The Agony and the Ecstasy: Teaching Marketing Metrics to Undergraduate Business Students

Effects of Participation in a Simulation Game on Marketing Students’ Numeracy and Financial Skills

“…Their education cannot simply involve the acquisition of a body of knowledge; it must also make them more employable by endowing them with work-relevant skills and competences (Gibson-Sweet, Brennan, Foy, Lynch, & Rudolph, 2010;Schlee & Harich, 2010). In particular, marketing graduates need adequate numeracy and financial skills because marketers are increasingly called on to be accountable for their decisions (Ganesh et al, 2010;Saber & Foster, 2011). The premise of this study is that marketing simulation games provide an excellent opportunity to improve these skills; consequently, we hypothesize that simulation games are a good medium through which to deliver numerical and financial skills on a marketing degree program.…”

“…There is considerable evidence that, in order to enhance their employability, marketing graduates need to be capable of handling numerical and financial concepts (Walker et al, 2009;Wellman, 2010). This is particularly important because marketers are increasingly being asked to demonstrate the return on marketing investments, and to do this they must have a facility with marketing metrics-something that involves both numerical and financial concepts (Saber & Foster, 2011). However, there is also evidence that many marketing students fail to acquire these essential skills during their undergraduate studies.…”

“…For example, Ganesh, Qin, and Barat (2010, p. 48) say, "At a major public university in the southwest United States, marketing faculty experienced the same frustrations as their colleagues elsewhere-that is, undergraduate students' inability to handle even basic marketing math." A number of researchers have suggested learning approaches designed to bridge this gap (Pilling, Rigdon, & Brightman, 2012;Pirog, 2010;Saber & Foster, 2011;Schlee & Harich, 2010). However, there is no suggestion yet that the solution has been found.…”

“…Indeed, it is likely that multiple strategies will be required to enhance marketing students' quantitative and financial skills. Saber and Foster (2011) suggest the use of marketing accounting spreadsheet exercises, Ganesh et al (2010) describe the use of one-page mini-cases designed around characteristic marketing calculations, and Pilling et al (2012) describe in detail the development and implementation of a comprehensive marketing metrics course. The suggestion of this article is that one additional fruitful strategy for enhancing analytical skills is to use a strategic marketing simulation game as a medium through which financial and numerical learning is achieved.…”

The Importance of Course Design on Classroom Performance of Marketing Students

“…For example, one study reported a recent fivefold increase in the number of ethics courses being offered in business schools (Christensen et al 2007). Marketing students need more exposure to marketing metrics (e.g., Saber and Foster 2011), sales education and training (e.g., Cummins et al 2013), technology (e.g., Neilson 2009), and multiculturalism (e.g., Rosa 2012). In addition, much of the marketing curriculum had been designed to equip students with strong communication skills, flexibility, decisiveness, professional skills, and professionalism, by providing more active learning elements in the marketing classroom (Glaser-Segura et al 2010;Peltier, Scovotti, and Pointer 2008), especially experiential methods (Abernathy and Padgett 2011).…”