Courses summer semester 2025
Last updated: 11th of February 2025
Business simulation game (Bachelor course)
Lecture 2 SWS + 2 SWS exercise
Acquisition of 6 credit points, Henrik Sattler, Philip Sander
The event takes place in block form:
Introductory event: 7th of April 2025
Interim presentation: 17th of May 2025
Final presentation: 28th of June 2025
The business simulation game is a simulation in which students act as managers in a fictional market and regularly make company decisions on brand portfolio, production, pricing, advertising, sales force, and distribution. As groups are formed during the preliminary meeting, attendance is mandatory for this session, as well as for the presentation dates (full day).
Marketing Seminar "Brand Policy" (Master's course)
Topic: Challenges of value-oriented brand management (Summer semester 2025)
Objectives and content of the seminar:
Brands can be among a company's most valuable assets. Annual brand value rankings, such as Interbrand's Best Global Brands, report monetary values of several hundred billion US dollars for the strongest brands. Behind this success are not only loyal consumers with high willingness to pay, but also investment-friendly capital providers and easier access to high-performing employees.
However, brands also face significant challenges: not only do brand building and maintenance require significant investments, but brands must also be able to adapt to changing market conditions, such as the increasing importance of sustainability, to remain relevant to consumers and other target groups and to compete effectively.
Against this backdrop, the aim of the seminar is to create a deep understanding of the approaches and methods of value-oriented brand management. This includes examining aspects of brand building, (re-)positioning, and strategic brand design, as well as methods for measuring brand value. By applying these concepts to practical examples from various industries (including retail), the complexity of brand policy challenges is emphasized.
Depending on the specific topic, the seminar papers aim to provide an overview of the current state of research on the respective topics or to apply learned concepts and methods. This requires an analysis of current and international scientific contributions. If necessary, seminar participants may conduct research on practical examples or carry out data collection on a smaller scale. More information on individual topics will be provided during the preliminary meeting on 11th of April 2025.
The allocation of topics will also take place during the introductory event. Depending on the number of participants, the term papers may be written in teams of 2-3 people. All seminar sessions will be held in person.
Exemplary range of seminar paper topics:
- Evolution of brand positioning over time
- Relevance of brands for personal well-being
- Challenges in international brand management
- Establishment and proliferation of store brands
- Approaches to quantifying brand value
Contact person: Dr. Claudia Höck (claudia.hoeck@uni-hamburg.de)
Schedule:
- Preliminary meeting and basics of academic work
- Basics of presentation techniques
- Submission of seminar paper
- Block seminar with presentations
- Individual consultation appointments between the submission of the term paper and the presentation dates
Extent and credit points: 6 CP
Applicability: Seminar in the "Marketing" focus area
Participation requirements: high level of commitment, interest in quantitative methods, and team orientation are required (possibly group work with a maximum of 3 people), prior participation in the "Brand Policy" lecture is highly recommended, and attendance at all seminar sessions is mandatory.
Exam requirements:
- Term paper
- Presentation
All exam requirements must be passed and may be completed in teams of 2-3 people. Both tasks can be performed in either German or English.
M.Sc.-Seminar SS 2025: Empirical Analyses of Consumer Behavior
Dates:
Thursday, 28.01.25 (6.00 PM – 9.00 PM; Virtual): Kickoff-meeting
Friday, 07.03.25 (4.00 PM – 9.00 PM; Virtual): Feedback workshop Research design
Friday, 04.04.25 (4.00 PM – 9.00 PM; Virtual): Feedback workshop Data analyses
Friday 25.04.25, 12 noon: Deadline submission seminar reports
Saturday, 03.05.25 (8.00 AM – 6.00 PM; University of Hamburg): Seminar conference
Lecturer:
Prof. Dr. habil. Oliver Schnittka (University of Southern Denmark)
Purpose:
The purpose of the course is to provide opportunities for the students to work in depth with a topic of own choice within consumer behavior that currently receives much attention from science as well as from the public discourse. Specifically, students should develop a research question of high managerial relevance and answer this research questions by conducting an own empirical consumer survey (e.g., targeting customers of products and services). Based on quantitative data analyses, the students should provide implications for how the observed consumer behavior might influence the decision-making of managers, public authorities, politicians etc. in the future. The course explicitly focuses on a) enhancing and deepening knowledge about relevant scientific literature, theories and market research methods in the field of consumer behavior, b) enhancing skills in identifying and analyzing relevant scientific literature, setting-up of quantitative surveys and collecting and analyzing data with well-established market research methods, as well as embedding the obtained results in existing scientific literature, as well as c) qualifying the competence of students to handle advanced scientific problems and reflect upon them in a scientific paper (independent academic problem-solving and communication) and to present the report to an academic audience.
Content/Agenda:
The purpose of the subject is achieved by the fact that the subject contains the following area of study:
- Identification and formulation of a topic of interest fitting under the scope of the seminar
- Identification and evaluation of relevant literature on a high academic level
- Setting-up an own quantitative survey of consumers (e.g., targeting customers of products and services)
- Collecting and analyzing data with well-established market research methods, as well as embedding the obtained results in existing scientific literature
- Deriving implications for how the observed consumer behavior might influence the decision-making of managers, public authorities, politicians etc. in the future.
- Academic discussion and constructive feedback
- Presentation of results and the support for these results in a report on a high academic level
Literature:
The literature is identified and chosen by the student and approved by the lecturer of the course
Organisation of the course:
The course will include four workshops of in total 23 hours. Latest two weeks after the kickoff-workshop, each group of students has to define a research question of interest in the area of consumer behavior which has to be approved by the lecturer. During the kickoff-workshop, students will be equipped with necessary background information on structuring an empirical seminar report, research design development, data collection, and data analyses. Additionally, students will be allocated to seminar groups during the kickoff-workshop. The first feedback workshop will give students the opportunity to present a status-quo on their literature review, hypotheses framework, research design, and questionnaire draft which will be followed by intensive feedback and discussion afterwards. During the second feedback workshop, students will present their status-quo on data analyses which will be followed by intensive feedback and discussion afterwards again. Each seminar group needs to present at both feedback workshops. Between the different workshops, intensive supervision is offered by the lecturer. During the final seminar conference, each group of students is presenting their report followed by an intensive class discussion afterwards.
Form of instruction:
The course is taught in English. The written report and the student presentation must be taken in English as well.
Exam:
The exam will consist of two parts: The submission of a group seminar report in April as well as a group presentation at the seminar conference in May.