Session 6: Global Marketing & Sales

Date:  Thursday, January 23, 2020

Summary

This session examines strategy and entrepreneurship including the concepts of disruptive innovations and marketing. During the first part of the session, the importance and implications of the technology adoption life cycle are examined. We also survey the key elements of entrepreneurial marketing, including a compelling product/ strategy, product/market fit, a well-crafted positioning statement, competitive differentiation, and a subsequent go-to-market strategy including distribution, promotion, and pricing.

We will also the rise of social marketing and marketing as a set of relationships and alliances with customers, technology allies, distribution and promotion partners, and even competitors.  As time allows, we will investigate the importance of  “thinking globally” from a startup’s perspective.

Quote of the day: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

OAP Term Project

You should decide the idea your team will pursue as part of the OAP. Submit a short description of your idea via Canvas (one submission per team).

Study Questions 

(Policy on Study Questions.)

  • What makes marketing so difficult and important in a startup?  What is its relative importance to the product development and sales functions?  Moreover, what is the difference between a market analysis and a marketing strategy?
  • What is a positioning statement and why is it important?
  • What is a discontinuous (disruptive) innovation?
  • What is the impact of social media on sales and marketing?
  • How does a startup go global?

Guests

Lynda Kate Smith and Marcelo Barbara

Required Readings 

(Policy on Required Readings.)

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