Learning objectives
The course aims to provide students with the tools to understand the market and marketing of agricultural products from a sectoral and supply chain perspective. In particular, the course aims to:
- develop knowledge of issues concerning the role of agriculture within the agri-food system in the process of economic development, the characteristics of the demand and supply of agricultural products, the functioning and organization of the agri-food system and businesses who are part of it;
- provide the tools to understand the dynamics of international markets.
- know and understand the marketing management process
- know how to analyze the elements of the marketing strategy and the conversion into marketing mix policies.
- know how to carry out data analysis with specific software (e.g. MS Excel).
The expected learning outcomes are:
1) Knowledge and understanding: knowledge of the organization of the agri-food system and marketing strategies.
2) Application capabilities: apply the principles of calculating supply balances; apply the organizational knowledge of the agri-food system to real case studies; apply marketing mix strategies to concrete cases; perform a SWOT analysis. Use of data analysis software (e.g. MS Excel).
3) Making judgments: evaluation and interpretation of simple supply and demand models, and supply balance sheets; critical use of data from the scientific literature. Independently analyze the company's marketing environment: micro and macro environment.
4) Communication skills: written and oral communication through the scientifically correct vocabulary of the subject; ability to present, transmit and disseminate information on topics relating to the market and marketing of agricultural products.
5) Ability to learn: ability to consult bibliographic material, databases relating to agricultural products (including international market data); ability to critically consult websites relating to agricultural products (e.g. https://www.clal.it/, https://teseo.clal.it/, etc.); ability to profitably participate in seminars and training study days.
Prerequisites
Propaedeutic courses are not required
Course unit content
The course aims to:
a) to deepen some specific aspects related to the market of agricultural products,
b) to provide basic knowledge about the principles and tools of marketing management, allowing their application and adaptation to the agri-food sector, with particular focus on the market of agricultural raw materials
c) apply data analysis with specific software (eg MS Excel) to concrete cases
In particular, the course will focus on the study of the characteristics of the agricultural offer, on the channels existing in the production market, on the trend of the demand, supply and price variables and on the relationships between these. Furthermore, in the second part, strategic and operational marketing tools will be applied in a practical way (product innovation, pricing and promotion policies, distribution strategies, communication activities).
Full programme
The extended program of the two modules is presented in the related Syllabus.
Briefly, the first part consists of the following units:
1) Introductory elements of micro-economics: supply and demand
2) Specificity of agricultural product markets. 3) Cooperatives and producer organizations (POs).
4) Dynamics of international trade in agricultural products.
5) Supply balance sheets.
The second part, on the other hand, is made up of the following units:
1) What is marketing:
2) The marketing strategy and the marketing mix
3) Analyze the marketing environment of the company: micro and macro environment
4) Marketing research: qualitative and quantitative research methods
5) Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning, SWOT Analysis
Exercises will be carried out on both sides using data analysis software (e.g. MS Excel)
Bibliography
Readings uploaded on the Elly website.
Reading Materials: Chapters 1-8, and Appendix 1. Da “Principi di marketing” di Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, Fabio Ancarani. 2019 Pearson Italia
Teaching methods
Lessons will be organized face-to-face with the possibility of using the lessons also remotely, if necessary, in synchronous (via Teams) and asynchronous mode (uploaded on the Elly page of the course).
The teaching will be carried out through lectures in the classroom with the help of slides that will represent teaching material, in addition to the recommended readings. The slides will be available online on the website Elly in pdf format for students. The lessons also include the discussion of examples of the most recent real cases. For this reason, the slides, which are gradually updated for each topic, will be uploaded to Elly before each topic covered and not all together at the beginning of the course. During the lessons, the appropriate use of technical language will be reiterated, and the links between the various parts of the course will be emphasized. For this reason, the presence and active participation of students is strongly encouraged.
Assessment methods and criteria
At the end of the course the learning level of the expected results for all the contents offered during the lessons will be verified.
The final exam will be divided into two parts:
The first part will be a written exam with 30 closed-ended questions (test) and at least one open-ended question.
The second part will be carried out with a written test, with three open-ended questions.
The evaluation criteria are explained in the respective modules.
The results of the exam are published on the ESSE3 portal (https://unipr.esse3.cineca.it/Home.do).
Other information
In case of serious health emergency, the methods of teaching and verifying learning may undergo changes which will be promptly communicated on Elly and/or on the course website.
