AN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING METHOD IN UNDERGRADUATE MARKETING EDUCATION; CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SERVICE DESIGN BASED ON VALUE CO-CREATION

Marketing has experienced a tremendous shift from a product-oriented approach to a service orientation. Vargo and Lusch (2004) suggest that all marketing is actually service marketing in that all products fulfill a service of some sort to the customer. Academics and industry representatives recently collaborated on a comprehensive study of the state of service research (Ostrom et al, 2010) and suggest an aggressive research agenda that facilitates educating today's students in service design based on value co-creation. Prahalad (2008) coined the term “co-creation” as a new approach to innovation in which companies work with consumers, suppliers and channel partners interconnected in a network of innovation.

Marketing undergraduates of senior standing were assigned to small work groups (4-6) and presented with the challenge of designing services based value co-creation. Each group was assigned to a non-profit service organization, and required to investigate value perceptions as perceived by all stakeholders including management, staff, donors and those served. Subsequently, these value perceptions were to be developed into strategic marketing recommendations for the organization. Some students were enrolled in a Market Analysis course, some in Marketing Management and some in both. Partner organizations included a regional organization providing group-homes for the intellectually and developmentally disabled with $25MM in annual revenues; a local Boys & Girls Clubs of America chapter; the university’s Center for Service and Social Action; and a hospice for those dying in poverty. A total of twelve organizations participated in the experiential learning projects.

The semester-long assignment presented a variety of challenges and learning opportunities for students, some of which were typical yet amplified in a social service setting. Challenges included lack of end-user information such as mailing lists or email addresses for sending surveys, donor demographic or targeting information, or even customer lists from non-profits providing for-profit services. Alternately, opportunities included a welcome reception to business students from managers of the non-profits whose resources are quite limited. Students needed to hone their interpersonal communication skills to effectively persuade the organizations in areas of trust, confidence and commitment. Students were required to conduct primary research on the attitudes and behaviors of the stakeholders. For the Market Analysis portion they were required to conduct a series of statistical analyses to facilitate service design including: descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, difference analysis (t-tests), analysis of variance, and multiple regression analysis. For the Marketing Management portion students were required to take their market analysis to next level, developing it into a complete marketing strategy with service design based on the co-creation of value.

Student responsiveness to this experiential learning process has been very positive. Leadership skills were investigated via 360 evaluations of group members. Managers from the non-profit organizations will attend the final presentations and in some cases the students have been invited to present to the boards and marketing committees of the organizations. This paper will be further developed and completed base on the final results and evaluations which will be presented November 30 through December 7, 2010.