MSMI 601 - Foundations of MI

Unit(s): 2

Business decisions and marketing efforts have historically been based on experience and intuition. While these will always remain important elements of business decision-making, there has been a tidal shift toward data-driven decision making. This class will be a deep and hands-on exploration of marketing intelligence - how information is collected, analyzed, synthesized and applied to business decisions. In many ways, this process is the scientific method applied to business problems: framing issues, generating hypotheses, operationalizing concepts, collecting data, analysis, interpretation, action, ROI-measurement. Throughout the course, the emphasis will be on synthesizing marketing intelligence from multiple sources, and using the resulting insights to inform business decisions. To put this approach into practice, students will select a company or brand at the beginning of the course that they will study in-depth throughout the course. Students will apply each week’s lesson to their brand. The final project for the course will be a 15-minute slide-based presentation that synthesizes available marketing intelligence about the brand, and makes data-driven recommendations for the brand’s business/marketing strategies. Students will mine available secondary research sources, and will have access to sources of digital information about selected brands (such as web traffic, online transactions, app usage, etc.). Students may also have the opportunity to collect primary survey data relevant to their brand.

Restriction: Field of Study restricted to Marketing Intelligence Major
School of Management