Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(3 Credits)
Facilitator:
Prof. Sanjeev Varshney
sanjeevvarshney@xlri.ac.in;
Phone (O): 3168
Introduction:
Consumer Behaviour aims at appreciating, understanding and integrating various concepts from
behavioral sciences (Psychology & Sociology) as applied to marketing so as to design and
develop effective marketing programs. The course aims to take a self & group learning approach,
at the end of which you will be able to critically evaluate various marketing programs from a
customers stand point. The course will introduce various domains along with new paradigms
being used to discover the world of consumer behavior and decision making with regard to the
purchase of various products and services. It will also introduce you to various methods,
techniques and tools as well as frameworks to understand consumer behaviour. Efficacy of these
frameworks will be established through examples and case studies and exercises in the class.
Final peg in the boat of learning will be through hands-on experience in understanding consumer
behaviour via means of a live project.
Objectives
At the end of the course it is expected that the students will be proficient and knowledgeable
about the various disciplines contribution in understanding buyer behaviour in a holistic manner.
They will be familiar with the advances in consumer research in deciphering buyer motivation,
and behaviour (pre-purchase, purchase and post purchase) and impact of social and cultural
variables on consumption decisions. Further they will be equipped with frameworks to analyse
consumer behaviour and use them in designing marketing strategies and in enhancing the
effectiveness of marketing programmes.
Learning Goal:
Functional Knowledge: (a) Students will appreciate the consumer decisions and their impact on
marketing strategy (b) Students will demonstrate their proficiency in the fundamental facts related to
the consumer behaviour (c) Students will demonstrate that they can explain how consumer decisions
are made and how does its understanding affects marketing functions and strategy and business in
totality.
Pre-read: Students are expected to revise their learnings from QT 2 and BRM course and also
go through various market research techniques.
Books & Readings:
For the purpose of this course any one of the following book shall be used as the textbook:
Hawkins, D.I. et al., (2013), Consumer Behaviour: Building Marketing Strategy, 12th
edition, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi
Other Books
Schiffman, L.G. & Kanuk, L.L., (2007), Consumer Behaviour, 9 th edition, Prentice Hall of
India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
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Loudon, D.L. and Bitta, A.J. D. (2002 ), Consumer Behavior, 4th ed., Tata McGraw Hill,
New Delhi
In addition, the CB handout provides many classic articles and fresh research studies & papers.
Additional readings will be provided as separate handouts wherever necessary. You are also
expected to keep yourself abreast of the recent developments in the world of business using the
lens of Marketing & Consumer Behaviour by reading current business magazines.
Pedagogy:
Pedagogy for this course will be a mix of lectures, videos, role plays, in-class exercises, group
work, research work and class participation based on reasoning. Class will be divided into
groups of exactly 6 people each.
To benefit from this rich mix of pedagogical tools, the students are required to go thru the given
readings and cases for each class.
Evaluation:
Your performance will be evaluated on the following components. (However, if some
components are not seen leading to the desired learning effect, mid course correction and
alteration would be done)
Case Analysis & Class Participation
Assignments
Mid Term
Project/Video
End Term Exam
Total
10%
10%
20%
25%
35%
100%
Individual groups are expected to carry out case analysis and submit one page case review
summary. Soft copy of the same should be submitted before 4.00 am on the day of class. While
submitting soft copy please mention mail subject line as Group No 4B: Name of the Case and
in the body of the submission do not forget to mention name of the Group with section and
members of the group along with their Roll Nos.
Any group can be asked to brief the case, analyse and lead the discussion in the class. While
doing so you are expected to present case facts and analysis along with details of theory being
used for the purpose of analysis. Focus less on recommendations. All other students are expected
to participate in discussion with their analysis on hand.
Marks for case analysis will be divided in the following manner:
Case submission and presentation :
50%
Participation in open discussion:
50%
Note: At any moment of time if it is felt by the instructor that desired output is not achieved by
the above mentioned style of case discussion, format will be changed along with the distribution
of marks.
Mid-term: There will be a MCQ based mid-term exam covering case facts, readings and
theoretical and practical issues
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Part I
Part II
Heading
Session
13th session
19th session
Unit
of Weightage
Analysis
Group
10 marks
Group
15 marks
In completing your project work, please follow the instructions given below. Ignoring any
of the rules below will lead to a deduction of 2 points as penalty for each rule:
1. Do not violate the page limit and pages must be numbered.
2. Do not use a file cover or assignment cover. Only staple your assignment pages.
3. Include a running header with your Group No, Section and product name as: Group No 4BBritannia Biscuits.
4. Text must be double spaced, use New Times Roman fonts number 12, 1 inch margins all
around.
