MKB1700 · Fundamentals Of Marketing
The Complete Exam Bible · S1 2026Fundamentals of Marketing
Fundamentals of Marketing teaches marketing as a way of running a business — creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging value a customer will pay for. The subject walks one arc: what marketing is, the environment it works in, the buyer, segmentation, targeting & positioning, the 7 Ps marketing mix, then planning & research. What makes MKB1700 distinctive is the assessment: every week feeds a concept map (hierarchical nodes joined by labelled links) that you then defend in a 1-on-1 interactive oral exam — 40% of the subject and a hurdle you must pass to pass. So this guide teaches each framework plainly, then shows how the pieces connect, because the marks are in the connections, not the term count.
What MKB1700 covers
Nine teaching topics → one exam-ready map. Each links to its free chapter guide.
How MKB1700 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Interactive oral exam · hurdle | 40% | Exam period · in person, 1-on-1 · hurdle — must pass to pass the subject |
| “What is Marketing” essay | 20% | Written task, around Week 4 |
| Weekly reflections | 15% | Written, weekly (best 9) — on Moodle the essay + reflections show as one 35% banner |
| Marketing concept map | 15% | The artefact (around Week 11) you defend in the oral |
| Weekly quizzes | 10% | Weekly (best 9) — confirm the exact split in your unit guide |
The concept map — turning two concepts into a marked, labelled link
- +1Set the levels. Put STP as a higher (organising) node and the 7 Ps as a node beneath it — the mix is built for a target chosen by STP, so the hierarchy reflects real dependence.
- +2Draw the link and label it. A bare line scores nothing; write a linking phrase on it: STP “defines the target and desired position, which the” → 7 Ps “are then designed to deliver.”
- +1Make it defendable. Be ready to say why the link runs this way — positioning sets the promise; Product, Price, Place and Promotion are the levers that keep it — not the reverse.
Key terms
- The marketing concept
- The philosophy that a business succeeds by starting with customer needs and delivering value better than rivals — marketing as a way of running the whole firm, not a department bolted on at the end.
- Customer value
- What a customer gets (functional, experiential and symbolic benefits) relative to what they give up (cost / sacrifice: price plus effort, time and risk). The spine of the subject — it reappears in Product, Price and buyer involvement.
- PESTEL
- The six macro-environment forces a firm can only respond to, not control: Political, Economic, Sociocultural, Technological, Environmental and Legal. Scanned alongside the micro and internal layers, then summarised as a SWOT.
- STP
- Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning — the bridge from understanding the market to acting on it: divide the market into segments, choose which to serve, and craft a position in the target's mind that the marketing mix then delivers.
- Concept map
- MKB1700's signature artefact: hierarchical nodes (concepts at big / middle / small levels) joined by labelled relationship links. Marked on the quality of the connections, then defended in the interactive oral exam.
MKB1700 FAQ
Is MKB1700 hard?
It is concept-heavy rather than calculation-heavy, so the difficulty is not memorising terms — it is being able to explain how they connect. The grade hinges on a concept map you defend live in a 1-on-1 oral, where a follow-up question quickly exposes shallow memorisation. Students who only list definitions struggle; students who practise the links do well.
How is MKB1700 assessed?
The interactive oral exam is 40% and a hurdle — you must pass it (in person, on campus) to pass the subject. The rest is a “What is Marketing” essay (about 20%) and weekly reflections (about 15%) — bundled on Moodle as one 35% written banner — plus the concept-map artefact (about 15%) and weekly quizzes (about 10%). Confirm this year's exact split in your unit guide.
What is the MKB1700 oral exam?
A 1-on-1 conversation in the exam period where you explain and defend the concept map you submitted — typically four questions, previewed in Week 12. The examiner probes why each node, level and labelled link is there. It assesses the whole semester, so you cannot cram it; you can only defend a map you genuinely built.
Do I need maths for MKB1700?
Very little. The only arithmetic is light pricing work — cost-plus and break-even — in the pricing topic. The subject is conceptual: frameworks, examples and the relationships between them, not calculation.
Is using AskSia for MKB1700 cheating?
No. AskSia is a study reference written in our own words — we host none of your lecturer's files, and Sia teaches you the method to earn the marks; it does not complete or sit your assessments, and it will not answer a live graded oral for you.
How to study for the exam
Treat the concept map and oral as the grade-decider from Week 1, not Week 11. As you meet each framework — the value equation, PESTEL, the buyer decision process, STP, the 7 Ps, the planning loop — immediately add it to your map and, more importantly, label the link to a concept you already placed. The marks are in the named relationships, so practise saying each link out loud (“STP defines the target the mix delivers”; “the environment scan feeds the SWOT that drives the plan”). Because the oral is a 40% hurdle that probes why, a map you can defend in your own words is the safest mark in the subject — rote definitions are the riskiest.
