia, Melbourne.

Gibson A & Fraser D 2019, Business Law, 2019, 11th edn, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney

Hollensen, S. (2019). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.

Hubbard, G Lewis, L 2018, Essentials of Economics, 4th ed. Pearson, Frenchs Forest

Layton, A, Robinson, T & Tucker, IB 2018, Economics for today: Fifth Asia Pacific edition, 6th edn, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne, VIC.

Park, S. (2020). Marketing management (Vol. 3). Seohee Academy.

Terry A & Guigni D 2019, Business and the law, 7th edn, Cengage Learning Australia, Melbourne.