Social Business Marketing – A Segmentation Approach
During Social Business Marketing, Portland State students work with Global Sistergoods as a marketing resource team. During class sessions students will examine literature, film, and other resources that speak to different aspects of social business entrepreneurship, issues of free trade, social justice and social responsibility. Students will discuss the marketing challenges facing Global Sistergoods. 
Capstone students will learn the key features of social business entrepreneurship and how it differs from commercial sector and social marketing. They will conduct market research to discover the buying behavior of the target market and create a marketing plan on how to reach them to increase market penetration. They will also expand their understanding of customer-centered marketing and the Four Ps: product, price, place and promotion. Participants will bring knowledge from their own field of study, integrate marketing principles, and support the Community Partner's goals: entrepreneurship, self-reliance and micro enterprise development. Student teams will work collaboratively on mutually agreed upon projects that are beneficial and satisfying to both PSU and the Community Partner.
The goals for this Capstone are to:
- Gain an understanding of social business entrepreneurs and their role in the marketplace;
- Gain an understanding of key issues (fair trade, social justice, social responsibility) and how these affect or are affected by how students' live their own lives;
- Gain an understanding of target market segment behavior and modes of communicating in diverse audiences; and to
- Have the opportunity to reflect on how their own background contributes to their ability (or inability) to be effective in a work team and in designing a project on an issue with which they may have no experience.
Project
Students will be responsible for generating course content, which will happen during class interactions, as well as through class time facilitated by the student. In preparing to facilitate, students will collectively decide on their goals and objectives for the class session. Following the session, students will collectively evaluate how well their session met their goals and objectives and determine a grade for the session. In addition, students will assess their own contributions.
Students will work on weekly reflections on class readings and experiences related to the students involvement with Global Sistergoods, with the final journal completed in their last class meeting. The final product will be collaboratively decided on, and will be self-selected in as many groups as necessary to successfully complete these projects, and share in evaluating the outcomes. These projects involve student-centered learning. The success or failure of projects is literally in the students hands. Communication between students and groups will be essential. Individuals and groups must be aware that their acceptance of job tasks and due dates means they are responsible for performing those tasks or communicating their inability to perform those tasks as soon as possible. Failure to communicate may lead others to failure.
The community partner this Capstone will be working with is Global Sistergoods. They are a Portland business that imports fairly traded crafts from women's collectives around the world....