Marketing, B.S. (Capital)

Program Description

This major is designed for students interested in careers involving sales, promotion, services, distribution, research, and planning for business and the public sector. The major provides students with key concepts and methods of analysis in marketing. It focuses on understanding customer needs, developing products or services, creating and implementing marketing plans, monitoring customer responses, and projecting marketing activities for the future.

What is Marketing?

Marketing is a broad field that seeks to understand consumer, firm, and societal behaviors and subsequently identify ideas, products, services, and methodological approaches that deliver value. According to the American Marketing Association, Marketing involves "the set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings valuable to customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Not only does marketing guide firms' managerial decisions in the marketplace, but it also offers insights into consumer awareness, public policy making, and non-commercial exchange of value (e.g., altruistic giving)."

You Might Like This Program If...

• You have an aptitude and interest in sales and promotion.
• You have strong communication skills.
• You enjoy working with people and understanding their needs and motivations.
• You want a career in market research, advertising, service industries or product management.

Entrance to Major

Entry to the Marketing major requires the completion of 8 entry-to-major courses: ACCTG 211, ECON 102, ENGL 15 or ENGL 30H, FIN 301, MATH 110 or MATH 140, MGMT 301, MKTG 301¹, SCM 200 or STAT 200; and a 2.00 or higher cumulative grade-point average.

¹

Course requires a grade of C or better

Additional information about this major is available in the office of the Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Business at Penn State Harrisburg.

Degree Requirements

For the Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing, a minimum of 120 credits is required:

12 of the 45 credits for General Education are included in the Requirements for the Major. This includes: 3 credits of GWS courses; 3 credits of GS courses; 6 credits of GQ courses.

At least 50 percent of the business credit hours required for the degree must be taken at the Capital College. No more than 60 credits should be from business and business-related courses.

Requirements for the Major

To graduate, a student enrolled in the major must earn a grade of C or better in each course designated by the major as a C-required course, as specified by Senate Policy 82-44.

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Prescribed Courses
ACCTG 211	Financial and Managerial Accounting for Decision Making	4
BA 364Y	International Business and Society	3
BA 462	Business Strategy	3
ECON 102	Introductory Microeconomic Analysis and Policy	3
ECON 104	Introductory Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy	3
ENGL 202D	Effective Writing: Business Writing	3
FIN 301	Corporation Finance	3
MGMT 301	Basic Management Concepts	3
MIS 204	Introduction to Management Information Systems	3
MIS 390	Information Systems Management and Applications	3
SCM 301	Supply Chain Management	3
Prescribed Courses: Require a grade of C or better
MKTG 301	Principles of Marketing	3
MKTG 330	Consumer Behavior	3
MKTG 342	Marketing Research	3
MKTG 450W	Marketing Strategy	3
Additional Courses
BA 241 & BA 242	Legal Environment of Business and Social and Ethical Environment of Business	4
or BA 243	Social, Legal, and Ethical Environment of Business
MATH 110	Techniques of Calculus I	4
or MATH 140	Calculus With Analytic Geometry I
SCM 200	Introduction to Statistics for Business	4
or STAT 200	Elementary Statistics
Additional Courses: Require a grade of C or better
Select three of the following:		9
ECON 342	Industrial Organization
MKTG 302	Marketing Techniques for Electronic Commerce
MKTG 327	Retailing
MKTG 422	Advertising and Sales Promotion Management
MKTG 445	Global Marketing
MKTG 476	Sales Management
MKTG 478	Services Marketing Management
MKTG 485	Business-to-Business Marketing
Supporting Courses and Related Areas
Select 12 credits from 200-400 level business courses from: ACCTG, BA, ECON, FIN, MIS, MGMT, MKTG, or SCM in consultation with an academic adviser and in support of the student's interests		12

General Education

Connecting career and curiosity, the General Education curriculum provides the opportunity for students to acquire transferable skills necessary to be successful in the future and to thrive while living in interconnected contexts. General Education aids students in developing intellectual curiosity, a strengthened ability to think, and a deeper sense of aesthetic appreciation. These are requirements for all baccalaureate students and are often partially incorporated into the requirements of a program. For additional information, see the General Education Requirements section of the Bulletin and consult your academic adviser.

The keystone symbol appears next to the title of any course that is designated as a General Education course. Program requirements may also satisfy General Education requirements and vary for each program.

Foundations (grade of C or better is required and Inter-Domain courses do not meet this requirement.)

