This curriculum guide has been designed to provide the curriculum coordinator with a basis for planning a comprehensive program in the field of business marketing, as well as to provide the marketing and distributive education teacher/coordinator with maximum flexibility. The essential common and specialized competencies have been identified and listed in 11 instructional areas based upon structured interviews with personnel in various types of business and personal service firms and associations in the state of Illinois. Competencies were organized into instructional clusters and an objective written for each cluster to facilitate the organization of instruction for the teacher/coordinator. A number of learning activities are suggested for each competency to enable teachers to determine which one(s) would best serve their teaching methods and their students' learning styles. Instructional materials are listed in the reference column of each competency and in the bibliography of instructional materials. The competencies cover the following instructional areas: advertising, communications, display, human relations, marketing/economics; management; mathematics; merchandising; operations; product/service technology; and selling. (These instructional areas are the same ones that are used by the Distributive Education Clubs of America for their competency-based competitive events program and for other curriculum projects.) (Author/KC)