CityUHK MKT5610: Marketing Strategy and Planning — course overview with AskSia
MKT5610 Marketing Strategy and Planning is a 3-credit postgraduate course from the Department of Marketing at City University of Hong Kong, offered in both Semester A and Semester B of 2026/27. It has no prerequisites and is exclusive with FB5601 and MKT5601 Principles of Marketing.
Sia generates MKT5610 practice questions, walks through marketing environment and segmentation step by step, and quizzes you on the material the report that weights most heavily.
Sharpen your argument
A Hong Kong tea brand wants to enter Singapore. Its plan lists a lower price, wider distribution and more social-media ads, but no target segment. What is the first correction a marketing strategist would make?
The syllabus sequence is environment and buyer analysis, then segmentation, targeting and positioning, then the marketing mix.
Once the segment and positioning are set, price, place and promotion can be justified against them.
Budget, price cuts or loyalty schemes are mix tactics that presuppose the missing strategic decision.
One report decides 30% of your grade. Continuous. This whole page is built around that.
Overview
What MKT5610 is, and where it sits
MKT5610 Marketing Strategy and Planning is a 3-credit postgraduate course from the Department of Marketing at City University of Hong Kong, offered in both Semester A and Semester B of 2026/27. It has no prerequisites and is exclusive with FB5601 and MKT5601 Principles of Marketing.
The published aims are to familiarise students with marketing concepts applied in real business situations and to have them develop and implement a marketing plan for a real company. The keyword syllabus runs from the marketing environment, competitor analysis and buying behaviour, through segmentation, targeting, positioning and the marketing mix, to integrated marketing communication, global and e-marketing, and marketing ethics.
Assessment is 100% coursework: class discussion and assignments 30%, an individual case analysis and marketing plan 30%, a group project presentation 10% and a group marketing plan or concept study 30%. The catalogue adds an attendance requirement and a rule that the coursework components must be passed.
Always treat your own course outline and the exam timetable as authoritative.
Difficulty & time commitment
Is MKT5610 hard, and how much time does it take?
MKT5610 is manageable if you keep a weekly rhythm and treat the back half as the main event. The pattern is consistent: it starts gently and steepens, and the heaviest assessment is the part that separates grades.
The difficulty curve and the assessment weighting point the same way: the back half is harder and worth more. Front-loading effort there is the highest-return decision in the course.
Is this course for you
Who tends to do well, and who tends to struggle
You will likely do well if
- You can take a real company and write a plan a manager could act on.
- You attend every seminar and speak; discussion is 30% and attendance is required.
- You work well in a group with peer evaluation.
You may struggle if
- You prefer theory to cases; the CILOs are about real business situations.
- You write plans as lists of the 4 Ps without a targeting decision.
- You skip readings; the seminar assumes the chapters are pre-read.
- For every case, write the one-sentence positioning statement first, then check every mix decision against it.
- Keep a competitor and segment map for the company in your individual plan and update it weekly.
- Rehearse the group presentation against the clock; time management is a rubric criterion.
Syllabus
The 10 topics, topic by topic
Topics from the public source. Their order is a content map, not an official weekly timetable or published exam weighting.
T1 · Marketing environment and competitor analysis
Keyword syllabusScanning the environment; competitor analysis and competitive strategies.
T2 · Buying behaviour
Keyword syllabusHow consumers and organisations decide.
T3 · Segmentation, targeting and positioning
Keyword syllabusChoosing whom to serve and how to be perceived.
T4 · Product strategy and life cycle
Keyword syllabusProduct decisions, the product life cycle and service marketing.
T5 · Pricing strategy
Keyword syllabusSetting and adapting prices.
T6 · Distribution strategy
Keyword syllabusPlacing and channel decisions.
T7 · Integrated marketing communication
Keyword syllabusCoordinating advertising, promotion and digital channels.
T8 · Global marketing and e-marketing
Keyword syllabusEntering foreign markets; marketing online.
T9 · Marketing ethics
Keyword syllabus; CILO 6Ethical decision-making in real business encounters.
T10 · Writing the marketing plan
CILO 5; AT2, AT4Turning analysis into a plan or concept study: problem, alternatives, chosen strategy, implementation.
