Marketing activity is meant to bring to light the emotions and motivations behind selling a product or service. A business's main goal is to make a profit from whatever product or service it provides to the public. If the business does not sell enough to at least sustain itself, it will experience pay cuts, lay-offs or other types of downsizing. Give students a product to sell, such as a box full of assorted candies. Require a minimum number of candies to be sold for a grade, such as two candies for an F, four candies for a D, six candies for a C, eight candies for a B and 10 candies for an A on the assignment. Give students two days to sell candies and come up with the money as evidence. After they have sold the candies, have students reflect on the tactics they used. Was the student truthful about what the candy sale was for, or did he lie so he could make a grade? Did she really sell the candy or did she come up with her own money to make a grade? How many hours did the student spend trying to sell the candy for a grade? This activity should provide some reflection on how the risk of failure can motivate business owners to reconsider ethical practices.
Each student chooses a business he admires and shadows a lower-level employee for a day. As the student shadows her employee, she should take notes on energy use in the building, use of office supplies, facility location and layout and any other facts relating to the cost of running the business. If the student can do so without offending his employee, he should acquire a general understanding of employee salaries at one or more levels of the business. With these facts in hand, the student's assignment is to cut the costs of the business by 20 percent. She can choose to make the office more energy efficient if she can state how and why, or she can choose reduce executive compensation and bonuses. The final paper should explain how the student weighed multiple options and came to his conclusion.
Arrange your class into even groups and randomly designate one person to be the business owner and leader of the group activity. From here, the group must write a business plan for a small business. The group must name the business, provide details on what the business offers for products or services and where the business is getting its startup money. The owner of the business will also appoint other members of the group to positions and tell them what their roles and responsibilities are. At the end, each group presents their business to the rest of the class and discusses the emotions behind planning the details of and building the business model.
Sit students around a large table. If your class is very large, you can break students up into more than one group with approximately 10 to 12 students per group. For each group, develop a dramatic business problem, such as a major client who dropped out due to unsatisfactory services or a recent discovery by a journalist that the business was using unfair labor practices. These scenarios must be realistic so that students can talk through them in detail using the principles they have learned in class. Monitor discussion, noting which students speak up first, lead discussion or sit out without offering an opinion. Grade students based on level of participation and accuracy of statements.