Developing Marketing Strategies with a Marketing Simulation Tool in a Postgraduate IT Class

Abstract

The paper examines the outcomes of running a specialized marketing simulation tool in the classes of Postgraduate IT students for a period of three consecutive academic years. A segmentation of the developed marketing strategies is provided in order to consider the performance mode of IT students in playing the simulation and the learning objectives they pursue by means of 'concrete experience' paradigm. A qualitative assessment has been made and the outcomes convincingly reveal that students do not "think about the whole picture" of building up a marketing strategy and respectively execute it in a short-or medium-term tactical pace. IT students begin playing the simulation with a strategic view often maintaining the status-quo position of the company under consideration. Their playing decisions are primarily based on checking out the dashboards of profitability and customer satisfaction in each quarter that notably reflects the direction-up and down-of their inputs. That feedback has made them encouraged or discouraged to continue, rather than to test the marketing strategy in an integrated manner.