Marketing

Do you have a science background and now stepping into a role that touches marketing?
The overall objective of the course is to study the application of marketing principles, strategies and tactics in specific markets. Many people associate marketing with commerials, social media, and salespeople. We observe these marketing elements every day: in the cinema, in public transport, while browsing the web, and when we go out for shopping. This course familiarizes you with basic marketing concepts – which includes a lot more than promotion and ‘making things look pretty’.

According to the American Marketing Association, marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. In brief, marketing is about understanding what customers – individuals or businesses – need, or what they could need given their situation and ambitions. Companies can meet customer needs in multiple ways, for example by targeting people with specific interests, by developing the best products, by setting up loyalty programs, by providing outstanding services, by maintaining an excellent distribution system, by being the cheapest, and usually by a combination of such elements. Marketing management focuses upon the way companies identify markets for their products, how they position and promote their products, and how they sell their products. As a field of research and practice, marketing is a rich discipline with many specialized and emerging topics. Therefore, during the course we will also pay attention to some of these more advanced and emerging marketing concepts.

This course is part of the master Science & Business Management and specifically designed for participants without a background in the subject matter and with a focus on organizations that operate in (life) science sectors. Participant will be in a mixed classroom with master students.

On completion of the course, you will be able to:

• Understand the fundamental theory, principles, and concepts of marketing.
• Evaluate established and emerging marketing topics.
• Appraise current-day marketeer issues, (potential) risks, and challenges, that need to be mitigated or addressed by marketing management.
• Apply core marketing terminology, strategies, and tactics appropriately and effectively.

This course is aimed at professionals working in healthcare science, with a bachelor’s/master’s degree (or even PhD) in the science field and with an interest in the business side of organizations.

5 weeks, 2 contact moments of 2 hours + 14 hours of work in between per week

Exam / final assessment in week 6

This face-to-face course is offered via lectures and tutorials on-campus, which require your physical attendance (mandatory). nly 1 seminar needs to be attended, either choose Seminar 1 or Seminar 2 from the schedule.

Alongside these, participants are expected to dedicate approximately 14 hours per week to self-study, individual assignments and groupwork on projects. Questions on theory and exercises can be posted on the appropriate forum on the university digital learning environment (Brightspace) or asked during the lectures or tutorials. The exam will be on location (i.e. not online).

To enroll in this course, you need to have:

• Dutch residency
• Master Degree in Life Sciences or Natural Sciences, with graduation date <10 years
• No previous formal education or work experience in the course topic

For this course, you will need:

• Book: Fahy, J. and Jobber, D (2022). Foundations of Marketing (seventh edition). London: McGraw-Hill Education

Please note that this course is part of an existing program within the Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) in collaboration with the Graduate School of Life Sciences. Tuitition fees may alter during the year.

General questions

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Content questions

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