Week 1 – Concept of Strategy, External Analysis and Internal Analysis This class is going to be centered around reading classic business strategy readings and then analyzing them. The first reading was from Porter and was his classic “What is Strategy” which I found interesting. The readings were well chosen I thought, with Collis’ “Can …
Week 5 – Efficiently Communicating Your Branded Message to Target Customers We review advertising, market communications, integrated market communications (IMC), owned/paid/earned media, and social media. There is a lot of work this week it feels. There is a reading quiz, two module assignments, a reflection post, and two extra credit posts. I believe the professor …
Week 4 – Setting Prices and Designing the Optimal Distribution Channel to Access your Target Customers We study pricing, which I find interesting. We get into pricing metrics and psychological pricing. We review break-even and cost plus pricing, which I’ve studied in Finance and Accounting previously. We review distributions channels, supply chains, push/pull strategies, the …
Week 3 – Developing and Maximizing the Product Offering for your Target Customers We study product, how core, primary and augmented product relate to each other. We study goods and services. We dive deep into branding, branding elements, identity, collateral, personality, and various strategies. We look at new products and innovation, including new product development …
Week 2 – Segmenting the Marketplace to Find and Reach your Target Customers We learn about segmentation and targeting strategies. We develop target personas that might use the products of our employers. We review positioning and repositioning strategies. We end the week with a good understanding of STP – Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning. I meet …
Week 1 – Creating Marketing Strategies to Match the Behavior of Your Customers The first week of class and it is going to be an interesting session. This is the course they warn you about in the program due to the amount of work that is due, and there is a lot of work. I …
Week 5 – Capital Budgeting and Cash Flow Analysis Our last week of class and the professor kindly is allowing us to finish the weekend with our exams. Usually we have until Friday of the fifth week and it makes it very difficult, but thankfully two extra days means I can catch up on Saturday. …
Week 4 – Fixed Income Securities and Common Stock Securities – Valuations We learned how to value bonds and common stocks and I learned a lot about bonds especially. It’s always been an unknown for me, but now I can calculate the value based on interest rates and how yields work. The latter always confused …
Week 3 – Analysis of Risk and Return We dive into risk assessment and portfolio diversification. I understand now how systematic risk can affect securities and how inflation and interest rates can affect values. I also took what I learned here as an impetus to diversify my own private stock portfolio, which is mostly relegated …
Week 2 – The Time Value of Money Oh how I love the time value of money. This time around I felt totally at east with the subject matter. I did purchase a Business Analyst calculator. I found my original calculator from 20+ years ago but the battery was dead and the screws were stripped. …