How it's assessed
Assessment structure
| Component | Weight | Format & timing |
|---|---|---|
| Class discussion and assignments | 30% | Class exercises, case-study discussion, questions during project presentations, and assignments. Throughout. Continuous. |
| Individual case analysis and marketing planning | 30% | Individual case analysis and marketing planning: identify problems, evaluate alternatives, choose and justify a solution with implementation measures. Mid to late semester. Continuous. |
| Group project presentation (with peer evaluation) | 10% | Time-limited group presentation summarising the group project, with peer evaluation. Late semester. Continuous. |
| Group project: marketing plan and/or concept study (with within-group peer evaluation) | 30% | Group marketing plan or concept study built from real business cases and a literature review, with within-group peer evaluation. End of semester. Continuous. |
- 100% continuous assessment. Catalogue regulations: students must meet the Department of Marketing attendance requirement to complete the course and must pass the coursework components to be awarded a pass. GenAI use is permitted on the tasks per the syllabus.
- No examination. The individual case analysis is graded on identifying problems, enumerating and evaluating alternatives, choosing the best solution and specifying implementation, plus structure and persuasion; the group project on integrating marketing concepts to analyse consumers, competitors and environment and on developing marketing programmes.
This is a coursework course. Coursework carries 100% of the grade and the class discussion and assignments is the single heaviest piece at 30%, so steady work across the semester decides your result more than any one sitting. Continuous.
Final exam timing: No examination. Confirm the exact date and venue on your exam timetable.
How to actually pass it
A weekly rhythm, two checklists, and the traps to avoid
The course rewards consistency over cramming, and practice over re-reading. Here is the loop that works, then what to have nailed before each exam.
The weekly loop
The mistakes that cost marks
Formula & concept sheet
The vocabulary and formulas you must own
- Segmentation
- Dividing a market into groups with distinct needs or responses.
- Targeting
- Choosing which segments to serve.
- Positioning
- The place a brand occupies in the target customer's mind relative to competitors.
- Marketing mix
- The product, price, place and promotion decisions that deliver the positioning.
- Product life cycle
- Introduction, growth, maturity and decline stages and their strategy implications.
- Integrated marketing communication
- Coordinating all promotional channels to deliver one consistent message.
- Competitive advantage
- A sustainable edge over rivals that customers value.
- Marketing ethics
- Applying ethical standards to marketing decisions and encounters.
Set texts
The prescribed reading
The syllabus references map straight onto these.
Boone & Kurtz, Contemporary Marketing
.
Kotler & Armstrong, Principles of Marketing
.
Kotler, Armstrong, Ang, Leong, Tan & Tse, Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective
.
Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, Marketing
.
Perreault & McCarthy, Essentials of Marketing
.
Kerin, Berkowitz, Hartley & Rudelius, Marketing
.
Kerin, Hartley & Rudelius, Marketing: The Core
.
Where it fits
Prerequisites, related courses & why it matters
No prerequisites; 3 credit units; postgraduate; offered Semester A and Semester B 2026/27. Exclusive with FB5601 and MKT5601.
Your MKT5610 study toolkit
Study the course with Sia, not just read about it
Use your permitted course notes with these study tools. Follow your course’s rules for AI and assessed work.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is MKT5610 hard?
Light-to-moderate on the six-factor rubric and below the HK anchor: no exam, but two marketing plans and a presentation are judged on strategy and persuasion, and attendance is a completion requirement.
What is the assessment breakdown?
Class discussion and assignments 30%, individual case analysis and marketing plan 30%, group presentation 10%, group marketing plan or concept study 30%, per the CityU syllabus.
Is attendance compulsory?
The catalogue states students need to meet the Department of Marketing's attendance requirement to complete the course.
Which textbooks?
Seven are listed as compulsory readings, including Kotler and Armstrong's Principles of Marketing (and the Asian-perspective edition), Boone and Kurtz, and Kerin's Marketing.
Can I take it with MKT5601?
No. FB5601 and MKT5601 Principles of Marketing are exclusive courses.
When is it offered?
Semester A and Semester B 2026/27, subject to change per the catalogue.
Study MKT5610 with Sia
Practise explaining the course concepts and check your reasoning. Confirm assessed-work requirements in your current outline.
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