5. Do not leave too much white space between the two paragraphs
Alternative - Video
Group can decide to prepare a video on any relevant issue of Consumer Behaviour.
The group is expected to choose any concept in Consumer behaviour on which they will like to
prepare a video and submit the idea in a one page note format by 4 th session. The same has to be
approved by the course facilitator before you proceed ahead.
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Mid term review of your video will be done by 13 th session and the final submission has to be
made by 19th session.
Video will be evaluated for your creativity, relevance, innovativeness, quality of the video,
research and depiction (story line etc.). It has to be in a documentary format.
The length of the video should not exceed 15 min by any chance.
Few selected videos will be submitted for next ACB conference along with the name of the
faculty as guide. This will be done provided they meet the requirement of the conference. Please
ensure that the concept you choose is novel, researchable, and the story has not been copied.
Policy on Plagiarism:
All submissions will be compulsory subjected to the evaluation by Plagiarism Software
subscribed by the institute. Any report or submission found to be having more than 40%
copied component will be directly given F in that component and the case will be
recommended to the Academic Council for further disciplinary action. This will apply for
both individual and group submissions. In case of group submissions entire group will be
penalized for all such submissions.
Grading:
Some of the basic rules are as follows:
1. Evaluated answer scripts of mid-term and end term will be shown to the students and
time will be given to them to come back for any clarification or doubts.
2. Marks of class participation and assignments will be calculated at the end of course.
3. Faculty will make all attempts to declare minimum of 30% marks before end term exam.
4. Total of marks will be displayed to all the students before releasing final grades. Any
corrections or doubts have to be discussed at that time only.
5. Grades based on these final marks will be prerogative of the faculty and will be directly
submitted to the Deans office.
6. While releasing grades institute guidelines will be kept in mind and class will be
compulsorily divided into minimum of 6 grade points. Final criteria and highest and
lowest marks for each grade point will be decided at the time of finalizing the grades only
and is the prerogative of the course faculty.
Course Outline:
Session plan along with issues to be discussed and readings for each of the session are given
below. Students are expected to come prepared with readings and assignments/cases for
discussion in class without any further notice. Submissions have to be strictly made as per
session plan.
Module I
Session 1:
Introduction
Consumer Behaviour - An Introduction & Key Foundations
Reading: Course Outline & Chapter 1 of Text book.
o Holbrook, M.B. & Hirschman, E.(1982), The Experiential Aspects of
Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings and Fun, Journal of Consumer
Research, 9(September), 132-140.
o Vanessa A. Tetteh (2016), Consumer Behavior Overview, Research Starters,
1-5.
Module II
Session 2:
Session 3 &4: Information Gathering & Evaluation: Perceptual Mapping & Positioning: Value
perception
Information Search, Defining criterion for choice, mapping perceptions and value
perceptions of consumers. Evaluation rules used by consumers. Mapping
attributes, comparison of brands, positioning options, product and promotions
related strategies. Perceived value components, generating attribute lists, mapping
methods.
Reading: Chapter 4 & 10 of Text Book
Analysing Consumer Perceptions by Robert Dolan (2001), HBR, December.
Baba Shiva & Alexander Fedorikhin (1999), Heart and Mind in Conflict: The
Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making, JCR,
26(December), 278-292.
Case 1: Reviving the T8
Session 5 & 6: Consumer Expectations & Perceptions: Satisfaction & Value
Postpurchase Processes, Measuring satisfaction and value, Appreciative
Inquiry,Value/Satisfaction delivery process and programs. Satisfaction and
retention. Quality and satisfaction
Readings: Chapter 3 of Text Book
Oliver, R.L. (1993), Cognitive, Affective and Attribute Bases of the
Satisfaction Response, JCR, 20(December), pp.418-430.
Arnould, E.J. & Price, L.L. (1993), River Magic: Extraordinary Experience
and the Extended Service Encounter, JCR, 20(June), 24-45.
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Session 8:
Temporal, social, physical, task, purchase, usage, disposition and other antecedent
states. Store choice behavior.
Readings: Chapter 13 of the Book by Hawkins et.al. (2007) (Tata McGraw Hill)
Belk, R.W. (1975), Situational Variables and Consumer Behaviour, JCR,
Vol. 2(December), 157-164.
Class exercise: Discussion on Visual merchandising and its impact
Module VI
Session 14:
Session 15:
Session 16:
Session 17:
Module V
Session 18:
Session 20: