Semester Overview

The module consists of lecture (2 SWS) and tutorial (2 SWS) - Language: German

Goals of the module

The students know central concepts and methods of the subject marketing such as buyer behavior, market research, segmentation, positioning. They are able to analyze and solve conceptual and practical problems with the help of marketing instruments, e.g. the conception of a marketing plan or the development of a marketing mix for a new product.

Target group for the course

• B. Sc. Information Management/ Digital Business Management

• B. Sc. Computer Science

• B. Sc. Business Informatics

• 2-subject Bachelor Management and Economics

• B. Sc. BioGeoSciences

• B. Ed. Economics and Labor
  

Lecture times

Wednesdays, 10:15 - 11:45 a.m., in room D 028.

Practice times (from the 2nd week of lectures)

Group 1: Monday, 12:15 -13:45, in room M 001

Group 2: Monday, 14:15 -15:45, in room F 312

Group 3: Tuesday, 12:15 - 13:45, in room F330

Group 4: Wednesday, 14:15 - 15:45, in room G423

The information about the course times will be sent to you again by e-mail, provided that you have registered for the course in KLIPS.

Exam dates

Examination date (main exam): August 12, 2025 at 10 am in room D 028

Examination date (post-exam): September x, x at x pm in room x

Exam date (combined exam BWL & Marketing): September x, 2025 at x pm in room x

Details about the exam registration will be announced in time during the lecture. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Fabian Brunet (Mail: fbrunet@uni-koblenz.de).

Contents of the lecture

• Basics of marketing

• Consumer behavior

• Market research

• Strategic Marketing

• Customer management

• Marketing mix

• Implementation

Course materials

All necessary course materials are provided on the learning platform OLAT.

Access to the learning area will be provided to all students registered for the lecture during the first week of the lecture. If you have problems with the access data provided or have not received access, please contact Mr. Fabian Brunet (fbrunet@uni-koblenz.de).

Recommended reading

Homburg, C. (2020): Marketingmanagement, 7th edition, Springer Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden

Kotler, P./Armstrong, G./Harris, L. C./Piercy, N. (2019): Fundamentals of marketing, 7th ed, Hallbergmoos.

Assigned teachers

The module consists of lecture (2 SWS) and tutorial (2 SWS) - Language: German

Goals of the module

Students will be able to describe the entire field of (electronic) commerce with a focus on services and e-services. In particular, they understand the role of (Internet) merchants as providers of services. The students are familiar with central terms and concepts from the field of study such as customer satisfaction and loyalty, service quality or customer value and can solve practice-oriented problems. In particular, the students are able to handle typical marketing tasks in retail and service companies with reference to the concepts and methods learned (e.g. conception of a target group-specific communication strategy, implementation of a customer satisfaction survey).

Target group of the course

• B. Sc. Information Management/Digital Business Management

• B. Sc. Business Information Systems

Course schedule

The course is offered in attendance this semester.

Lecture times

Tuesdays, 10:15 - 11:45, in room A 213

Practice times (from the 2nd week of lectures)

Tuesdays, 14:15 -15:45, in room F 312

The information about the course times will be sent to you again by e-mail, provided that you have registered for the course in KLIPS.
If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Fabian Brunet (Mail: fbrunet@uni-koblenz.de).

Exam dates

Main exam: August 05, 2025 at 10 am in room M 001

Post-exam: September x, 2025 at x am in room x

Contents of the lecture

• Definition and relevance of services

• Peculiarities of services marketing

• Special features of trade marketing

• Information basics of trade and services marketing

• Strategic trade and services marketing

• Customer management

• Quality management in trade and services marketing

• Service Excellence
  

Course materials

All lecture and exercise slides will be made available on the learning platform OLAT at least one day before the respective lecture.

Access to the learning area will be provided to all students registered for the lecture by mail or during the first week of the lecture. If you have problems with the access data provided or have not received access, please contact Mr. Fabian Brunet (fbrunet@uni-koblenz.de).

Literature recommendations

• Bruhn, M./Meffert, H./Hadwich, K. (2019). Handbuch Dienstleistungsmarketing: Planung-Umsetzung-Kontrolle, 2nd edition, Springer Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden.

• Lovelock, C.H./Wirtz, J. (2022): Services Marketing, 9th global edition, World Scientific.

• Meffert, H.,/Bruhn, M./Hadwich, K. (2018): Services marketing, fundamentals-concepts-methods, 9th edition, Springer Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden.

Assigned teachers

This submodule consists of a lecture (2 SWS) and is part of the module "Management für IMler/DBMler" resp. "Management für WIler" - Language: English

Aim of the module

The aim of this module is to provide an overview of the basic concepts, challenges, and approaches of Service Excellence. Based on theoretical foundations and established models, essential strategies are presented and linked to the general management perspective of Service Excellence. Students are also taught how to implement Service Excellence from a company's perspective.

Target groups of the module

• M. Sc. Informationsmanagement/Digital Business Management

• M Sc. Wirtschaftsinformatik

Lecture dates

Lecture time:
Wednesdays, 2:15 pm in room A 213

All important information will be shared with you in the first week of the semester, as far as you are registered for the course in KLIPS.

Exam dates

First exam: August 11, 2025 at 10 am in room M 001

Second exam: September x, 2025 at x am in room x

Course outline

1. Service Excellence – An Introduction

2. Customer Delight as the Main Objective of Service Excellence

3. Management of Service Excellence

4. Implementation of Service Excellence

Course material

All course material will be available on our e-learning platform OLAT.

Further information regarding access to OLAT will be given in the first session. If then there is still something left unclear or you are facing problems with OLAT, please contact Mr. Fabian Brunet (mail: fbrunet@uni-koblenz.de).

Recommended literature

• Gouthier, M. (Ed.) (2023). Market Leader through Service Excellence – World-Class Approaches for Managing Excellent Services, Baden-Baden
  

Further readings:

• Asif, M./Gouthier, M.H.J. (2014): What Service Excellence Can Learn from Business Excellence Models, in: Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 25. Jg., Nr. 5-6, Special Issue on “Excellence Models, TQM, and Performance”, S. 511-531.

• Asif, M./Gouthier, M.H.J. (2015): Developing a Self-Diagnostic Framework for Assessing Service Excellence, in: International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 20. Jg., Nr. 4, S. 441-460.

• Bartl, C./Gouthier, M.H.J./Lenker, M. (2013): Delighting Consumers Click by Click: Antecedents and Effects of Delight Online, in: Journal of Service Research (JSR), 16. Jg., Nr. 3, Special Issue on „IT-Related Service: A Multidisciplinary Perspective“, S. 385-398.

• Gouthier, M.H.J./Rhein, M. (2011): Organizational Pride and Its Positive Effects on Employee Behaviour, in: Journal of Service Management, 22. Jg., Nr. 5, S. 633-649.

• Gouthier, M.H.J./Giese, A./Bartl, C. (2012): Service Excellence Models: A Critical Discussion and Comparison, in: Managing Service Quality (MSQ), 22. Jg., Nr. 5, S. 447-464.

• Krämer, T./Gouthier, M.H.J./Heidenreich, S. (2017): Proud to Stay or Too Proud to Stay? How Pride in Personal Performance Develops and How It Affects Turnover Intentions, in: Journal of Service Research (JSR), 20. Jg., Nr. 2, S. 152-170.

• Ludwig, N.L./Heidenreich, S./Kraemer, T./Gouthier, M.H.J. (2017): Customer Delight: Universal Remedy or Double-Edged Sword?, in: Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 27. Jg., Nr. 1, S. 22-45.

Assigned Teachers

The module consists of a lecture (2 SWS) and tutorial (2 SWS) and is taught in German.

Students who successfully complete this module will have the following knowledge and competencies:

• Understand the basics of applied market research and in particular know the typical process of market research.

• Are able to select an adequate research design for an empirical market research problem

• Know the characteristics of qualitative market research and are able to plan and use the important methods

• Are able to set up the design for a quantitative market research study

• Are able to develop and use an adequate scale

• Are able to develop an adequate questionnaire and conduct a pretest

• Know how to set up a sample design

• Are able to prepare and analyze data in a useful way

• Show the ability to create a report

Target group of the course

Target group: Master of Information Management/Digital Business Management (1st-4th semester), Master of Business Information Systems (1st-4th semester)

Important information & dates

• Lecture: The lecture will take place in WiSe 2023/24 in physical presence. Tuesday, each week, 12:15 at room A 213; start of the lecture: October 31, 2023

• Exercise: Tuesday, each week, 14:00 s.t. at room E 428, start of the weekly exercise units in presence: November 7, 2023; please note the room change from November 14

Exam dates:

• Date of the main exam ("Hauptklausur"): February 17, 2025, 10 am in room E 114

• Date of the follow-up exam ("Nacklausur"): March 26, 2025, 10 am in room E 114

Contents of the lecture

Introduction to the basics of market research

• Definition and characterization of market research

• Delimitation of market research

• Market research as a service

• Process of market research

Research design, causality and approaches to data collection

• Definition of research design

• Classifications of research design

• Causality as a basic principle of empirical market research

• Approaches to data collection

Qualitative Market Research

• Qualitative market research at a glance

• Definition and characteristics of qualitative market research

• Observation and mystery shopping

• Focus group interview

Quantitative market research

• Definition and characteristics of quantitative market research

• Methods of quantitative market research

• Market and customer segmentation as a central challenge

Scaling and questionnaire development

• Definition of measurement and scaling

• Measurement scales

• Comparison of scaling techniques

• Specific rating scales

• Accuracy of measurement

• Questionnaire development

Sampling and data collection

• Sampling

• Data collection

Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis methods (incl. introduction to SPSS)

• Univariate analysis methods

• Bivariate analysis methods

• Multivariate analysis methods

Reporting

Course materials

All lecture and exercise slides, as well as videos, etc., will be made available on the learning platform OLAT. You will receive the access code for the OLAT course by e-mail after registration in KLIPS.

Recommended Literature

• Berekoven, L./Eckert, W./Ellenrieder, P. (2009): Marktforschung, 12th ed., Wiesbaden.

• Herrmann, A./Homburg, C./Klarmann, M. (Eds.) (2014): Handbuch Marktforschung, 3rd ed., Wiesbaden.

• Homburg, C. (2020): Marketing-Management, 7th ed., Wiesbaden.

• Kuß, A./Wildner, R./Kreis, H. (2018): Marktforschung, 6th ed., Wiesbaden.

• Malhotra, N.K./Birks, D.F./Wills, P. (2012): Marketing Research, 4th ed., Harlow et al.

Assigned teachers

Aims of the module

Students who successfully complete this module have acquired the following knowledge and skills:

• Know the specifics and the relevance of consumer behaviour in a digital environment

• Understand how consumers make purchase decisions supported by digital tools

• Can analyze the underlying psychological constructs for digitally supported purchase decisions

• Are enabled to design customer engaging mechanisms in digital contexts

Structure

Consumer Behavior and Information Technology – An Introduction

• Introduction

• Success Factors: The Customer Value Chain

• Customer Consumption and Decision Process

Essential Constructs of Consumer Behavior

• Activating processes and psychological conditions

• Cognitive processes

• Social processes

• Predisposing variables

Consumer Behavior in a Digital Environment

• Customer Delight in a Digital Context

• Customer Empowerment and Engagement

Kick-Off-Meeting: October 30, 2024 at 2:15 pm in room A 120 (Please register in KLIPS for the lecture to receive further information.)

Exam

• Main Exam (Hauptklausur): February 24, 2025 at 10 am in room D 028
• Follow-up exam (Nachklausur): March 24, 2025 at 10 am in room D 028

Literature

• Bartl, C./Gouthier, M.H.J./Lenker, M. (2013): Delighting Consumers Click by Click: Antecedents and Effects of Delight Online, in: Journal of Service Research (JSR), 16. Jg., Nr. 3, Special Issue on „IT-Related Service: A Multidisciplinary Perspective“, S. 385-398.

• Schiffman, L.G. and Wisenblit, J. (2018): Consumer Behavior, 12th ed., Pearson.

• Solomon, M.R. (2016): Consumer Behavior, 12th ed., Pearson.

