Leading Customer Centricity in Marketing, Sales and Communication (5cr)

Intro

A customer-centric organization prioritizes understanding and meeting customer needs to drive sustainable business success. In today’s competitive landscape, businesses must integrate marketing, sales, and communication efforts to deliver value at every touchpoint. This course explores how organizations can embed customer-centricity into their strategies, leveraging consumer insights from various studies to foster long-term customer relationships.

This modularly structured course combines theoretical foundations with applied learning, allowing students to analyze real-world cases and develop actionable strategies. A significant focus will be placed on consumer behavior, examining psychological and behavioral drivers of decision-making and their impact on customer engagement and loyalty. The course will also explore the impact of digitalization and social media on consumer behavior, analyzing how online platforms shape customer expectations, purchasing decisions, and brand interactions. In addition to traditional consumer behavior research, students will examine digital consumer insights and the role of real-time data in shaping marketing, sales, and communication strategies.

Additionally, this course serves as foundational preparation for further studies in the master’s degree program by honing students’ academic writing and information-searching skills. Through assignments and discussions, students will strengthen their ability to critically evaluate sources and articulate insights in a structured academic format. Last, but certainly not least, the widespread fascination with human behavior and its investigation will hopefully draw people to the course from different backgrounds, thus rendering an interculturally diverse learning environment, which will further deepen our learning.

Learning objectives

The aim of this course is to develop an understanding of customer-centricity as a strategic approach in marketing, sales, and communication within a dynamic and digitalized business environment.

Upon completion of the course, students will:
• Understand the principles of customer-centric marketing, sales, and communication.
• Analyze consumer behavior theories and their relevance to customer-centricity.
• Use consumer insights from various studies to inform marketing, sales, and communication strategies.
• Examine the impact of digitalization and social media on consumer behavior.
• Develop comprehensive strategies that align with customer needs and behaviors.
• Strengthen academic writing and information-searching skills as preparation for further coursework.

Contents

Key Themes
• Customer-centric strategy and business impact
• Consumer behavior and decision-making processes
• Impact of digitalization and social media on consumer behavior
• Integrating marketing, sales, and communication for customer experience
• Academic writing and information searching in marketing and communication studies

Implementation methods, demonstration and Work&Study

Evening Contact Blended
Blended Online

Learning materials

Learning materials are provided by the instructor and available in Moodle.

Starting level and linkage with other courses

This course unit is part of the master's degree's curriculum. Completion of the course requires master's study entitlement.

Assessment criteria - grade 1

When the implementation type of the course is CONTACT, ONLINE or BLENDED it is required that the student is present during those teaching hours that are marked in the study schedule. If you are absent more than 25 %, your grade will be lowered by one. If you are absent more than 50 %, the course is failed.

The student demonstrates satisfactory competence in relation to the course learning objectives. The student identifies some of the theories, perspectives and concepts presented in the course. The student weakly identifies their implications for practice.

Assessment criteria - grade 3

The student demonstrates good competence in relation to the course learning objectives. The student has good command of the theories, perspectives and concepts presented in the course. The student is able to analyze their implications for practice.

Assessment criteria - grade 5

The student demonstrates excellent competence in relation to the course learning objectives. The student profoundly masters theories, perspectives and concepts presented in the course. The student critically and thoroughly applies the concepts and theories learned in the course to analyze and create solutions for practical work situations.