Marketing

Course Director: Kaisa Koskela-Huotari

Marketing is what drives the key numbers behind any business—whether it’s revenue, profit, or customer lifetime value. The figures you have encountered in accounting and finance courses originate from marketing activities: understanding customer needs, generating demand, and creating value. But marketing is more than a set of operational tools—it is a strategic discipline that shapes how organizations compete, grow, and sustain success. Business leaders rely on marketing insights to answer fundamental questions: Which customers should we serve? How do we create and communicate value? How can we build strong brands and relationships in a rapidly changing marketplace?

BE0201 Marketing provides the essential foundation for understanding how marketing fuels business performance and informs strategic decision-making. Through a combination of interactive lectures and hands-on seminars, students will explore key marketing concepts such as customer behavior, segmentation, positioning, branding, and value propositions. Lectures are designed to be engaging and participatory, incorporating quizzes, polls, mini-assignments, and discussions (in both one-to-one and bee hive formats) to deepen understanding and encourage active learning.

Seminars complement the lectures by offering students the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios. A central theme in the seminars is the use of AI tools in marketing—students will critically examine how AI can support tasks such as content creation, customer analysis, and campaign design. Importantly, they will learn to evaluate and enhance AI-generated outputs using the marketing knowledge and strategic thinking developed throughout the course. This approach fosters both digital literacy and marketing expertise, preparing students to work effectively in increasingly tech-driven environments.

By the end of the course, students will not only master the foundational tools and language of marketing but also appreciate its strategic importance across industries and sectors. Marketing is a core driver of competitive advantage, and understanding its principles is essential for anyone aspiring to lead, innovate, or influence business decisions. Whether students pursue careers in business, consulting, entrepreneurship, or other fields, this course equips them with a marketing mindset: the ability to identify customer needs, craft compelling value propositions, and make informed decisions in the marketplace.

As the only mandatory marketing course in the curriculum, BE0201 Marketing ensures that all students—regardless of their specialization—gain a solid grounding in the discipline and can apply marketing thinking to diverse professional contexts. It serves as a gateway to more advanced marketing studies and provides a strategic lens that complements and enriches knowledge from other business areas.

Course Administrator: Rebecca.Gruvhammar@hhs.se

After completing this course, students are expected to be able to:

• Explain the meaning of foundational concepts, theories, and methods in marketing, and evaluate and discuss their relevance and appropriate application in different business contexts.
• Apply marketing conceps and theories in practice to analyze challenges faced by companies and other organizations, and develop and justify solutions from a marketing perspective.

General entry requirements

Textbook:

Baines, P., Whitehouse, S., Rosengren, S., & Antonetti, P. (2025). Fundamentals of Marketing (3rd Ed.). Oxford University Press.

Note that additional readings and resources can be provided throughout the course to deepen understanding and connect core concepts to real-world contexts.

The assessment for BE0201 Marketing consists of three components:

• Written Exam - 75 points
• Seminar Assignment - 5 points
• Case Assignment - 20 points

The written exam is individual and includes both multiple-choice and essay questions. All course materials—including the textbook and additional materials related to lectures, guest lectures, and seminars—are examinable.

The seminar and case assignments are group-based and designed to reinforce practical application of marketing concepts.

Find the course schedule in TimeEdit

Have you been granted educational support because of a documented disability? If so, please contact the course director as soon as possible so that adequate accommodations can be made.

Contact specialneeds@hhs.se if you have questions about being granted educational support or need a copy of your educational support certificate.

For more information, visit the Specific Educational Needs page on the Student Hub (login required).