MKT 361 Buyer Behavior

Overview of Course

Buyer Behavior focuses on the consumer in developing the optimal marketing strategy. The process begins by analyzing the impact of the culture on the consumer’s preferences, attitudes, and his purchase and consumption behaviors. Across global cultures, these differences can be substantial and puzzling. Further, it includes examining the impact of social structures and subcultures within the host country, reference group effects, and family influences on buying decisions. Consumers are very much impacted by these groups and their influences. As we sail and visit diverse markets, the course will concentrate particularly on the eleven countries we visit.
Additionally, there are several psychological impacts on consumers’ behaviors. Motivation to buy can be very different from person to person or across cultures as not everyone buys the product for the same reason or purpose. Particularly across cultures, people learn and process information differently and marketing managers need to understand those processes to communicate their message effectively. How consumers perceive brands, messages, and positioning statements varies and must be analyzed. Finally, global managers need to understand buyers’ diverse attitude structures in all countries but particularly in the ones we visit.
In Buyer Behavior 361, the marketing manager learns to analyze these social and psychological influences on consumers across the globe and how they need to adapt the marketing strategy to best reach the host market. While global consumers might end up buying the same brand, how they come to make that purchase decision is a very complex process strongly influenced by their culture.