Assigned Teachers

This module consists of lecture (2 SWS) and seminar (2 SWS)

Aims of the module

Students who successfully complete this module have acquired the following knowledge and skills:

• Know the specifics and the relevance of consumer behavior in a digital environment

• Understand how consumers make purchase decisions supported by digital tools

• Can analyze the underlying psychological constructs for digitally supported purchase decisions

• Are enabled to design customer engaging mechanisms in digital contexts

Important Information

As in previous years, the research group “Marketing and Digital Services” of Professor Gouthier is offering a seminar on Digital Consumer Behaviour (DCB) in the winter term 2024/2025. This seminar (3 ECTS-points) is part of the DCB module, which also consists of the DCB lecture (3 ECTS-points).

To successfully pass the DCB seminar you will have to prepare a research paper (2/3 of the grade) and a presentation of this paper (1/3 of the grade). The research paper and the presentation are usually prepared in groups of three students. In order to ensure a high-quality learning environment, the number of seminar participants is limited.

Kick-Off-Meeting for the seminar: October 30, 2024 at 4:15 pm in room A 213

Further information concerning participation in the seminar, e.g. the application process for the seminar or the choice of topics, will be provided during this kick-off meeting.

Please make sure that you register for the seminar in KLIPS so that you will receive all relevant information.

Application Process (this process will be explained during the kick-off meeting in detail)

Please upload a transcript of records and a letter of motivation in the OLAT file "Application" by November 6, 2024 (midnight). Please also let us know which topic you would like to work on by also uploading your preferences within the application. Therefore, please pick three of the topics from the list (which are presented within the Kick-off meeting) you are interested in and prioritize them (1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice).

There will be 18 to a maximum of 24 participants (depending on the number of applications) in the course assigned to groups of 3 persons. Each group will deal with a specific topic in the area of “Digital Consumer Behavior."
The final participants of the seminar will be selected after the deadline of the application process and you will be informed about the acceptance and the group you are assigned to.

Important Dates

• Kick-Off Meeting: October 30, 2024 at 4:15 pm in room A 213
  

• Deadline for application to the seminar (application process will be explained during the kick-off meeting): November 6, 2024 at midnight
  

• Deadline for paper submission: January 12, 2025 at midnight
  

• Deadline for presentation submission: January 27, 2025 at 6:00 pm
  

• Presentation of results: February 7, 2025 at 9:00 am (full-day session)
  

A last important note on the DCB Module: You do not have to apply for the lecture and there are no participation restrictions. Yet, you will only receive credit points if you successfully finish the entire DCB module, i.e. seminar and lecture. Accordingly, it only makes sense for you to take part in the lecture if you are admitted to the seminar (or already completed the seminar).

Assigned Teachers

The module consists of a lecture (2 SWS) and an exercise (2 SWS). The course is taught in German.

Students who successfully complete this module will have the following knowledge and skills:

• Highlight the special features and relevance of services and service management
• Understanding of the psychological background of customer behavior in the service context
• Knowledge of the approaches of strategic service management (including for solving typical management problems in the service sector)
• Familiarity with service design for the design and optimization of services
• Understanding of service operations management for the provision of services
• Knowledge of the role of personnel management in the service sector
• Handling and measuring service quality

Target group of the course

Bachelor Information Management/Digital Business Management (3rd - 6th semester), Bachelor Business Informatics (3rd - 6th semester), Bachelor Computer Visualistics (3rd - 6th semester)

Important information & dates

Lecture: Tuesdays, 4:15 pm in room E 414 (from October 29, 2024)

Exercise: Thursdays, 4:15 pm in room G 310 (from November 07, 2024)

Exam dates

Exam date (main exam): 21.02.2025, 12 noon in room M 001

Exam date (post-exam): 27.03.2025, 10 am in room M 001

Structure

1. Definition and relevance of services
2. Customer psychology in the service sector
3. Strategic service management
4. Service Design
5. Service operations management
6. Personnel management in the service sector
7. Service quality management

Course material

All lecture and exercise slides, etc. will be made available on the OLAT learning platform. You will receive the access code for the OLAT course by e-mail after registering in KLIPS.

Recommended literature

• Haller, S./Wissing, C. (2022): Dienstleistungsmanagement, 9. Aufl., Wiesbaden.

• Corsten, H./Roth, S. (2017): Handbuch Dienstleistungsmanagement, München.

• Nerdinger, F. (2011): Psychologie der Dienstleistung, Hogrefe.

Assigned teachers