• Quantification (GQ): 6 credits
• Writing and Speaking (GWS): 9 credits

Breadth in the Knowledge Domains (Inter-Domain courses do not meet this requirement.)

• Arts (GA): 3 credits
• Health and Wellness (GHW): 3 credits
• Humanities (GH): 3 credits
• Social and Behavioral Sciences (GS): 3 credits
• Natural Sciences (GN): 3 credits

Integrative Studies

• Inter-Domain Courses (Inter-Domain): 6 credits

Exploration

• GN, may be completed with Inter-Domain courses: 3 credits
• GA, GH, GN, GS, Inter-Domain courses. This may include 3 credits of World Language course work beyond the 12th credit level or the requirements for the student’s degree program, whichever is higher: 6 credits

University Degree Requirements

First Year Engagement

All students enrolled in a college or the Division of Undergraduate Studies at University Park, and the World Campus are required to take 1 to 3 credits of the First-Year Seminar, as specified by their college First-Year Engagement Plan.

Other Penn State colleges and campuses may require the First-Year Seminar; colleges and campuses that do not require a First-Year Seminar provide students with a first-year engagement experience.

First-year baccalaureate students entering Penn State should consult their academic adviser for these requirements.

Cultures Requirement

6 credits are required and may satisfy other requirements

• United States Cultures: 3 credits
• International Cultures: 3 credits

Writing Across the Curriculum

3 credits required from the college of graduation and likely prescribed as part of major requirements.

Total Minimum Credits

A minimum of 120 degree credits must be earned for a baccalaureate degree. The requirements for some programs may exceed 120 credits. Students should consult with their college or department adviser for information on specific credit requirements.

Quality of Work

Candidates must complete the degree requirements for their major and earn at least a 2.00 grade-point average for all courses completed within their degree program.

Limitations on Source and Time for Credit Acquisition

The college dean or campus chancellor and program faculty may require up to 24 credits of course work in the major to be taken at the location or in the college or program where the degree is earned. Credit used toward degree programs may need to be earned from a particular source or within time constraints (see Senate Policy 83-80). For more information, check the Suggested Academic Plan for your intended program.

Integrated B.S. in Marketing and M.B.A. in Business Administration

Available at the following campuses: Harrisburg

Requirements for the Integrated B.S. in Marketing and M.B.A. in Business Administration can be found in the Graduate Bulletin.

Learning Outcomes

Student graduates of our baccalaureate degree programs should be:

1. Effective communicators.
   1. Present verbally, thoughts and ideas in a way that can be clearly understood by a target audience.
   2. Convey ideas in a clear, coherent manner in written communication.
2. Ethical and socially responsible
   1. Be competent in analyzing social and ethical decision making issues in organizations.
3. Critical thinkers.
   1. Be able to think and identify multiple dimensions of company issues and performances and make an assessment of company performances in achieving financial and strategic objectives, tracking their achievements, and giving management of companies a more complete and balanced view of how the organization is performing.
4. Competent in the Marketing discipline.
   1. Understand the concepts and techniques of marketing as it applies to modern organizations.
   2. Be knowledgeable of the different environments in which marketing programs, plans, and strategies are formulated and implemented.
   3. Understand the analytical tools necessary to assist brick-and-mortar and on-line marketing operations of companies.
   4. Develop and carry out a marketing plan for a business.

Academic Advising

The objectives of the university's academic advising program are to help advisees identify and achieve their academic goals, to promote their intellectual discovery, and to encourage students to take advantage of both in-and out-of class educational opportunities in order that they become self-directed learners and decision makers.

Both advisers and advisees share responsibility for making the advising relationship succeed. By encouraging their advisees to become engaged in their education, to meet their educational goals, and to develop the habit of learning, advisers assume a significant educational role. The advisee's unit of enrollment will provide each advisee with a primary academic adviser, the information needed to plan the chosen program of study, and referrals to other specialized resources.

READ SENATE POLICY 32-00: ADVISING POLICY

Harrisburg

Ozge Aybat
Program Coordinator
Olmsted Building E355
Middletown, PA 17057
717-948-6155
oua3@psu.edu

World Campus

Undergraduate Academic Advising
100 Innovation Blvd
Suite 225
University Park, PA 16803
814-863-3283
advising@worldcampus.psu.edu

Suggested Academic Plan

The suggested academic plan(s) listed on this page are the plan(s) that are in effect during the 2024-25 academic year. To access previous years' suggested academic plans, please visit the archive to view the appropriate Undergraduate Bulletin edition.

