Context

The Program Mastère Specialized in Marketing Management and Communication in Toulouse, is one of the major programs of Mastères of the Business College Group in Toulouse.

Founded in 1989

• In 2004, 101 students divided in three groups: a program in French (~40 students), and in English (~40 students) and another identical program in French (~20 students) delocalised Casablanca, Morocco.

• A Centre of Applied Research for consolidating the program: International Marketing and Communication (ImeC).

• Delocalised accreditations with partnerships with the major institutions of high education in France is already accorded to ESC-Toulouse for M2C program (in 1997 with ESC Marrakech-Morocco, in 2001 with the Poly-competence in Casablanca-Morocco and in 2004 with an Engineering in Paris)

The program takes 12 and is divided in three phases

The base idea is adapted from the organisation already proven of the program taught for business students at ESC-Toulouse, by adapting and adding the contents to reach the target…

The program is composed in three components as described here :

• Academic Acquisition, Modules (4 modules AA = 330 hours)

• Professional Options, Modules (Elective, E = 120 hours), 4 electives each 30 hours chosen among the possibilities offered

• Professional Mission. It is complusory to do one or two corporate placement(s) and to spend at least 6 months cumulated and equivalent full-time, either in an institution or private company in France or abroad.

Contents of the modules

« Job Marketing »: Within the framework of the modules of Academic Acquisition, a professional assessment will be done: to help the professionals who follow the program to refine a strategy of evolution of students’ career, an assessment of jobs competences coupled to workshops for personal development will be organized. For reasons of effectiveness and confidentiality, this assessment is entrusted to an external organization side the establishments.

« Management & Marketing »: Also in the frame of Academic Acquisition Modules, the students receive lectures in fundamentals of management (accountancy, finance, law, strategy, …), an approach which privileges the presentation of the impact of decisions in market domains.

 » Fundamentals of Marketing & Communication « : The goal is here to find, conceptualize and articulate the bases of marketing and the communication. This module is cut out in four parts: basic concepts, of the marketing plan in the commercial action plan (CAP), of the sectoral applications to know to adapt the concepts of marketing in registers as different as: electronic trade, international invitations to tender, cultural products, the sector of tourism and local communities, the industrial sector, etc.

« Tools of Marketing and the Communication »: This module is cut out in three parts: market research, the audit of communication, techniques and tools of communication.

 » Professional Options « : these options are actualised according to tendencies with response and reactivity in the job market, several choices are presented to the students. Each student chooses the options he/ she wants to pursues professionally.

Some examples of the theme possible: Internet Marketing and e-commerce, Agency and Consultancy Marketing Communication, High Tech and Business to Business Marketing, FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) Marketing, Marketing and International Advertising, Mobility Marketing, Services Marketing and Communication, Marketing Research, Mobility Marketing, Marketing and management of Franchise network and Supermarket distribution.

« Professional Mission »: Minimum six months full-time in company. The missions(s) must take place in any case between the date of the student registration and the 31th December that follows the end of the programme. Theorically it should take place between April and November. In special circumstances and if validated by the head of the M2C programme, the company and student can find a more convenient starting date, as early as January.

End of week classes

The courses take place on friday (01:00 pm at 09:00 pm) and saturday (09:00 am at 01:00 pm) to allow:

• an outsider employee to attend the classes and participate

• the student can intervene with a company during the day (November to April) and from May to December to build a supplementary professional experience.

Evaluation modalities

Three components for the evaluation of the assets and professional competences:

• Exams: a week is dedicated at the end of the period of specialized training for the examinations. Individually, during the test and in limited time, the student will have to prove not only of the knowledge of the subject evaluated but also of the capacity to connect this with other lesson learned during the program in order to solve completely.

• Continuous assessment: work distributed over the duration of the period of the specialized lesson. In each activity, an identical purpose: to engage the students in really professional situation, directly with the company.

• Different activities constitute the grades through the first part of the program.

- Marketing Job Description: the student is requested to find two professionals on the field and to carry out descriptive interviews of the stations which would be occupied by a graduate of this Specialized Mastère in marketing and/or communication. These documents include a full description of the different positions, a summary of the economic and social environment and market analysis information on the potential for the employement on each sector.

- Book Review: after reading recent books or press articles dealing with marketing and comunication issues, students will have to make a summary of the writers’ main ideas, then completed by a personal analysis and comments. To achieve this summary, a specific template will be provided.

- Case studies of Marketing or Communication relating to real problems of company. The objective, trough an actual business case, is to illustrate a clearly identified marketing and communication issue. Describing the issue and pinpointing a number of clues towards a solution will help students take in the right approach to solving marketing cases. The best marketing case study will be proposed for publication on the web site www.ccip.fr/ccmp

- Study – Action: Mission of council for a company in the services in the fields of communication or marketing. This mission will be based on the conclusions of a preliminary study in the form of quantitative or qualitative investigation which is to be carried out by the group of students.

- Contribution of research concretized by the publication of a synthesis in a national or international magazine. The subject is linked to marketing or communication. The project should include a detailes description of all aspects of the study project and should be completed with a written summary destined for the press. The best articles will be selected out by a Reading Commitee and be chosen to be printed in a Research Book edited by the M2C Programme.

- Experience presentation: it might replace the mission (operational consultancy) for the students who are also working as salarymen in an organization. It consists in an in-depth analysis -from a managerial point of view- of a mission, an action or a marketing and/or communication operation in which you play an active role. It is therefore necessary to analyze the company’s situation on the market and the reasons explaining the launch of this operation. Then, you have to describe precisely the methods and the steps of the proecess you toook part in. At last, you have to analyze the results of the marketing and/or communication action and to define improvement opportunities, and, as well, the main managerial benefits to take from this experience for both the company itselft and, broadly speaking, any organization.

• The professional thesis: In agreement between the company receiving the student, the professor in charge of the follow-up of the professional mission of the student and the student himself, a subject of professional thesis will defined. This thesis, elaborated throughout the mission will be orally presented before a jury at the end of the professional mission in company.

Flexibility and quality thanks to TIC system

The Group ESC Toulouse has a platform of support on-line for this training. This Intranet is of an invaluable tool for the students, more particularly when their activities lead them out of the college buildings: consultation of various documents (planning, syllabus…); messages, inscription at optional modules, student evaluations…

In addition this platform of support on-line, several tools are also available for the students of the Group ESC Toulouse:

• Auto-training, thanks to the sequences of lessons diffused on line by coupling of video and diaporamas.

• Production by the students of contents published on line by means of a software allowing them to get rid of the technical constraints (HTML, ftp…). The produced contents can be shared by the whole group and constitute a data base (list of jobs, book titles…).