Where does this programme fit in?

The 3-year BCom (Management Sciences) with the focal area Marketing Management is offered by the Department of Business Management at the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Year 1 consists of compulsory modules such as Business Management, Economics, Financial Accounting, Professional Communication, and Statistics and Data Science. Year 2 and Year 3 cover modules specific to this focal area.

Why the need for this programme?

Marketing managers are responsible for managing the firm’s entire marketing strategy and all the products and services it offers. That includes new product development, the pricing of products and services, ensuring that products reach the selected markets (distribution and retail) and all forms of marketing communication (including advertising and promotions). Overall, marketing managers help to raise brand awareness by creating marketing campaigns, and they help to attract customers to the firm and to retain their long-term loyalty.

The BCom in Management Sciences with Marketing Management as focal area equips you with the marketing insights and skills to work in industries such as retail, manufacturing, financial and public services, leisure and tourism, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and advertising. The course is continuously adapted to keep up with the development of new digital technologies and changing consumer behaviour.

What will you learn?

The modules in this focal area, which you will follow in Year 2 and Year 3, cover the following:

• Marketing theory
• Consumer behaviour
• The application of theory to various aspects of marketing, with special emphasis on retail, services, promotion, and marketing research
• The development of a management orientation in approaching marketing issues

Undergraduate subjects offered in Marketing Management:

• Marketing Management 214
  

  This introductory module covers modern marketing dynamics in enterprises and the community; marketing and the value creation process; customer satisfaction; strategic marketing planning; analysis of the marketing environment; marketing information and research; analysis of consumer markets and other types of markets; measurement and forecasting of demand; market segmentation and target market selection; product decisions; price decisions; channel decisions and place strategy; communication decisions; direct marketing and sales promotion decisions.

• Advertising and Sales Promotion 244
  

  In broad terms this module deal with marketing communication covering topics such as advertising and the marketing process; the consumer audience; portfolio planning and research; functioning of advertising; advertising planning and strategy; advertising media; media planning and buying; printed media; creative advertising; integration of the elements of marketing communication.

• Retail Management 314
  

  Retail strategy and the retailing mix is the primary focus of this module and includes location decisions; merchandise decisions; price decisions; communication decisions; consumer services and information; technology and systems; franchise agreements.

• Services Management 324
  

  Services Marketing is specialsed field in marketing due to the unique characteristics of services. This module explores the nature of services and the process of service delivery; differences between product and service evaluations; development, communication and delivery of services; service quality and measurement thereof; the role of service providers and the environment of service delivery; implementation of service-marketing strategies.

• Marketing Research 344
  

  Understanding consumers, information and data are all central to effective marketing. This module introduces student to the basis steps in marketing research, including: defining of the marketing problem; research design; exploratory research design for secondary data and qualitative research; surveys and observations as part of descriptive research; measurement of perceptions; questionnaire design; sampling; fieldwork and data preparation; formulation of hypotheses and basic statistical tests.

• Strategic Marketing 354
  

  The purpose of this module is to pull it all together and it reviews the function and application of marketing in different organisations and conditions; enterprise and marketing strategy; competitive marketing strategies; international marketing strategies; the marketing system; consumer markets and buying behaviour; institutional markets and buying behaviour; marketing planning processes; marketing controls.

For Financial Management subjects in the Honours programme, please refer to the Honours page.

Who should apply?

• Those interested in a career as marketing or advertising manager, brand manager, or marketing researcher in any industry in the private sector (such as retail, financial services, tourism, leisure, agriculture, manufacturing or education)
• Those interested in a career as marketing in the public sector or in the social sector (NGOs, foundations, trusts)

Admission requirements

• National Senior Certificate average of 65%
• Mathematics 60% minimum
• EMS language admission requirements (English and Afrikaans Home Language 50% OR English and Afrikaans Additional Language 60%)

More details

• Programme brochure: The brochure contains a table with all the modules covered by this degree. Download the department’s brochure here.
• Programme information: See the Department of Business Management’s undergraduate programmes here.
• See the Calendar of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/economy/students.
• Closing date for applications: 30 June 2022
• Contact person for enquiries about this programme: Morné Daniels on +27 (0)21 808 2392 or at mmd@sun.ac.za
• Where to apply: https://student.sun.ac.za/signup/