1. The PowerPoint slides and summary notes for Consumer Behavior—our topic for the coming two weeks—have been posted to the course web site at http://www.buad307.com/PPT_notes.html .
2. Midterm I will be returned in lecture on Tuesday.  The exams will be returned on the front stage of the auditorium in manila envelopes.  Please take and keep the exam from your envelope but return the empty envelope so that it can be re-used.
3. I will be traveling from Saturday through Monday evening, so I will not be on campus again until Tuesday morning.  During the trip, I expect to have cell phone and Internet access, but it may take me longer to get back to you since I will be in meetings most of the time.
4. The wireless microphones now appear to be working properly in the auditorium after I made some adjustments.  For those of you in the Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. discussion section, Information Technology Services has now taken care of the network connectivity problems in WPH 207.  Thank you for your patience while these problems were being resolved!
5. As a reminder, the Library Database Resource List is officially due on Tuesday, but it is fine if you need a few extra days.  Instructions are available in the syllabus and at http://www.buad307.com/PDF/Sources--Instructions.pdf .  If you run into problems finding suitable articles, please feel free to come in during office hours to discuss your situation.  Please note that finding appropriate sources is likely to be a subject too complex to be discussed through e-mail.
6. I am continuing to send out preliminary notifications on project proposals to indicate whether, based on a quick review, any major disqualifying problems were found in the proposal.  Once this process is completed, I will send out more elaborate comments on the proposals.  This process will take several weeks to complete.  You will NOT receive these comments before the Library Database Resource List is due. You should proceed with the Library Database Resource List at this time assuming that your idea is acceptable.

WEEK IN REVIEW:  This week, we continued our discussion of international marketing issues, focusing mostly on international economics and cross-cultural promotion.  Next week, we have a few additional issues to cover in international marketing, after which we will proceed to Consumer Behavior.

1. The PowerPoint slides and summary materials for this week and the next week’s material have been posted to the course web site at http://www.buad307.com/PPT_notes.html .
2. A sample midterm and the actual midterms for the last two semesters—along with multiple choice keys and sample short answers—have been posted to the course web site at http://www.buad307.com/exams.html .
3. If you need to arrange for a make-up exam for the exam scheduled for September 23, please fill out the petition form at http://www.buad307.com/exam_makeup.html .

Lars

Lars Perner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Marketing
Department of Marketing, Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0443
Phone: (213) 740-7127     Cell:  (760) 412-0154
perner@marshall.usc.edu  
http://www.LarsPerner.com
http://www.ConsumerPsychologist.com
Blog:  http://delightfulreflections.blogspot.com/
"Normal people rarely ever make history."

1. The PowerPoint slides and summary notes for this week have now been posted on the course web site at http://www.buad307.com/PPT_notes.html.
2. A copy of the textbook has been put on reserve in the Crocker Library on the second floor of Hoffman Hall. 
3. A study checklist for Midterm I, coming up on September 23, will be distributed in lecture tomorrow.
4. Dr. Debbie Macinnis, another marketing professor, is seeking participants for a paid experiment.  This does NOT count toward the research participation requirement for this course.  Information has been appended to the end of this e-mail.>
5. The Trojan Consulting Group has asked me to forward the below information about their organization.
6. The Association for Integrated Marketing (AIM) is holding its “Kickoff” on Wednesday, September 10th, at 6:45 pm in ZHS 252.  (No humans or animals will be hurt).  For more information, please see http://www-scf.usc.edu/~aoim/ .

Lars

TROJAN CONSULTING GROUP

The Trojan Consulting Group is a Marshall organization that aims to provide its members with meaningful experiences in the field of management consulting by solving challenging, real-world business problems for local non-profit institutions and governments.  As a non-profit organization, our goal is to make a positive impact on our surrounding community by leveraging the dedication and intellectual capital of our members.  Regardless of your career aspirations, TCG enables its members to develop analytical skills that are applicable across industries.

Current and past projects include: 

• Working with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office to analyze the commercial and demographic composition of low-income markets and assess the feasibility of future economic development
• Assessing best practices for truancy prevention to develop a strategy to minimize revenue loss for the Los Angeles Unified School District
• Developing procedures to rejuvenate the image of the Los Angeles Rotary Club through innovative retention and recruitment procedures
• Working with the California Community Foundation to reorganize and standardize their $120,000 annual Endowment Partner program
• Advising the United Way on how to restructure their donation program and improve its strategy and marketing efforts in order to garner additional donations

Applicants with a GPA of at least 3.6 are typically more competitive because our membership is very selective and consists of top students in the Marshall School of Business in regard to academics, leadership, and involvement.  TCG strongly values diversity and intellectual vitality, and thus our members and alumni have pursued various aspirations: 

• Investment Banking (Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Credit Suisse,  Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley)
• Management Consulting (Bain and Company; The Boston Consulting Group, The Bridgespan Group)
• Private Equity (Summit Partners, Lehman Brothers Venture Partners)
• Accounting (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, KPMG)
• Corporate Communications (Reuters, The Walt Disney Company)
• Graduate School (Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, Duke Law, NYU Law)

If you are interested in joining our team, please submit the following materials to Bridge 104 by 4:30 pm on Friday, September 12, 2008:

1. A professional resume highlighting work and leadership experience

2. An essay of no more than 250 words (1 page, double-spaced) explaining your future aspirations

We strongly advise you to attend our Information Session on Wednesday, September 10 at 6:00PM in ACC 205.

We will contact selected candidates for interviews during the week of September 14^th.  If you have any questions, please send us an email at trojan.consulting.group@gmail.com or visit our website at www.trojanconsulting.org.

Cordially, 

The Trojan Consulting Group