Marketing, B.S. at Harrisburg Campus and World Campus

The course series listed below provides only one of the many possible ways to move through this curriculum. The University may make changes in policies, procedures, educational offerings, and requirements at any time. This plan should be used in conjunction with your degree audit (accessible in LionPATH as either an Academic Requirements or What If report). Please consult with a Penn State academic adviser on a regular basis to develop and refine an academic plan that is appropriate for you.

*

Course requires a grade of C or better for the major

‡

Course requires a grade of C or better for General Education

#

Course is an Entrance to Major requirement

†

Course satisfies General Education and degree requirement

¹

Select 3 credits from:

MKTG 302 - Marketing Techniques for Electronic Commerce; MKTG 327 - Retailing; MKTG 422 - Advertising and Sales Promotion Management; MKTG 445 - Global Marketing (US); MKTG 476 - Sales Management: MKTG 478 - Services Marketing Management; MKTG 485 - Business-to-Business Marketing; ECON 342 - Industrial Organization

University Requirements and General Education Notes:

US and IL are abbreviations used to designate courses that satisfy Cultural Diversity Requirements (United States and International Cultures).

W, M, X, and Y are the suffixes at the end of a course number used to designate courses that satisfy University Writing Across the Curriculum requirement.

General Education includes Foundations (GWS and GQ), Knowledge Domains (GHW, GN, GA, GH, GS) and Integrative Studies (Inter-domain) requirements. N or Q (Honors) is the suffix at the end of a course number used to help identify an Inter-domain course, but the inter-domain attribute is used to fill audit requirements. Foundations courses (GWS and GQ) require a grade of 'C' or better.

Advising Notes

• Courses required for the major must be generally taken within 10 years of entrance to major.
• MKTG 495 - Internship satisfies a business support requirement. For more information, contact the Marketing Program Coordinator. 
• Students must complete a 3-credit course in "United States Cultures (US)" and a 3-credit course in "International Cultures (IL)." B A 364 (US/IL) may be used to meet either the IL or US requirement, but may be used to fulfill only 3 of the 6 credit requirement. 
• 30 credits of GA, GH, GHW, GN, and GS to include 6 Integrative Studies credits.
• 15 credits of GQ and GWS require a grade of "C" or better.

Career Paths

Graduates of Penn State Harrisburg’s Marketing program can pursue career opportunities in marketing and sales management, advertising, marketing research, retail, public policy, public relations, education and training, and consumer affairs. These opportunities can be found in many settings including small business, large corporations, government, health care, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations.

Careers

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall employment of advertising, promotions, and marketing managers is projected to grow 9 percent from 2016 to 2026, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Employment growth will vary by occupation. Advertising, promotional, and marketing campaigns are expected to continue to be essential as organizations seek to maintain and expand their market share. Advertising and promotions managers will be needed to plan, direct, and coordinate advertising and promotional campaigns, as well as to introduce new products into the marketplace.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT POTENTIAL CAREER OPTIONS FOR GRADUATES OF THE MARKETING PROGRAM

Opportunities for Graduate Studies

The School of Business Administration offers a limited number of academically superior Bachelor of Science in Marketing candidates the opportunity to enroll in an integrated, continuous program of study leading to both the Bachelor of Science in Marketing and the Master of Business Administration.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRADUATE STUDIES

Accreditation

The B.S. in Marketing offered by the School of Business Administration at Penn State Harrisburg, the Capital College, is accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.  AACSB’s mission is to foster engagement, accelerate innovation, and amplify impact in business education.  Synonymous with the highest standards of excellence since 1916, AACSB provides quality assurance, business education intelligence, and professional development services to over 1,600 member organizations and more than 800 accredited business schools worldwide.  AACSB International (AACSB) connects educators, students, and business to achieve a common goal: to create the next generation of great leaders.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT AACSB INTERNATIONAL

Contact

Harrisburg

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Olmsted Building E355
Middletown, PA 17057
717-948-6139
cxs879@psu.edu

https://harrisburg.psu.edu/business-administration/marketing-bs

World Campus

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Olmsted Building E355
Middletown, PA 17057
717-948-6139
cxs879@psu.edu

https://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates/penn-state-online-marketing-bachelor-of-science-degree